From kungfu cooking to hong bao strategies: 2017's funniest CNY videos

It's the time of year for pigging out on bak kwa and pineapple tarts, Vitamin C levels to go through the roof from having too many mandarins, and for young adults to be driven into hiding by nosy relatives asking about their love lives.

Yes, Chinese New Year is upon us once again.

As usual, various brands and companies in Singapore and Malaysia have released videos and advertisements to coincide with the holiday, which heralds the start of the year of the rooster.

The videos mostly take a light-hearted, humorous approach towards wishing customers a happy lunar new year.

Here are some of the most entertaining we've seen so far:

1. UFM 100.3

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UFM 100.3's annual Chinese New Year song for this year is a "spicy" affair. The Mandarin radio station released an original song called "prosperous buddy" (吉利 Buddy), also a play on "chilli padi", a condiment most food-loving Singaporeans are familiar with.

The infectious earworm uses simple, conversational lyrics, while the music video features the station's recognisable DJs dancing to the tune and mimicking the 'pok' sounds made by chickens.

2. StarHub

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YouTuber Eden Ang is once again at the centre of StarHub's latest Lunar New Year video. At least he's not misrecognising his relatives this time!

This year, the actor and his partner appear to have devised an ingenious hong bao strategy. A wink of the left eye for a $2 hong bao, while a right-eye wink means giving a $10 hong bao. However, the seemingly foolproof plan runs into trouble when they encounter a pesky housefly.

The video comes with the social message that "family is the greatest prosperity".

3. Tenaga Nasional Berhad

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Malaysia's national electricity provider's video, "Cooking Hustle", is one of the more cinematic videos this year, taking inspiration from Chinese wuxia films.

The plot revolves around three princesses trying to impress their mother-in-law by each cooking a dish for the reunion dinner. Laughs are to be had at the wonderfully exaggerated kungfu skills displayed by the first two princesses in the kitchen (starting a fire with your bare hands, anyone?), and also at the third princess having to pick up cooking tips from YouTube.

There's a social message to this video too. The mother-in-law is initially unimpressed with the three separate dishes, but the patriach saves the day by combining all three into a single dish, allowing the entire family to enjoy their reunion meal together. "When we come together, everything gets a little brighter," is the closing message.

4. Mercedes-Benz Malaysia

The video shows a man and a woman in a Mercedes, talking about the man's estranged older brother. However, the ending, in which it is not known if the brothers put aside their differences or continued their quarrel, left viewers confused and frustrated.

Some viewers also criticised the acting, with one disappointed Facebook user commenting: "I've seen porn with better actors and actresses than this."

Funny, just perhaps not intentionally.

Read also: If the point of this ad was to attract fiery comments, then Mercedes-Benz Malaysia gets it right

5. Watsons Malaysia

[embed]https://www.facebook.com/watsonsmalaysia/videos/10155594087634409/[/embed]

The pharmacy chain's music video, titled "Happy Beautiful Year" features a number of Malaysian celebrities, including model Amber Chia and DJ Leng Yein.

The video features a colourful cast of characters who get up to various hijinks before the entire group descend upon a Watsons store to be prettied-up.

Reactions from netizens were mixed, however. Some enjoyed the humorous, light-hearted nature of the video, while others felt that the video had discriminatory undertones.

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seanyap@sph.com.sg