Singapore, 28 June 2010 – Last night, whilst watch television, I saw a 3 minute long television commercial. It was a rather emotive commercial which caught my full attention during it’s full entirety. Singapore’s Ministry of Community Youth and Sports and it’s advertising agency has done a good job!
To me, this campaign evokes what is a very real day-to-day situation with in-laws in the Asian family. You may have unreasonable in-laws, but at times, we do really have to bite our tongues and try to empathize. I am sure when we grow old one day, we may end up being unreasonable and impatient too. To me the messaging is two-pronged:
- Be tolerant and try to be patient and empathize when one is old
- Children should also try to empathize with the old and try to come to a compromise and not take the easy way out of shunning away or stop communicating with the elderly
Probably easier said than done, but this commercial is a stark reminder to all of us.
A quick search in Google identified the agencies behind this. Extracted from Channel News Asia’s site –
<It will be helmed by Hong Kong director David Tsui and produced by advertising agency Leo Burnett, which developed the well-known “Funeral” commercial.
MCYS’ director for communications and international relations division Richard Tan said the commercial is “still a work in progress. But it’s something quite inspiring and moving”.
In August, Member of Parliament Seah Kian Peng had asked the minister if MCYS would consider a television commercial to “educate the young on filial piety”, following the success of “Red Shoes” to promote family bonding and “Funeral” to encourage marriage. “
Dr Vivian Balakrishnan’s response was “yes”.>
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