Top celebrity endorsers tell us something about Philippine society
A "study" conducted by Synergy Business Consultancy (SBC) revealed the most powerful celebrity endorsers in the Philippines, with Manny "Aprub Agad!" Pacquiao, Vicki "Charice's face is getting wider" Belo, and Venus "Major Major" Raj topping the list. These are people who will be paid millions by Big Corporate to stand behind their products flashing their winning smiles at their adoring fans.Buying a product on the basis of the celebrity endorsing it is the lowest form of consumerism. Not surprisingly, the SBC study which involved a survey of 1,000 Metro Manilans aged 15 to 60 years "revealed that 67% of its respondents bought a product or availed of a service due to a celebrity endorser".
The fact of 67% of the inhabitants of the nation's political, economic, and cultural capital making their purchasing decisions that way, plus the nature of the sure-thing endorsers themselves -- a dole-out King, a plastic "surgeon", and a pretty face who couldn't philosophize her way out of a paper bag reflects on the character of a society.
One thing's certain, both the celebrities and their employers will be laughing all the way to the bank, while the Filipino will go home with the products they deserve.
good lord. that pretty much sums up the Aquino presidency - won via endorsement.
ReplyDeletethe study accurately parallels the Philippine elections - the 67% spread out between endorsees Aquino, Estrada, and Villar.
while the more critical-thinking group is fighting over a small base of 33% - battle was over before it began - no thanks to a mass of pinoys who let others think for them.
nice challenge to face - increase the 33% and reduce the 67% - the quixotic hobbies we pursue.. lol
The 33% base is still a big number of individuals in absolute terms. If we apply that proportion to all Filipinos above 15 years of age, 33% of 61.2 million is 20.2 million people. That's a chunk of humanity that is almost equal in size to the population of Australia!
ReplyDeleteThe silver lining here is that people who vote for morons usually end their intelligent participation in the National "Debate" after they cast their vote. Beyond that they are merely ocho-ocho participants while the small minority of people who think continue to be engaged in the discourse. And that is our target audience -- the opinion shapers and those who have access to the resources to propagate memes.
Beyond that they are merely ocho-ocho participants while the small minority of people who think continue to be engaged in the discourse. And that is our target audience -- the opinion shapers and those who have access to the resources to propagate memes.
ReplyDeleteBut what good is it when you'll only be changing the memes they spout out of their mouths? "Yes We Can" was a meme, but it took more than that AFTER the 2008 election for the Americans to get off their couches to do something.
It's like the so-called "Anonymous" we've heard about in the WikiLeaks scandal.
It derives its name from the fact that you can post an image on a place like 4chan without a username, hence anonymous posting. The vast majority of users are sweaty, underaged-yet-neckbearded basement (or comparable room in countries without basements) looking for fapping material and a place to spout racist slurs for kicks (i.e. the 'lulz.) It's only a minority that takes the 'Anonymous' label TO THA NEXT LEVEL, and even then they're really just running a DDoS protocol and thinking they're l337 h4xx0r.