KUALA LUMPUR: Animated funnyman and BoBoiBoy series regular Papa Zola has been a hit on YouTube and TikTok since yesterday.
His first major Hari Raya Aidilfitri advertisement Papa Pipi Pindah has garnered 13 million views within 24 hours of its release last Friday.
The touching advertisement in which Papa Zola, his wife Mama Zila, and daughter Pipi are forced to move out of their house following his retrenchment has touched viewers of all ages, and some of them have strongly identified with his plight.
Many of them admitted that the part when Pipi asked her father to take one last photograph of the family outside the house moved them to tears.
"Poor Papa Zola and family. I was once retrenched and I know how it feels to share the bad news with your loved ones," said a Netizen, Rafi, who watched the advertisement.
BoBoiBoy's animation company Monsta's media director Faiz Zainal Abidin said on Instagram yesterday that Papa Zola might not be the cartoon series' hero but he is already a hero by being a good husband to his wife and a good father to his daughter.
"Papa Zola is a family man who does his best for his loved ones. Despite his flaws he wears his heart on his sleeve and strives to give them his best in everything," he said, adding that his humane qualities endeared him to fans.
In the animated series, Papa Zola is one of pre-teen superhero BoBoiBoy's instructors who always gives him useful advice and ideas in thwarting the supervillains they face daily.