DQ LED Torches Ad

DQ LED Torches

By and large, this advertisement has to be the most in tune with the season. The copy did what writing “Merry Christmas” in flashy laser and neon couldn’t: spreading the light.

Depicted herein are DQ flashlights, casting light on speeches made by four of the most altruistic people to walk the earth. The timeliest, on account of the US presidential election, may have to be the one given by civil rights activist Martin Luther King Jr. On August 28, 1963, before a multitude of 250,000 at Washington DC’s Lincoln Memorial, King uttered “I have a dream.” He dreamt of a world sans racial discrimination, and now it’s come to this.

He must have been dreaming of Barack Obama’s momentous election, or Beyonce sashaying on MTV just like any blonde girl. Sadly, King didn’t live long to see these happen. Five years after his famous speech, King was assassinated.

Leading to that, King had to contend with arrests and death threats, but he never got to resorting to violence, in the vein of the original pacifist, Mahatma Gandhi. Both share many parallels so it’s only apt both should end up on the same print ads.

Gandhi blazed the trail of resistance based on “noncooperation and nonviolence,” as the copy goes. The speech reprinted in the ad was made on the same year Gandhi started peaceful protests against British rule in India, ultimately paving the way for the country’s independence. He wasn’t as successful with ending the ancient strife between Muslims and Hindus though, and he paid with his life for it.

Good thing then that Mandela did not share their fate. Somehow he embodies King’s dream, only that it was realized in South Africa, not the US. For a bit of history, Nelson Mandela is that nation’s first black president, symbolizing the end of “apartheid” or racial segregation there. The ad contains a transcript of the speech he gave during his inauguration on May 10, 1994.

No talk of righteousness is complete without the heretofore Living Saint, Mother Teresa. DQ pays homage to this saintly woman by printing her Lecture upon receiving the Nobel Peace Prize in December 1979. Born Agnes Gonxha Bojaxhiu, Mother Teresa felt the plight of India’s destitute and dying, such that she dedicated her whole life in their service.

Righteous light, it’s the most devilishly divine sales pitch yet. When you get past these ads, you’re going to need the flashlights, partly because it’s a wintry night out there, but mostly because you’ll be inspired to cut through the Valley of the Shadow of Death.

Advertising Agency: Firstell Communications, Shanghai, China
Creative Director: Murphy Chou
Art Director: Murphy Chou, Kens Cao
Copywriter: Murphy Chou, Yanli Song