KUALA LUMPUR, December 16 — Malaysian hip hop artist Airliftz shared his personal struggles in life through Colgate Malaysia's Smile Strong campaign.
The campaign, which aims to inspire Malaysians to rise above adversity by remaining optimistic, saw the rapper — or his real name Alif Aolani — give a glimpse into his life via a short film and an original soundtrack.
The We Are Stronger When We Smile short film takes viewers through several points of Airliftz’s life and showcases how he persevered through negativity due to his looks by keeping an optimistic state of mind.
"Having been called names all my life, I learned that negativity will only bring you down.
"It took me a while to stop listening to the negativity, but I had to search no further than within myself to find the strength - and it started with a smile.
"Fighting back is not my style. My way of tackling negativity is to lead it with kindness, be optimistic and just smile it away,” Airliftz said in a press statement.
The 90-second short film is now available on Colgate Malaysia and Singapore’s Youtube page while the official music video for Airliftz’s Smile Strong is available on the rapper’s Youtube page.
Colgate also encourages Malaysians to share their tales of optimism on social media along with the #smilestrong hashtag.
