Petronas Commercials

The advertisement of a local brand I choose to discuss is Petronas. Petronas is a national oil company of Malaysia own by the government of Malaysia. Although it is a petroleum company, however their big advertisements were never about their product nor petroleum. Petronas's famous advertisements are usually advertising touching real-life glimpses of ordinary Malaysian's life.

I have chose 3 Petronas advertisements (video) to discuss and compare. This 3 advertisements are advertised in different big festive celebration of the 3 big races in Malaysia, which are the Chinese, Malay and Indian. Instead of being literal comparing the commercials with purely just language, I compare them in a different context as languages are closely tied with culture, with different languages it tells a different background story and culture of a certain races. 

2003 Petronas's Commercial

Chinese New Year - Nobody's Child

Synopsis: Tan Thiam Hook, the main character of the commercial is an orphan. His class was given a task to draw their own "Reunion Dinner" according to their understanding. However, Tan Thiam Hook failed to do so and being yelled by his teacher.

Hari Raya Aidilfitri - Mak Ok Tak

Synopsis: Man as the main character who just came back to his hometown from his work at Pahang to celebrate Raya. His mother prepared a lot of things for his homecoming such as new cloths and home dishes. However Man is too busy for his work, he left the house to the town to search for internet before even having dinner with his mother that night. He then meets an old man in the town who came to visit his son that just finished his operation, letting Man know how a dad feels when he left his son alone. Man then realised the feeling might be the same for his mother and he went back to meet her mother instead of doing his work.

Hari Deepavali - Wings of a Man
Synopsis: A story of an Indian dad who works hard to fund his child even his job is a low-pay job. He worked hard to fund his son to study and in the end the son succeeded his own dream to be a pilot even though his father has passed.












Instead of advertising the product of Petronas, they advertise more on the life of Malaysians. Probably this is another way of advertising their brand?



Petronas.com.my. 2011. PETRONAS. [online] Available at: http://www.petronas.com.my/media-relations/advertisements/Pages/prints-ads.aspx [Accessed: 29 July 2013].

Petronas.com.my. 2011. PETRONAS. [online] Available at: http://www.petronas.com.my/about-us/Pages/corporate-profile.aspx [Accessed: 29 July 2013].

YouTube. 2008. PETRONAS CHINESE NEW YEAR 2008 AD, REUNION DINNER. [online] Available at: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=cqDdhloTLM4 [Accessed: 29 July 2013].

YouTube. 2008. Iklan Petronas Raya 2008 (enjoyvids.blogspot.com). [online] Available at: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=fgaC8Wcj5os [Accessed: 29 July 2013].

YouTube. 2008. Cool Petronas (Deepavali 2008). [online] Available at: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=znUqBcL4Nv8 [Accessed: 29 July 2013].