The gloves are off, and everyone is fair game now that the campaign season has officially kicked off. Excuse us if we do a Michael Buffer and holler, “Let’s get ready to ruuummmbllllle!” because this is going to be one heck of a fight especially for the position of president, dirty tricks included. For sure, money will flow (“Take it, take it!” a buddy with a mercenary streak urged his cronies, channeling the late Mauritian beauty queen Viveka Babajee, and belatedly adding, “But vote with your conscience!” when he noticed the dirty looks he was getting from the others.)
Happy Hour though is looking forward to hearing and watching those campaign jingles and videos that will range from the hilarious to absurd, to tearjerkers and in-your-face OPM-worthy materials. Early on, one of the pre-campaign videos that caught people’s attention is the material of former Justice Secretary Leila de Lima shot in black and white. It opens with a shot of a bar called Benito’s La Italia, panning to a man snorting coke then a sexily clad waitress who delivers not the tray she is holding but herself directly on the lap of a man seated on a table with other unsavory looking characters, discussing bribes and payoffs.
The next scene shows the troika of criminals getting caught in the rain then cornered in an alley by an umbrella-carrying figure in a trench coat – who turns out to be Leila de Lima. Close up on her face with the eyeglasses showing the Justice icon, then she tugs on a chain out of nowhere and a cage falls on the criminals. A voice over then says Leila de Lima helped put the corrupt in prison, ending with the tag” Justice without fear or favor.” In fairness, the video is quite artistic but it’s the last part that many don’t really buy – the justice without fear or favor bit because De Lima is perceived to have a selective sense of justice that tilts more favorably to those identified with the yellow persuasion.
Our current favorite though is the “Iskolar ng Bayan ni Mr. R – Roman Romulo video” for being totally out of the box. Whoever thought of this ad should have a bonus from because it’s getting a lot of laughs that could translate into votes for the congressman from the lone district of Pasig.
The TVC begins with a scruffy looking man on his way home in a poor neighborhood, while a voice over talks about life’s misfortunes. Turns out it was just a radio which the man proceeds to turn off – then gives the sad news that his son might not be able to go through college. And that’s where the hilarity starts, with the scrawny, nerd-like teen saying, in perfect, accented English: “But Dad, why? I’m at the top of my class!” He points to all his numerous medals and a comical exchange follows, with the man removing his wig to show his bald head to stress the kind of hardship he is going through.
It’s the way the TVC was crafted that makes it such a welcome (comic) relief from the other usual ho-hum campaign materials, and ends with Romulo (in his trademark pink shirt) suddenly appearing like a genie to tell the man and his kid that there’s hope – because Mr. R filed the “Iskolar ng Bayan” bill that provides free college education to students who graduated at the Top 10 bracket of their public high school batch, and not just the valedictorians, salutatorians and honorable mentions. The video ends with a photo of the man’s late wife now shown smiling with a thumbs-up sign. We couldn’t agree more. To watch the video, click on this link so you’ll appreciate what we’re talking about: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=8H9qycNIQl8.
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