SUMMARY
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What makes a Filipino, Filipino? Is it color, birth, language, values, lineage, heritage, thought, nationality, sympathy for the race? Rappler kicks off what we hope to be a stimulating discussion on Filipino identity by featuring blogs and opinion pieces. We start off with this blog by Aristotle Cruz on the controversial Bayo ad which it posted on its website then took down, after netizens reacted negatively. Is there really a right mix to being Filipino?
Bayo (clothing brand) made Twitter headlines when a number of netizens found its recent marketing campaign offensive.
A line in the ad says, “Call it biased but the mixing and matching of different nationalities with Filipino blood is almost a sure formula for someone beautiful and world class.”
You really find it offensive? Really?
If that is not being balat-sibuyas (hyper-sensitive) to the extreme level then it cannot be anything else but plain hypocrisy.
Fact 1: The line just states a “fact,” nothing more. It does not claim anything else other than what it asserts. It does not even say that beauty is exclusive to those who are ‘half-breeds’ – it simply states that they generally are.
Fact 2: Nowhere in the article does it say that being pure Filipino is ugly or cannot be beautiful. This deduction is made by quasi-patriotic nincompoops who love exaggerating issues on “Pinoy Pride.”
Fact 3: Models, celebrities, movie and TV stars who these “offended netizens” patronize are either half Filipino with a mix of the following (but not limited to) race: Chinese, Japanese, American, British, Brazilian, Spanish, etc. I cannot fathom how they would scream seeing Anne Curtis at one point and frown when a comment like “most half-breeds are beautiful” is uttered. What gives?
Fact 4: When you have a Lady Gaga concert followed by the American Idol finals and then later by the conclusion of the impeachment trial, people need another “major event” to dip their fingers into. Sorry Jasmine Curtis, your Bayo billboard came when the Philippines was idle.
In other news, owners of Likas Papaya, along with several major whitening lotions and products, denied allegations of them being a major catalyst for the degradation of “nationalism” among Filipino teenage girls who want to have fair skin.
Also, a mass protest is being planned to be staged at the Edsa Monument which aims to condemn makers of glutathione products.
Fact 5: Scrap hypocrisy and what do you have? 70% of the population wanting to look foreign.
“Maganda ang pelikula parang gawang Hollywood!” said the very proud director and producer plus the excited actors and actresses. (The film was great, as if made by Hollywood producers!) Aren’t they supposed to be stoned to death by these so-called defenders of “Pinoy Pride?”
Maybe because these so called “patriots” are busy watching the latest installment of the Avengers franchise or the Transformers series. – Rappler.com
Share with us your thoughs on what makes a Filipino, or what it means to be Filipino. For opinion pieces, email desk@rappler.com with the subject PINOY AKO. For Twitter reactions, use #PinoyAko.
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