According to Jessica Zafra, the publisher of trendy new culture magazine Flip, this is part of a Filipino global conspiracy for world domination, since we quite literally have the world by its underpants. (Move over Doctor Evil.)
And it's an issue which spills over to our humble trade too. At the recent 4As Ad Summit, this debate (more of a nice little chat really) was crystallised in a topic, which went something like: would we win more international awards if our ads were more Filipino?
Of course everyone said yes. And then proceeded to argue about what they meant by that. Sociologist Randy David said yes, people need stories that they can relate to. Agency head Emily Abrera and production honcho Amar Gambol also said yes, and that on the whole, ads were more Pinoy in the past than they are now. And that we would win more if more agencies entered their work. (Too true - you've got to be in it to win it.)
We were fortunate enough to have with us the head of Unilever Philippines, Howard Belton, who basically said that as far as he was concerned we were getting more than our fair share of the awards that really mattered: the, er, Unilever worldwide effectiveness awards. (Emphasis his, but further exaggerated by me.)
And what's more those artsy-fartsy shows like Cannes are rigged in favour of First World 'big' boys like the US and the UK, so as far as he's concerned they don't matter. (And, let's remember, this is The Client.)
Since I was there making up the numbers I chipped in with a couple of what I felt were salient points. One, the 'big boys' at Cannes include Brazil, Spain and little Singapore. Are a certain percentage of winners 'questionable'? Yes. Is the judging perfect? No. Is it the only system we have for evaluating one idea over another? Erm, well ... exactly.
Still, why bother? Well, back to Belton, who was gracious enough to allow that yes, regional commercial productions are on the increase and that no, the Philippines isn't exactly always top of mind for sourcing them.
As for what makes an ad Filipino, well a good picture came from an ad picked as the 'best of the last 25 years'. It has a group of guys arguing about what food goes best with San Miguel Beer. One says 'goat' the other says 'squid.' Until a third stops the shouting to say he has the answer.
Turning to the expectant waiter with much drama he orders: "a small plate of peanuts, please".
Now imagine that tale told much better by some of your country's best-loved stars and you may get close to understanding the appeal. (And, yes, I'd rather have the peanuts too.) Cheers.
