I’m not a big fan of television. Ever since I got my first laptop, I have not watched TV a lot. I turned it on sometimes whenever I needed background noise, and I still do though. Starting this November, analog broadcasts nationwide were gradually shut down, shifting to digital broadcasts and I am not really happy about it. The thing is my TV set does not support digital broadcasts. My parents bought the TV in 2008 or 2009 and it’s been 13 or 14 years since we first set that TV in our living room (we moved it to my bedroom when my parents bought a new, better, bigger TV set around three or four years ago) so the technology has become obsolete. I told my mother that the TV could no longer show analog broadcasts and I had to buy a set-top box to receive digital broadcasts but she believed that my TV supported digital broadcasts for quite a mind-boggling reason.
“That’s an LG TV, just like the one in the living room so there should be some settings you can access to receive the digital broadcasts.”
I told her that I had made sure that my TV really doesn’t support it but she persisted. She even called my uncle to come and check the TV settings in an attempt to show me that the TV had a special setting for digital TV services, only to face the bitter truth: my TV, indeed, does not support digital broadcasts.
Well, mom. You never listen to me. Never.
Anyway, a little throwback to my childhood, back when the internet was not widely used and we had to use dial-up to connect to the internet, TV was the main source of entertainment. I grew up watching Sunday cartoons, MTV, and quizzes, and I had a soft spot for commercials. I still do. There is something heartwarming and comforting about TV commercials. As I said before, sometimes I turn on the TV when I need background noise while working or relaxing, and TV commercials provide better noise, compared to TV programs. Perhaps it is because commercials last for a short period, ranging from 15 to 60 seconds, meaning that every 15 or 30 seconds, there will be a new commercial and that’s what makes commercials more alive and unique, at least for me. There was a time when the popular cigarette brand Djarum had its latest commercial broadcasted on several stations. Running for more than two minutes, the commercial portrays the story of two friends who are joining a surfing competition. They fight over a girl, and one of them ends up having an accident after trying to save his friend. The visuals are breathtaking and the story is moving. My mom wondered how much the company had to pay to the stations.
There are some old commercials that I simply cannot forget. Some are memorable for their unique plots or music, some are just frightening, and scary commercials are the ones that easily stick to my mind. For some, they might not seem frightening but I just find some things scary, even though they are actually normal and “harmless”. Some elements or parts of the commercial videos lend a horror touch, and some commercials are just spooky in nature. I remember I was in the fourth grade, and there was a commercial for cough syrup. The premise is quite simple: the brand is promoting the syrup, offered in a box containing seven syrup packs, meaning that there is one pack for each day in a week. The plot follows a family dealing with cough, with a different family member taking one pack each day. One night, an unseen entity opens the medicine box and the last pack is seen flying away from the box. The next morning, the last family member finds himself scared upon wondering who took the last pack. It might seem funny now but back then, it was quite a scary commercial.
I am scaredy-cat though so yeah, that explains everything.
Another commercial that gives me creep came from the laundry softener brand Molto. Someone uploaded the video to YouTube and I can still find it. The last time I saw it, I still found it creepy. The commercial was broadcasted in celebration of Mother’s day, and I think I was in the fifth or sixth grade. Rendered in black and white, the commercial video shows footage of various spots in a house—from an empty living room with a moving robot toy to an unsettlingly quiet poolside, all without the presence of any humans until a black screen with “They say nothing lasts forever” text appears, followed by footage of a mother chatting with her son and another black screen with “Except mother’s love” text before the commercial ends with a “Happy Mother’s Day” greeting accompanied by, of course, the brand’s logo and products. At first, I didn’t think much about it until my cousin, on one occasion, mentioned the commercial and how the footage gave an impression of “a big house left empty after the death of its owners because nothing lasts forever”.
Back when I was way younger, RCTI (a national station) broadcasted a music program for kids called Tralala Trilili, hosted by Agnez Mo and Indra Bekti (replacing Fery Martawidjaja). I enjoyed the program and my mother also approved it, saying that “This is a better music program for kids as it is both entertaining and educating.” Some commercials could be expected during the break, of course, but there was one commercial—like a public service announcement highlighting the May 98 riots. Stills showing rioters looting shops, buildings on fire, and victims lying on the street were set to a gloomy rendition of Indonesia Pusaka. I couldn’t find the video anywhere on the internet but I still remember it pretty well and get goosebumps every time I play it in my head. Another public service announcement with a focus on tuberculosis also scared me. The video was broadcasted day and night, even during prime time. The video comprised three stills. I couldn’t recall the first two ones but the last one showed a vast graveyard with a short description mentioning the number of deaths by the disease.
In 2004, the first season of Indonesian Idol was aired. My family watched it sometimes. During breaks, an old commercial for Nokia was broadcasted. It was like a general advertisement for the brand without a focus on a specific product but what I found scary is a scene where a man living in a modern flat looked at an old family photograph, and all of sudden the people in the photograph appear, wearing all-white frock-like pieces while throwing color bombs. Considering it is an old photograph, I assumed that they were already dead and now enjoying a fun time in the afterlife. I also couldn’t find this video on YouTube or the internet. The concept reminds me of AronChupa’s Rave in the Grave music video… but simpler and less flashy.
A commercial for Berri Juice (marketed as Jus Berri) also scared me back then. The brand had two commercials whose plots were different, yet somehow intertwined with each other. Starring Rachel Maryam, the first commercial showed a man on the verge of jumping off his window. Maryam observes the situation while enjoying a pack of Jus Berri. A police officer suddenly appears in the window, releasing a dove and subsequently surprising the man. Shocked, he loses his balance and falls to the ground, followed by a loud meowing sound. As other police officers approach the man, Maryam is seen smiling while sipping the juice. The second commercial shows Maryam in an open area, sipping juice (again). She sees a group of people wearing all-black outfits walking while crying, seemingly lamenting the death of someone but here comes the plot twist: it is a white cat named “Miaow” that dies. Despite having different plots, I think the cat in the second commercial is the cat in the first commercial. It was funny but the photo of the cat was scary (for me), especially with “Miaow” printed in Copperplate Gothic, which reminds me of My Chemical Romance’s Helena.
And oh, speaking of scary commercials, one cannot simply skip the infamous Sunsilk commercial. Aired in the early 2000s, the commercial shows a couple enjoying their day in a garden. The man keeps complimenting her beauty and her hair, and suddenly there is a scene where a wider area in the background is shown and a black apparition is seen. This commercial became the talk in my school, especially among those who watched TV a lot and were simply into “conspiracy theories” and “ghost stories”. And yes, there is a funny personal story about this commercial. At school, my friends talked about the scary advertisement, proposing a plethora of theories about why the ghost appeared and even the “dark history” of the shooting set, and I really had no idea about the apparition or, rather, I didn’t see it. At home, I told my nannies about it, and, to my surprise, they saw the apparition in the commercial. “They will air the commercial tonight during the break. I’ll show you where it is,” one of my nannies said. We had two TVs back then; the newer one was in the “entertainment” room while the old, boxy one was in the living area. There was no wall separating the entertainment room and the living room; the only thing diving the areas was an arch. My nannies watched the TV in the living area while I was in the entertainment room. I kept asking where the ghost was and finally, my nannies screamed while telling me where it was. I found it, saw it, and screamed, running back to my nannies.
There are more old commercials that gave me a fright. I was able to find some of them on YouTube and add them to a playlist. Now that I have grown up and can see things from various perspectives, the commercials are not that scary but still, they have some elements that successfully give me the creeps. All and all, these commercials assure that I, indeed, am a scaredy-cat.
Junseo's Thoughts 