With a gentle nudge into the direction of the latest Charlie Swinbourne’s post about the Thai Life Insurance’s advert that recently causes an Internet sensation. It was disheartening at how the content that the author wrote slamming the advert as if it was a parody, a cheap shot, whatever he likes to name it.

The video in question is this:

It has a powerful emotional feeling drawing you into the mystery of a short story. Advertising as we know can be brilliant, straightforward and can do wonders at your heart strings if done right. Just like the popular Embrace Life – always wear your seat belt advert appeared last year.

What made me squirm is how HERO DEAF DAD is presented throughout – in a very cartooney way. Obviously he communicates visually, but his signs and expressions seem particularly exaggerated (that said, I’m no expert on Thai Sign Language). Strangely, for a deaf person, he seems unaware that his daughter keeps looking at him with an angry stare, until that fateful birthday.

Sign language, in its own right, is a form of expression to deliver the tone of what we are trying to say just like speech itself. When we are angry, we tend to frown easily with a sense of emotional change charging our speech and body language. When we are happy, we are compliant, open to suggestions, etc.

Sometimes, we can go unaware missing the signs what is there. You can be a right shit today, a good person tomorrow, receptive the next. The main purpose to be driven here is that we think we are perfect the way we do things where we have underlying flaws.

What really bites is the final voiceover which says: ‘There are no perfect fathers. But a father will always love perfectly. Remember to care for those who care for you.

and…

Hold on… ‘no perfect fathers’? He seems pretty perfect to me. He’s even made the ultimate sacrifice for his kin. Ah I see. Something makes him imperfect… what could that be?

What was in the advert was a humble human being who believes that he tries to do the best in life he can be for the daughter no matter what. When we are deeply flawed in something, a hidden strength in us can come out of the depth to do something great for the purpose.

We are all human and we try our best to do what is right in our lives. You cannot control the elements out there and that undeniably makes us infallible. On the flip side of the coin, are we missing out the real terms of the advert is that Thai culture sees things differently than we do?