The Belo Men ads: on irony and hypocrisy
Tuesday, July 3, 2012 at 6:37AM This is a little late I know but I thought I'd share my two cents anyway. The protest train has come and gone, Belo has apologized and taken down the ads. But I thought this is a worthy point of discussion, particularly about irony and hypocrisy.
Last Sunday, Belo Men has released a new campaign promoting their whitening range for guys. Three ads came out showing a conyo guy who is supposedly 10% lighter and thus 100% more sosyal and attractive.
The knee-jerk reaction is that the ads are racist and promotes social stratification. But you know what? I think they're funny (while wrongly promoting social stratification, though definitely not racist)! The ads are tasteless but what Belo has here is self-deprecating sarcasm. Notice how the guy has a Kia - an old, far from sosy car. That's your giveaway. If there were only two ads or if his car is say, an Audi, I would think that Belo is being an asshole. But they're just trying to be funny, even going so far as to poke fun at their target market and even themselves.
Okay let's backtrack. From the car ad, we see a good looking guy throwing his keys at a valet in a swanky place. But he speaks in over-the-top conyoese and drives an old Kia, which means that he's not rich but that he's trying to climb the social grapevine. Being 10% lighter-skinned apparently makes him feel sosyal and confident enough to be wining and dining in an expensive place - even if he can't afford it.
The ad can be interpreted in any number of ways, but what I see is a brand making fun at middle-class men who want to be fairer to appear upper class. Oh don't tell me they don't exist, and don't tell me what you haven't thought of whiter-skinned guys (and girls) as well-off and maybe more attractive than your average dark guy. We live in a tropical country. Being fair-skinned is less common than being dark-skinned, so it is often considered a more attractive attribute. The added stigma of colonial mentality aside, of course.
I read somewhere that the anger directed at that infamous BAYO campaign is caused by the fact that those ads shone a light on something unpleasant in our collective psyche: we admire, sometimes even worship half Filipinos more than 100% Pinoy beauty. We think Solenn Heussaff, Georgina Wilson, Anne Curtis, and Phil Younghusband are gorgeous. That's not wrong - they are beautiful people - but it is a problem when we think that being half-foreign is a "sure formula for someone beautiful and world class" compared to being pure Pinoy.
The lack of faith in our capability, talent, and beauty as a people - something that plagues many of us privately - is directly at odds with our very public Pinoy Pride. This conflict of identity is not something we talk about, but when it was pointed out rather bluntly by a bad ad campaign, we got angry.
Likewise, these Belo ads pointed out something that we think to be true, but hate about ourselves: many of us think fairer means richer and more attractive. Okay fine that is a hasty generalization. Don't take me too seriously. But when I go to Bonifacio High Street or Greenbelt, there is a concentration of mestizas and chinitas - fair, well-dressed, reeking of money. Check out the top fashion bloggers locally and tell me most of them aren't fair-skinned.
We want to be them, but we also want to love ourselves just the way we are. Ano ba talaga?
I know that there are Filipinos who are absolutely comfortable in their skin, however light or dark it is. There are those who want to be fair straight out; they're being honest about themselves and what they want to achieve. But I also know there are Filipinos who condemn those who want to be fairer, while wishing deep inside that they were at least 10% lighter too. That's called hypocrisy.
We should get over this internal conflict regarding skin color and be mature enough as a people to respect each other's wishes regarding their personal appearance. We don't have to like them or agree with them; we merely have to live with them because they are not ours to make.
Some people want to have a narrow nose, a smaller waistline, whiter skin, whatever. If that is how they think they will be percieved as more beautiful and confident in a society that has a pre-defined notion of what is attractive then that's their business. :)
How about you, what do you think of this campaign?
Addendum. Some of you might ask - sure we should let people decide what's beautiful for them, but isn't it wrong that brands like Belo are brainwashing people to think that only white is beautiful? In my experience working with ad agencies, I've learned that brands first research what their customers want, measure the demand, then finally produce a product that will appeal to their target market.
