Richard: Good genes aren't enough

Although there is admittedly a serious case of urban blight in the metropolis, most manufacturers are left with little option, but to get into outdoor advertising through billboards since the cost of ad spots on TV have already become so prohibitive.

This is a fact of life city rats have to accept and live with — along with the pollution — if they want to continue holding residence in Metro Manila.

Yes, those billboards are here to stay — not because undergarment manufacturers are having fun shocking the city population with the images of their endorsers in various stages of dishabille. Those companies actually need to call consumer attention and advertise.

EDSA is most ideal since it is the one thoroughfare that has the largest concentration of commuters in Metro Manila where we find the biggest product consumption in the country. Manufacturers who put up billboards mean serious business.

And believe me, even billboard endorsers are just as serious. They spend money, energy and time to get into shape to become billboard-worthy. They don’t just face the camera like they enter a Photo-Me booth for passport pictures. It takes months to look perfect for billboards.

Last Saturday night, while outdoor advertisers were still getting confused with regard to guidelines pertaining to billboards (some of which were taken down just the other week), Flawless decided to push through with the photo shoot of one of the skin company’s major endorsers, Richard Gutierrez.

I decided to drop by the studio of Jason Quibilan of Shutter Space (along Katipunan Avenue) to throw my support to Richard and the Flawless team (headed by Rubby Sy and brand manager Jacqueline Thng).

At the entrance sat Richard’s famous mom Annabelle Rama, who couldn’t be bothered with her meal — rice and lechon Cebu that she brought whole for everyone to enjoy. She generously offered it to everybody. Everyone, except Richard.

Richard claims he also adores lechon Cebu, but that is the last food you want to touch if you are working on your billboard. Like any other artist, he is very passionate about his job and ignoring fatty, sweet and salty food is part of the discipline.

 While he was posing for the camera, I found out that chicken is already the most sinful dish he consumes when working on a billboard project. It’s mostly fruits and salad for him. Brown rice — but only if he is truly tired and starved.

The discipline doesn’t end there. He runs hours — near his condo in The Fort, at the Manila Polo Club and at times at the ULTRA. He also swims and drives to CamSur to join triathlons.

For this shoot, he also started taking one of Flawless’ newest products: Skin Lift (collagen tablets), which is the line he is endorsing for the company. This may surprise you, but even somebody as young as Richard may start taking collagen supplements because its production slows down when we reach our mid-20s. Collagen is important to the body because it helps provide us strength and promotes skin elasticity. Flawless’ Skin Lift also helps improve strengthen the nails and the shaft of our hair, takes out crow’s feet, reduces cellulite aside from other physical benefits.

Unfortunately, for Richard he belongs to a generation of stars where mere good genes aren’t enough. Aside from possessing demigod-like facial features, they also need to have chiseled bodies they have to slave out for.

All the hard work he had been putting to it certainly paid off. Here are his sample shots by Jason Quibilan that you are seeing for the first time — as in fresh from the oven. 

He did six layouts with Jason, except that we cannot accommodate all that in this column. But there is one where he looks exactly like his very good-looking father, Eddie Gutierrez in Eddie Long Legs. My favorite shot, however, is the glamour one in the tradition of classic Hollywood poses a la Cary Grant.

These photos will rise in Flawless billboards in a few months. I bet nobody will complain for his images may even refresh the dizzying look of this blighted metropolis.