5 Awesome Malaysian Diwali 2024 Commercials That Shine a Light on Kindness

We covered some of the most heartening Diwali 2024 commercials from India last week. But it would be a grave injustice to confine Diwali and everything it represents within the Indian geographical boundaries by sticking to only Indian ads. After all, Hindu expats worldwide have ensured that this wonderful festival of lights and the celebration of empathy, kindness, and compassion find their way to all parts of the world, including Malaysia. And this is best demonstrated in some of the Malaysian Diwali 2024 commercials.

So, let’s take a look at 5 wonderful Southeast Asian Diwali 2024 commercials that repackaged kindness and compassion with their brilliant storylines.

1. Taylor’s University: Spark in The Dark

While social media has surely played a critical role in bringing the world closer, online trolling, which is its biggest disadvantage, can also wreak havoc in someone’s life. However, a bit of kindness from your end can often be all the difference between keeping someone’s ambitions alive and snuffing their aspirations and light right out of their lives.

This beautiful advert by Tayor’s University shows a young girl Priya being brutally trolled for her looks every time she posts her singing videos online. Things get so out of hand that the poor girl finally decides to quit singing. However, one motivational comment on her video asking her to continue singing soon snowballs into a barrage of plenty of kind and loving messages from many other users, who had so far refrained from supporting her online for the fear of being trolled themselves.

You see, all it takes is one act of empathy and kindness to ignite the same feelings in others.

2. Petronas: Shine Together

Similar to the previous commercial, this Petronas ad also highlights the power of words and their impact on lifting up someone’s spirits.

The ad begins with a young and enthusiastic boy, Lakshman, practicing folk dance. But despite his best preparations, on the day of the performance, he finds himself on the verge of tears after there is a glitch in the sound system and there is a significant delay in playing the song for the dance. But just when it seems all is lost, his brother, who had so far seemed indifferent to his preparations and the performance, gets up from his seat and says to Lakshman that he has a spark within him.

This spurs other people in the audience to motivate the young lad too, resulting in Lakshman delivering a dance performance for the ages! Didn’t I tell you- the power of words!

3. CelcomDigi: Inbam

Inbam, the Tamil word for happiness, is often found missing from the lives of the elderly, who usually reminisce about their good old days. This CelcomDigi Diwali advert revolves around one such old woman, who finds her long-lost happiness through the efforts of her granddaughters and their friends.

The ad shows two girls finding an old photograph of their grandmother with two of her friends. When asked about the picture, their grandmother tells them that the two women in the picture were her close friends, with whom she had some of her most inbam-filled days. The two girls go on to give her grandmother a taste of the same old days by not just creating the same set of sarees and blouses for her and her friends but also finding her friends via the help of social media and inviting them over on Diwali.

This was their way of bringing the spark back into the life of their grandmother.

4. Tune Talk: Light Hearts

While the previous three commercials revolved around how one can make the lives of other people better on an individual level, this Tune Talk advert takes a look at ushering happiness into multiple lives at once.

The ad highlights Sai Pandian and all the efforts he undertakes to give kids at his Sai Pandian House in Selangor a better life. The message of the ad is simple but effective- even the smallest acts of kindness can mean the world to someone, especially if that is aimed toward someone who doesn’t have anyone in the world to call their own.

Sai Pandian, take a bow!

5. Maybank: The Lighthouse

Similar to the previous advert, this Mayban commercial also highlights the same theme of spreading love and compassion.

The 4-minute commercial throws the spotlight on one of Malaysia’s most prolific athletic coaches, R. Jeganathan, who has helped several paralympic athletes find their true calling over the last two decades. As a strict disciplinarian, he goes around practicing his father’s teachings of helping people excel, even if it means being strict with them. But the students don’t seem to mind his stern attitude even a bit- after all, they know he means well to each one of them!

Keep the tissues handy, you might need them for this one🥹

Wrapping Up

And that's a wrap of some of the best Malaysian Diwali ads. Diwali commercials have graduated from being a mere celebration of lights and fireworks. A good Diwali campaign now requires brands to focus on the important human values and weaving stories around them. That’s how you make not only your ad campaigns memorable but also your brand!

We’ll be back with more wonderful Malaysian Diwali 2024 commercials for you. Till then, stay tuned!