When Megastar Sharon Cuneta was pregnant with her third baby, she was the commercial model for the McDonalds TV ad with the theme, “Maglihi sa McDo.” I said, “Wow! What a recipe for disaster!” A prospective mother in her right mind would try to avoid McDonalds, but if it is inevitable, the pregnant mother would really minimize her visits to McDonalds. Not only do they have mostly fried foods on the menu, their meals come with soda (softdrinks). And these are not healthy meal combinations for expectant mothers.
I told myself, if someone will follow Sharon’s endorsement of going to McDo everyday while you are pregnant, then you will really balloon. And I was not mistaken. Sharon was soooo during pregnancy and months after she gave birth. Sometimes, advertising on TV does not hold social responsibility at all. All they want is to sell a product. And even Sharon, too. Why would she endorse such a thing? Or an act?
Anyway, that was the past. Then I saw Sharon again on her latest Lucky Me commercial. It was bad enough that she was seen gnawing on a sealed pack of Lucky Me noodles. But after she finished one container, she had a mountain of Lucky Me products in front of her and then she opened another one. What are they trying to teach people? Obesity? Gluttony? My father once said when I was younger how he doesn’t like the media portraying Filipino people. In the TV commercials, Filipino people, adults and kids alike, are portrayed as “matakaw” and no breeding at all.
What does Lucky Me want to show here? That people should stock up on Lucky Me noodles and eat endlessly as long as they want? What if the kids reason it out with the parents? I mean, if they want some more and the parents say that is enough already, then the kid will answer, “But why can Miss Sharon eat one pack after another?” So, okay how do you explain that? Or should we ban our kids from watching TV altogether? Or the networks and food company are preying on the fact that shows with the label “Parental Guidance” are being watched by kids without parents or guardians around?
Oh well, there is just so many things going on around us. It is a crazy world out there. For some, this commercial may be harmless, but I believe that there is a subliminal message that can harm many people. And with an product endorser like Sharon Cuneta, her influence could not be measured. She should also be careful, because with her influence comes great responsibility (pa borrow lang po, Uncle Ben, tito ni Spiderman.)
The networks and the ad agencies should really think hard about the message that they want to send across. I really wonder why these ads get past the copy writer, the creative manager, the creative director, and eventually the president of the ad agency. For I know it is not easy to submit a concept and get it approved. Tsk. Tsk. Moral decay.