They don't say, "Oh I want to blow millions of pesos developing a product that no one wants. Once I have it I will spend more millions of pesos to create a demand!" It doesn't go that way. The consumer determines what goes on the shelves. Companies merely supply what their market wants, in this case, it's whitening.
The desire to be fair is ingrained in our culture, methinks. We can't just pick it off like lint from a shirt; it is as much a part of us as our appendix is.
Reader Comments (11)
I can't tell you how many times I've ridiculed someone with an over-the-top conyo accent by saying things like, "akala mo kung sinong konyo, mukha namang maglulupa" --> referring, of course, to the fact that the people we call conyo are expected to be of Spanish descent and therefore fair-skinned, tall, and with an aquiline nose. Someone moreno and short who tries to speak with a conyo accent is ridiculous. You're right in calling it social climbing.
But as to the ad itself, perhaps a bit of restraint is necessary. When using irony or satire, you have to toe the line otherwise you cross into WTF territory. I get that it's trying to be funny, but maybe cheeky would have been better without going straight to "more numbers" in the last ad. I admit the one with the Kia is brilliant, though!
Masyado ng nagiging common ang ganitong issue. Hmmm, Kung keribels ng budget magpaputi edi go, kung love mo naman ang dark / medium skin tone mo then keep it glowing nalang. There's nothing wrong naman if someone wants to have whiter or fairer skin, since, I admit it, muka naman talagang mayaman kapag maputi, kasi kami nga ni mama pag nakakakita ng maputi, "May kaya yan nak, tignan mo yung kutis". And maybe it sounds too racist. Pero ganon talaga e, syempre pag keribels ng budget mo, you have lots of skin care products. At syempre kung mahirap ka naman, syempre uunahin mo pa ba yung pampaganda ng balat mo sa bigas mo? Let's respect nalang each other. Wag nalang maging judgmental at maging open-minded.
You're right. For me, there's nothing wrong with people who want to be more fair-skinned, who want bigger breasts, who want their extra fat removed. There's also nothing wrong with people who want to stay as they are. I say, live and let live. There are more pressing matters that merit our concern.
People forget that we are responsible for what we think of ourselves. People pass all the buck to media and ads all the time as if they're the ones who had the big hand in wanting to be fair.
Ads and media can aggravate the situation, but they don't deliberately go out of their way to make people believe they need to be lighter. People to whom these ads are targeted at already believe they need to be lighter. More often than not ads are more a reflection of what the market demands.
this campaign was being satirical of the market it was targeted to.
natawa ako kesa na offend.
unlike the bayo ad which i don't understand up until now -for only speaking to the "half and halfs"
Those who were offended are clearly, not the target audience of this ad. Yeah, it's actually funny. But I wish the last two were consistent with the first one though.
Natawa ako sa Kia ad! As in obviously satirical yung "conyoness" (kasi it's OA)!
I agree with Rae. We are responsible indeed for what we think.
Interesting read, Liz!
very well said! :D
i love what Rae had to say about taking responsibility. historically, fair skin was indeed a sign of belonging to a more affluent class because you were either mestizo or rich enough to not have to work in the fields all day. it's actually extremely silly to continue with this notion of fairer=better because the rich are getting darker from outdoor activities like surfing, which isn't exactly a cheap thrill. this is why i find the Belo golf ad completely ridiculous. :)
but really, it's tiring to hear people complain about how something is "racist" or whatever, especially when they can't even get the terminology correct. we don't complain about why a makeup brand is endorsed by a white girl with flawless skin, or how they never seem to use anything less than a perfectly proportioned model. yes, ads like the one produced by Belo or Executive Optical are in poor taste (and stupid) but they are reflections of our own perceptions.
Neither sarcasm nor irony distract from the fact that the ad says whiter = better.
We've a long history of being oppressed and insulted for our dark skin (300 years under Spanish rule, anyone?) and have long since been made to aspire to become our colonizers.