Philippine Presidential Elections and TVCs

The quality of candidates in this year's Philippine presidential elections seem to be much better than in the past elections.

Of the TVCs, in terms of quality and message, I think Manny Villar's is consistently the best. Ever updated and renewed, the TVCs capture all crucial markets, including OFWs, youth, and the masses. The run of these advertisements are comprable to those run by multinational brands...it started out in the form of viral-style ads to catchy jingles, to "visionary" PSAs. This truly reflects the professionalism and business acumen of Manny Villar campaign team. You can sense the emotional connection that the ads possess.

Of all candidates, I think manny Villar is the only candidate who made a truly bold claim -- of eradicating poverty. Other candidates simply talked about "being with the masses" or "quick recovery" or "revolution" but simply lacked the personal experience that Villar had from rags to riches. Manny Villar is the only one who could balance the interests of the masses and business, as he personally experienced poverty and the hardships of business to managing a large real-estate company. I believe a rags to riches entrepreneur and manager is the only qualified person to lead the country, as the Philippines never had the liked of Villar in its political history.


I am quite dissapointed with Noynoy's ads and candidacy. He just jumped into the presidency after her mother's death and Mar's clever political tactic of running as VP instead. The first ad was more like a people power revolution or nationalistic ad, with a celebrity touch. I believe he saved millions of pesos in endorsement/talent fees due to her sister's backing. The second ad (similar but far inferior to Villar's vision/social contract TVC) is quite boring, abstract and not clear-cut. The line "...hindi ako magnanakaw" is not something interests the country, since we already experienced Cory presidency. We all know that the Aquinos' integrity image is solid, but their subordinates and all the rest are crooks. In contrast, Villar's clear message of eliminating the need (for officials) to be corrupt is a breath of fresh air. Moreover, "tasty food in the table" weighs much more than Arroyo's (and others') "food in every table" and ""fighting hunger" slogans. Noynoy's 3rd ad, geared towards the youth, reminds us of the previous "Eddie Tayo" youth-oriented TVC although much less catchy and less exciting than Eddie's TVC.

Gibo's TVC is quite progressive and "inspiring" in advertising standards, although the use of the "posible" song had not been properly negotiated with Rivermaya. The "airplane and pilot" ad of Gibo is of high quality, although it could potentially relate his image as being elitist.

There had been TVCs by lesser-known candidates running for senator appearing lately, and I could only describe them as being inferior and having poor voice projection and quality, which could affect their name-recall and credibility.