A chain reaction?

I don’t know if we have accidentally started a chain reaction, stirred a hornet’s nest or probably opened a Pandora’s Box when we wrote our comments here about a certain recent TV ad for a fast food chicken sandwich and another for a vitamin supplement, this one aired some years back, which both did not sit well with what I consider as decently and tastefully done commercials. I even refer to them as even revolting to the senses.

I have received quite a few agreeing reactions to what we wrote, one of which I even appropriated some space here in our column last week. That particular kind of reader also volunteered to us that the Cebu Pacific TV ad, which is presently being aired on television, is what she considered as a well-made ad that even promotes the right values.

Well, I received another letter that’s still on the topic of good and bad TV ads that I feel is worth sharing with our other readers. This one comes from Ms. Susan Tcheng-Lee and she writes…

"You mentioned about this commercial on a certain vitamin supplement, which was done in bad taste, years ago. Just recently, I have also seen a commercial along similar line, I don’t even remember what product is being endorsed because each time I see it I immediately switch channel especially if my daughter is watching with me.

"The ad features a married couple quarreling and violently shouting at each other and throwing things that get in their way. The husband, suffering from colds, is prevented by the wife from getting near their child. No product will sell with such kind of advertisement. It so unreasonable, OA and heartless to violently fight over very petty things in front of a child. That is not what we want to impart to the Filipino audience especially to the Filipino family, is it? We don’t need such trash particularly at this time when families are threatened by lack of love and understanding between husband and wife.

"And speaking of conjugal love, I find one McDonald’s commercial realistic and very human. It shows of a wife somewhat indisposed and asks many favors from her husband. When I see this ad, I smile because being pregnant myself and limited in my movements, I usually ask my husband to do things for me. The only thing I don’t like about the ad is that the husband seems to be very unhappy taking orders from her wife. (That’s usual and normal under the circumstances!). In the end, perhaps both realizing their faults, they smiled at each other. With this commercial, I learned not to be too demanding from, and to be more giving to, my husband. Being physically indisposed (or pregnant) is not an excuse for me to act like I should no longer move or that I should be treated like a queen. For us who are fortunate to have affectionate husbands, we should not abuse their kindness.

"Keep it up Butch! We need more ad reviewers like you."

Thanks for the kind words but really and truly I don’t think I have the inclination to be an out and out ad critique. What I’ll probably do is just write about ads that are either really revolting to me and I feel do not have the right to be shown or those which I feel promote value formation especially for our youth. And I’d like our readers to just drop us a line whenever they too feel the same. You’ll be most welcome.

PBA Should Have ‘Bitten The Bullet’

The Philippine Basketball Association, considered as the premier "pay for play" league in this part of the world, has made announcements that they would start taking longer looks at the Fil-Am players’ situation and start considering the plight of local players that have been most affected by their wanton recruitment robbing our local boys the opportunity to shine.

Although some members of the league itself were overheard saying, "It’s about time." Some keen observers of the PBA are wary that all these window dressing that the PBA management seems to be making are just to divert the public’s attention from the fact that some players still presently active in the hard court have been unmasked as Fil-Shams!

The present management, which some veteran managers of the league reportedly blatantly consider as weak and highly beholden to some team owners, is lame in making decisive moves to put some integrity in the league by simply taking out or suspending players who have been pinpointed, by a formal Senate inquiry itself no less, as illegitimate Fil-Ams.

Many observers are saying that as soon as the results of the Senate investigation came out, which placed a very thick veil of doubt on some players’ legitimacy, what the management should have done, in due respect to the integrity of the Philippine Senate, was to place the burden of proof on the suspected players. Now, while the involved players’ try to disprove the findings of the Senate inquiry, they should have been suspended from playing. This is again to show due respect to our august legislative body that went to such lengths just to uncover the truth with the end view of being able to craft a legislation that would protect us from these impostors in the future.

What many are saying is that the PBA should have "bitten the bullet" just for the sake of cleaning the league, no matter who gets hurt, as the league’s integrity is paramount. The prolonged playing of these suspected Fil Shams is an embarrassing outright mockery not only of the rules of the PBA, worse of the country’s laws.

Faced with this disgusting scenario a former stalwart was heard saying, "A leader, who’s subserviently beholden to those who installed him as such, is a failed leader from the start."

The GSIS Will Collapse If…!!!

The president and general manager of the Government Service Insurance System will be on the spotlight on Breaking Barriers this Wednesday at 11 o’clock in the evening on IBC TV-13 to shed light on persistent allegations of fund mismanagement and other issues that presently hound this government institution that’s tasked to ensure the financial security of government employees during and after rendering service.

Atty. Winston Garcia shall share with us some vital insights about the inevitable catastrophic fate of the GSIS if the programs and reforms that he has instituted, which are on the pipeline are not fully implemented or would fail. He shall also bare the rational behind the much-criticized purchases of art pieces worth millions of pesos despite the bleak future the institution faces. There’s a lot to learn about the GSIS this Wednesday night.

Mabuhay!!! Be proud to be a Filipino.

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