Mind Wars
This column is all about media as the battleground of the marketing world – a world constantly at war as each company pushes its brands in the name of service to the consumer, providing us with goods and services that our everyday lives depend on. Needless to say, political parties are also companies that push for their individual candidates as brands, promoting them and “selling” them to voters at election time. It is also about the marketing of media themselves – how individual media channels compete for our attention, and consequently become molders of our tastes and preferences.
As we write this piece, an online campaign is snowballing in Facebook.
Check it out:
Link here.
Dennis Garcia issued a manifesto addressed to advertisers on TV5’s popular show, Willing Willie…
“Dear Advertisers on Willing Willie:
(P&G’s Head & Shoulders
UFC Cook & Dip Catsup
Oishi Cookies
Smart C Drinks
Jollibee’s Mang Inasal
Unilever’s Rexona
Pepsodent
Vaseline
Surf Liquid Detergent
Glutamax Face Cream
Pau Liniment
Yakult
CDO Funtastyk Young Pork Tocino
Technomarine
Will Tower Mall
Daily Spell fragrance
Wil Cologne
Protec-Cee
Foton Automobile
Manny Villar’s Camella Homes
Cebuana Lhuillier)
We will no longer sit by and watch as our children's identities are formed by superficial and trashy TV programs.
We are sick and tired of the constant debasement and exploitation of the poor, the use of young women as sex objects - as well as the shabby treatment that impressionable kids get in programs like this.
From hereon, we are silencing the images that enter our homes and collide with the kind of values that we want our children to be raised with.
We will not hesitate to boycott your products if you continue propping up TV shows that are crass, vulgar and irrelevant to our lives.
This is not a threat but a promise.”
Now this will be a very interesting development. Let us see how far this will go. For those of you looking for some kind of reference or benchmark, many years ago, the top rating show was “See-True,” a talk show hosted by Inday Badiday. In one of its episodes, a guest banged the microphone on another guest’s head in the course of a heated argument being aired live on TV. The reaction from the advertiser community was immediate. All the major advertisers pulled out their ads in the show. After a few weeks of running without ads, the network decided to cancel the show completely. Was it a sign of remorse for having allowed such barbaric behavior to be broadcast on television? Or was it simple economics at work? – no TV show can survive without advertising support (unless it could be funded some other way, like how religious programs are funded by donations).
There is a slight difference between the two cases. In the case of See True, it was the advertiser community that reacted to the violent incident in the show. In the case of Willing Willie, it is the audience reacting to the show. From what we remember, See True’s ratings did not suffer because of the incident (it might actually have gotten higher because of it), but the network couldn’t stand the heat from the advertiser community. In the case of Wiling Willie, as far as we can gather, none of the advertisers have reacted to the incident.
Will they start to take notice now? Now that there is a move to “fight back” from the consumers? As the saying goes, “Abangan ang susunod na kabanata…”
Add this page to your favorite Social Bookmarking websites
More on Perspectives
- 0
- 1
- 2
- 3
Federalism, Government Debt, Civil Society and the Private Sector Putting high emphasis on one form of government tend to blind people into glorifying one form over another, hoping that such change in political structure will deliver the necessary development ... Read more Less Government | Nonoy Oplas | Sunday, 20 May 2012 | Hits: 42 | Comments |
Avengers Assemble As our movie houses are conquered by “The Avengers” and as that pelenovela (political-economic telenovela) unfolds in the Senate, some other matters with long-term implications are transpiring in the halls ... Read more Warp 9! | Louie Montemar | Friday, 18 May 2012 | Hits: 40 | Comments |
Fixing the President’s Image for the General Welfare: An Open Letter to the Presidential C The past week, we heard confirmation from the President himself that he and Ms. Grace Lee, a TV and radio personality have gone separate ways – claiming that they are ... Read more Trend Blazer | Aaron Benedict De Leon | Friday, 18 May 2012 | Hits: 41 | Comments |
A Tale of Two Fights: The Thrilla in NAIA and Game 7 of the PBA FinalsSunday, May 6 was quite an eventful day for many. It was a day of fights and competition, where the victors were supposed to stand tall and the ... Read more Trend Blazer | Aaron Benedict De Leon | Friday, 11 May 2012 | Hits: 150 | Comments |