Julie's resets gender biases in Hari Raya film

Malaysian biscuit brand, Julie's Biscuits, is tackling gender biases and stereotypes in artificial intelligence (AI) in its new Raya ad. Titled "A Raya A.I.dilfitri ad", three marketers at Julie's are seen using AI called AdGPT to make a Raya ad to promote the brand's love letters biscuits.

They are however met with several issues such as extra fingers on the characters, and gender biases and stereotypes that can't be changed despite giving AdGPT specific prompts.

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When trying to fix the AI, the marketers are sucked into the AI realm itself and chat face to face with AdGPT itself. AdGPT reveals that it learned its biases and stereotypes from old Raya ads and documentaries. 

After some reflection by the marketers, AdGPT added that forgiveness is the true meaning of Hari Raya and suggested restarting the ad all over again. 

In a twist, one of the marketers grew extra fingers on his hand. It is later revealed that they are part of an AI-generated Raya ad made by two children who are visiting during Hari Raya. The ad ends with a call to reset biases this Raya and wishes viewers a 'Selamat Hari Raya Aidilfitri'. 

“This marks Julie’s fourth year producing short festive films of this nature. We are passionate about continuously using our platform to spark meaningful conversations and drive positive change," said Tzy Horng Sai, director of Julie's Biscuits.

"In crafting this year’s film, we aimed to shed light on society’s role in perpetuating gender stereotypes while advocating for gender equity, all while honouring traditions. We hope it serves as more than just entertainment; let it be an inspiration for change." 

The film was produced in collaboration with GOVT Singapore. “When we started brainstorming for this, we were surrounded by debates and discussions about AI and were particularly interested in the gender and cultural biases found in AI. Through testing, we spotted gender stereotypes in the generated results despite trying to reword our prompts," said Kevin Poh, group creative director of GOVT. 

"We quickly realised a fundamental truth: AI learns from humans and mirrors our biases. The good news is, AI can learn to unlearn those biases if we can too. Since Raya is also about renewal, we thought it the perfect timing to reflect on these biases and start a clean slate about the way we see and talk about gender — in a way that’s meta, self-referential and, as always, loads of fun.”

For Chinese New Year this year, Julie’s Biscuits invited people to soak in the celebrations at its "Love Letters Prosperity Adventure Roadshow".

At the roadshow, visitors got to see first-hand the unveiling of a new festive limited edition love letters flavour, the sesame eggy rolls.  In addition, the roadshow brought a slew of family-friendly activities such as photo-worthy installations around the venues and interactive activities such as a colouring booth for visitors to unleash their creativity. Guests also walked through multiple giant-sized love letters tub sculptures designed as art installations. 

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