L I F E & A R T

On my past blog posts, I've talked about what really makes a good TV advertisement: it's story. I've also talked about how, in these short commercials, the advertisement should really capture the audience's attention. In our subconscious, we all hate these commercial breaks. In our subconscious, we are all saying "I don't really need this ish." Sometimes these advertisements functions as just another source of entertainment. To brighten up a lonely day. To make us laugh. To keep us entertained. And in the case of this blog post, to make us dance and sing-along.

In today's blog post, we are going to talk about the second source of television entertainment here in the Philippines. None other than commercial jingles. I would even argue that it's the number one source of entertainment, since commercial breaks here are longer than the actual TV show. Going back to our topic, we are going to talk about commercial jingles specifically of the arguably, number one commercial jingle king of all brands, Rejoice shampoo. For our first ad, we have Sandara Park's classic 'Walang Sabit' commercial. Sandara Park was probably the most popular Korean here in the Philippines during her time. Appearing in a local star search, Sandara's career here in the Philippines thrived. She was nicknamed 'krung-krung' (meaning 'crazy') and was loved by millions of Filipino for her quirky attitude. Today, Park is part of the internationally known K-Pop girl-group, 2NE1. Park and four other member have spawned many hits, many of which became popular here in the Philippines as well.

But before Sandara Park was making critically acclaimed albums and singing bass-pounding Korean pop tunes, she was a teen pop star here in the Philippines, singing the cheesiest teen pop tunes. I can clearly remember this advertisement straight from my childhood, the corny song, the bad graphics, the basic, 90s-pop song studio setting. The song, 'Walang Sabit', compares the shampoo to Sandara's ex-boyfriends. Unlike her exs, Rejoice does not give her any problems. Examining the song's message, well, we could just say that it tells us a very basic story about relationships gone wrong. And truthfully, it does! But if we look into it more deeper, we could say the song gives a message of self-love. The song is saying, you don't need any man in your life, what you need is yourself, and a beautiful, rich, walang sabit, hair. That's where Rejoice comes in! It is indeed, very cheesy and corny, but it did have that cultural impact and everytime Rejoice was mentioned, expect people to sing 'Walang Sabit' complete with that hair-hagod dance.

Now it's 2015, Sandara Park may have outgrown her teen pop roots, but Rejoice is still out here creating these jingles. Of course, who could have missed this ad? 'Walang Sabit' is our 'Haba Ng Hair' is in. This time Rejoice offers that salon-like treatment. It plays with the catchphrase 'Haba ng hair!' Literally meaning 'long hair'; figuratively meaning 'you got a lot of suitors.' And yes, for some unknown reason, long hair is attributed to the number of suitors you have/had, if that's so, here's to hoping you are not bald. Get it? Long hair equals a lot of suitors, bald equals no suitor at all. What the song says is that, if you use Rejoice, chances are, you'll be hired for a job, you'll have a lot of fans chasing after you, and your hair looks so good you will mesmerize a rapper (who was very unnecessary). So you better get that salon-like treatment from Rejoice. 

This blog post does not aim to compare the two advertisements. What I wanted to say was how commercial jingles have helped as a strategy for selling their product. It's not just a mere source of entertainment but also, an effective way to sell their product to the consumers. Who haven't sang these songs? Who haven't sang 'Haba Ng Hair' to tease their friend with dozens of suitors? Who haven't sang 'Walang Sabit' to . . . well, just tease their friend. These songs are known in every corner of the Philippines. It had a huge cultural impact. Not all good stories are interesting. Some are better translated into song.

In this short but sweet (and funny) advertisement of Boysen Roofgard, we see the story of a vampire disturbed in his sleep (during the day, of course) by the hole in the roof of his mansion. I used to love this ad so much when I was young. Every time this would come up on the TV screen, I always get amused because of the witty story and just the smart, and funny, endorsement of the product. I can't blame my young self for thinking this was funny. I mean, it still is very funny. Even though it came on air for about a thousand times each day, I still think it's funny. It is very important for an advertisement to make some kind of lasting impression. Why, you may ask? Simply because it has to serve the purpose of an advertisement: to promote and sell the product.

The thing that makes this advertisement so effective is that it has a good and compelling story. It breaks away from the cliched flooding-the-house-with-water-because-of-the-hole-in-the-roof roof sealant advertisements. Most of the advertisements of roof sealants plays on that same, old, story. Same concept but different storytelling. What is so smart in this ad is how the writers (or whoever conceptualizes these things) thought of a different situation. Instead of just a normal family in a suburbia or a poor family living in the slum, with holey roofs, they thought of something very different than usual. Whenever we see vampires, most of the time, they are being very villainous and gruesome. Their teeth stuck in a person's neck sucking their blood out, leaving them lifeless. Sometimes they are a bunch of beautiful, glistening people living in a hill. This time we see a vampire dealing with, well, #VampireProblems. And what could be the most terrifying thing a vampire might encounter except for garlic, silver bullets, and wooden stakes on their chests? It's none other than sunlight.

This ad shows how very mundane things can also be a problem of the supernatural. And that is how they sell their product. By amusing the audience with their story. Like a vampire, Boysen have bitten on their attention and ready to get them to buy their product, when times of roof dilemma comes. They might not have succeeded that much on the visual effects, but they sure did score with the story. It is important to note here that a good story always wins over visual effects. You can invest a lot in a good story and it's impact will surely come back to you ten times greater, Advertisers can save a lot of money if they just stick with a good story. Visual effects is usually not the part of advertisement, or even a film, that sticks. When you and your friends gather around you will only for sure talk about how the story was great - or bad. At the end of the day, what's important is to have an ad that has an impact, will last long in the minds of consumers, and will give you a rise in sales.