Ad Nut
Jul 22, 2019

StarHub is teaching an uber-emo history lesson

To celebrate Singapore’s 54th birthday, the telco is highlighting the overlooked women in the nation’s past.

Ad Nut has broad musical taste and understands its power in promoting important messages. But for those who aren’t into high-pitched, pixie-sounding singing children, put StarHub’s latest Singapore National Day effort on mute, because the lesson at the heart of the campaign needs to be seen regardless of the soundtrack.

Celebrating Singapore’s 54th birthday this August 9, StarHub and its creative agency BLK-J have chosen to focus on a hugely underserved population in almost every country’s history: women. Ad Nut has heard of Sir Stamford Raffles, but was Ad Nut aware of Elizabeth Choy, a Singaporean war heroine, politician and teacher?

To Ad Nut’s shame, the answer is no. Ditto for Hajja Fatimah, one of Singapore’s first businesswomen in the 1800s, and Checha Davies, a social worker and women’s rights activist. So full plaudits to StarHub for highlighting these and other women’s critical contributions to Singapore’s development, embodied in two giant murals and one statue of the inspirational women, created by the school children. Labelling the women ‘founding mothers’ in the ad is also a very nice touch.

The school kids are singing a new version of a 2002 National Day song, ‘We Will Get There’. The result is a turbo-charged emo squeak of a performance, which left Ad Nut’s ears ringing a little. The message is very clear without the uber-twee singing. But given the power of the overall message, Ad Nut is willing to let it slide.

Ad Nut is a surprisingly literate woodland creature that for unknown reasons has an unhealthy obsession with advertising. Ad Nut gathers ads from all over Asia and the world for your viewing pleasure, because Ad Nut loves you. You can also check out Ad Nut's Advertising Hall of Fame, or read about Ad Nut's strange obsession with 'murderous beasts'.

 

Source:
Campaign Asia

Related Articles

Just Published

18 hours ago

Nearly 70% of bias incidents in AI LLMs occur in ...

The study also reveals that 86.1% of bias incidents required only a single prompt, underscoring how easily AI models can still produce biased outputs despite advances in safety.

18 hours ago

How Knorr used retail media to drive conversions

CASE STUDY: Unilever brand Knorr teamed up with The Trade Desk and foodpanda on a retail-data campaign that achieved more than 12.9 million impressions, exceeding the brand's goal by more than 70%.

19 hours ago

40 Under 40 2024: Thanzyl Thajudeen, Mark and Comm

A seasoned PR expert and founder of Mark and Comm, Thajudeen has transformed his Colombo-based agency into a leading regional player.

19 hours ago

Meta begins firing ‘lowest performing’ staff

Notices began going out to employees in most countries including across Asia this week, as the tech giant prepares to cut approximately 5% of its workforce based on performance.