Chickaboo-inspired ads flying high on the Internet

PETALING JAYA: Inspired by the nation’s most famous ostrich Chickaboo, businesses in Malaysia let their imaginations run wild today, unleashing Chickaboo-centric advertisements on social media.

Smartphone maker Huawei was among the first to latch on to the Chickaboo-craze by promoting the abilities of its camera on its P9 phone.

The ad described the phone’s camera’s auto-focus as being “faster than a feathered fugitive.”

It is unknown if Chickaboo will be summoned by the police for dashing across the Federal Highway yesterday or why it did so, but Dominos Pizza, in their advertisement offered one possible reason when it claimed Chickaboo was rushing back to break fast with Domino’s 2-for-RM27 pizza promotion.

Opitcal 88 also got in on the act, with an advertisement which read: “A real ostrich? Yes? No? You need a clear lens to SEE BETTER”.

Riding on the speed at which the ostrich was running at, Pos Malaysia also released an advertisement on Facebook, with Chickaboo standing in front of a Pos Malaysia counter, saying “Fuhh! Luckily I made it in time.”

Other brands that also released Chickaboo-inspired advertisements were Daisy, The Beer Factory, Digi, Vivo, Malaysiakini, Kilkenny Malaysia, Baba’s Curry Powder, Chevrolet, Pusat Pungutan Zakat Majlis Agama Islam Wilayah Persekutuan and SWCorp.

BFM radio station, known for its taglines which play on the abbreviation BFM, released one poster which read ‘Bird Flees Motorists.’

Meanwhile CIMB Bank shared a poster of the ostrich dashing down the highway with the message: ‘Running towards my RM1 dining deal.”

The various creative social media posters kept up the enthusiasm and excitement created by the runaway bird much to the delight of netizens, with some of the advertisements gathering thousands of ‘likes’ and shares on Facebook.

Many hailed the advertisements as creative and marketing brilliance at play, while others said the ads were funny and cute.

Individuals on social media also took to unleashing their creative side, with one Instagram account, Bearded Asian Official, uploading an edited version of the Chickaboo video with Chamillionaire’s Ridin’ playing in the background.

Chickaboo, grabbed headlines yesterday when it jumped out of the pickup truck it was travelling in and dashed across the Federal Highway.

It was subsequently recaptured and has since gone home to the Ostrich Wonderlands farm in Semenyih.