September 14, 2020, 03:52 PM
iQIYI Malaysia, an online movie and video streaming website, recently shared a poster to promote their campaign, #AnakMalaysia.
"Anak Malaysia" literally means "child of Malaysia", and it was meant to appeal to Malaysians by referring to them affectionately.
However, some have pointed out that the word "Anak" in the poster could be mistaken for another word, "Anal", due to the poor font choice and design elements.
The poster translates to, "Watch films like Ola Bola fo free during the campaign #AnakMalaysia".
Does anyone else see what I see? Kinda bums me out. pic.twitter.com/3moEZjWw6o
— Dr Jason Leong 🇲🇾 (@DrJasonLeong) September 12, 2020
Commenters online have since turned the matter into the butt of jokes and poked fun at it:
You shouldn’t be so anal about things
— Dr Haji Helmy (@dochelmy) September 12, 2020
Malaysian creativity, understanding if it is, ''Anal Malaysia'' or ''Anak Malaysia'' pic.twitter.com/SbQPrw1NKj
— SayingTheTruth (@SayingTheTruth3) September 14, 2020
https://twitter.com/RaviScam/status/1305232195041153024
Others wanted to know who created and approved the poster:
Hello, sapa buat poster #anakmalaysia ni ? 🤦🏽♀️
— Rahmah binti Madani (@kopikosongkaw1) September 12, 2020
OMG WHO APPROVED THIS 😂😂😂 pic.twitter.com/EE1TuqnSV9
— SHARMINE ISHAK (@SharmineIshak) September 13, 2020
While others criticised it for being less than child-friendly:
"Anak Malaysia" means "Child of Malaysia", but poor graphic design made this Chinese media company's ad less than child-friendly. pic.twitter.com/RLEfzigb6R
— Neil Sinhababu (@neilsinhababu) September 13, 2020
Apology
iQIYI took to their social media page to apologise for any confusion that the campaign poster might have caused.
They also promised to "check at least 50 times" in the future and confirmed that the logo was meant to spell "Anak Malaysia" and nothing else.
They added:
" P.S. To those who were confused about the logo, don't say it out loud in front of your children."
They asked that all #AnakMalaysia enjoy the films the streaming site is offering for free during the campaign period here.
View the full post here:
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Top photo via Velmuruga Kalimuthu and iQIYI Malaysia on Facebook
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