Seafood City, a grocery store in the United States that serves the Filipino and Asian communities, has a ridiculous ad on display at its lobby. Many thanks to a reader who sent me the pictures taken with his cellphone. It has the characteristics of things laughable and sickening in the Filipino culture and none of a good advertisement.
It proudly proclaims the Philippines as a first world country and the nation as a world class people. It extols the Filipinos as great achievers standing tall among nations, the envy of every developing country. Thanks to Seafood City, a partner in nation-building, the Filipinos are now an elite people, homelessness will be a thing of the past (thank heavens there is Gawad Kalinga), and nothing can stand on our sprint to first world status.
Excuse me?
Claims like these do not make us proud, they only make us look stupid. And the butt of jokes, even among ourselves. I am not sure if they are an adjunct of the palace by the river — you would think it’s La Gloria saying those things — but whoever wrote and conceptualized this should be fired and whoever approved it should forever be consigned to the grocery store’s fish cleaning section without gloves if only to make him/her realize how this idea is worse than malansang isda.
I have no beef with Seafood City. It is comforting to know that our kababayans have a first world version of our palengke where they can regularly buy their food. I can’t imagine Filipino life without buying the fish, fruits and vegetables regularly. We cook everyday or whenever possible. We love the pleasure of having a lutong-bahay in whatever form it may come – from the poor man’s dried fish to the haute cuisine.
But I totally disagree when it absurdly paints Seafood City as the hallmark of the Philippines’ unstoppable march to progress, trumpeting grocery business as the engine to economic salvation. For a country that ranks first in the world in rice importation and whose labor force export is the biggest in the world this claim is comically stupid.
Such preposterous claims is not really uncommon among our people. We have been so desperate in achievement we hear of copycats being hailed as better than the original, of hollywood extras allegedly outshining the lead stars, or yes, of our economic performance being better than industrialized countries (ramdam na ramdam na. ) We have escaped too far from reality we think imitation is far more superior than originality, or the petty undertaking is a brilliant feat, or the ordinary act is a most inimitable task.
And the ad then makes a curious connection to the household income level of the Filipino immigrant community citing a CNN report that lists us second to Indian nationals, making us an elite group ((yes, Juan the Filipinos are an elite nation – the most corrupt in Asia, Olympics losers – not even a coconut shell medal to take home–, a fake president for 4 years and threatening to be for eternity if we don’t do anything about it) This elite group then, in its fantastic analysis, transfers progress back to the Philippines in various ways from supporting charitable programs like Gawad Kaliinga (which is or was(?) in limbo due internal wrangling — apparently, even Couples for Christ is not immune to separation or what otherwise amounts to divorce) to sending money to their relatives or building houses in loud ridiculous barbie-doll-look colors.
Look, it said, there is no room for slums in a first world country, and through Gawad Kalinga, those shanties and every anti-social acts associated with it from drugs to alcohol to illiteracy to crime will disappear like the last patch of darkness in a bright sunrise. Ahh, marvel at the transformation as it proudly displays a before and after picture of a shanty (by the riverbank?) colony. See the magical makeover? Well, we will do it a million times over. You wish.
This reminds me of the idea of Wowowee trying to solve poverty and making people’s dreams come true through its Willy of fortune segment or its various incarnations. It creates a false sense of hope among the people while it entertains them in a futile escape from poverty that actually spirals down to their inevitable doom.
Lest I forget, I have no beef with Gawad Kalinga either. I think it’s a very Christian way of spreading the gospel of Christ. But to make it the panacea to poverty and underdevelopment is to be most unscientific in its approach no matter how good the intention is. At the very least it ignores the root causes of poverty and glosses over the culpability of those responsible for it.
I laud the efforts of Seafood City in trying to create a Filipino community and bring some hope and pride among the people. But it cannot be at the expense of reality and truth (in advertisement). It should be exercised with creative skill and not with reckless ignorance.
This ad is not exactly a fine example of exaggeration in advertisement but rather a pathetic attempt to normalize the absurd.
See related post Get Real for a Change
Posted by diego rojo banaag 
