Julie's questions the meaning of forgiveness in hauntingly heartwarming campaign

Malaysian biscuit brand, Julie's Biscuits is inviting users to embark on a journey of reflection and to question the true meaning of forgiveness this festive season. 

The brand film, titled "Selamat lari Raya", follows a man named Johan who spent his life running from his problems and past. Played by popular Malaysian actor Fimie Don, Johan's life was anything but easy having been orphaned at a young age. He was raised by his grandparents but eventually fell in the wrong crowd. This led him down a path of crime and ultimately, prison. 

While behind bars, Johan’s grandfather, Pak Hassan, played by veteran actor Dato A. Tamimi Siregar, desperately tries to reconnect with him, but to no avail. Determined not to be ignored, Pak Hassan attempts to land himself into prison by committing crimes himself such as stealing tubs of Julie's love letters and trying to rob police officers. 

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Meanwhile, in prison, Johan is haunted by his overwhelming guilt and is seen talking to the shadow of his beloved grandmother Melati, portrayed by Dian P.  Ramlee. Melati visits Johan in his darkest moments being locked up, scaring his fellow inmates too. 

When Pak Hassan successfully gets imprisoned, he quickly meets with his grandson to ask him why he has been ignoring him. Johan reveals that he remembers his grandmother calling him a burden when he was younger, and how she tells him to not be a troublemaker when he first joined a gang. The film later reveals how Johan was responsible for the death of his grandmother. 

With both his grandparents by his side, Johan was finally forced to finally face his past and grief that he had been burying for so long. Instead of judgement, he is met with love and forgiveness that had been there all along. As Johan reflected on childhood memories of Hari Raya with his grandparents, especially during the tradition of seeking forgiveness through ‘salam’ - Johan finally understands a lesson they once taught him: forgiveness must start within. By accepting their forgiveness and most importantly, learning to forgive himself, Johan finds peace within and rekindles his bond with Hassan.

The film is available on Julie's official YouTube channel and was created in collaboration with GOVT.

"As we mark our fifth year of Raya storytelling, we take our audiences on a self-reflective emotional journey about familial reconciliation and forgiveness. Our film delves into the silent killer of unresolved guilt and grief that destroy family dynamics. However, Hari Raya is a time of renewal, healing, and second chances, and we show the importance of addressing the psychological barriers in our healing process," said Tzy Horng Sai, director of Julie’s Biscuits. 

"To bring this powerful narrative to life, we collaborated with esteemed actors, whose performances deeply embody the emotional weight of this story, making it all the more resonant and impactful," he added. 

Chief creative officer of GOVT, Aaron Koh said, “Unlike our previous Raya films, we wanted to deliver a wild rollercoaster of emotions this year, blending suspense, humour, fear, and sadness - to resonate with people from different backgrounds. It was a risky endeavour as we have grown a large fanbase over the years, with a recognisable Julie’s Raya tonality, which we have now completely flipped for this year’s."

"This festive season is the time for forgiveness, yet self-forgiveness, a powerful step to happiness and renewal in life – is rarely discussed. We hope that with this film, we can start conversations surrounding the subject matter and to get people to focus on themselves this Raya," Koh added. 

Last year, the biscuit brand tackled gender biases and stereotypes in artificial intelligence (AI) in its Raya ad titled "A Raya A.I.dilfitri ad". In the film, 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.

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. 

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