The Art of "Made You Look!"

Since like most other drivers in Metro Manila, I feel like my life literally wastes away behind the wheel on EDSA, I am only too thankful for the entertainment that advertising billboards provide. The latest attention grabbing ones for me would have to be those of Folded & Hung featuring the lovely Maja Salvador in the clothing line's summer wear. No doubt, quite a few fender-benders will be caused by mesmerized drivers gawking at these ads. At least these will help reawaken commuters who end up in a hypnotized glazed daze produced by mind-numbing traffic jams. Of course it's either you gawk at the ladies, or some guy in his underwear suffering from performance anxiety, or shrinkage from the cold, maybe?

But seriously, kudos to my high school classmate and F&H CEO, Ronald Pineda, and all those behind the clothing line, for not settling for mediocre ad layouts.

Pretty Boy BF

KAAYUSAN
AND ALL THAT K...RAP
If you’ve driven over EDSA in the last few months, you could not have missed the obscenely large tarpaulins with MMDA Chairman Bayani Fernando and some supposedly wise advice to help make Metro Manila a better place to live in. On these, you would also have seen the letters “BF”, which I assume is some sort of logo for the man. Now, if you were to look closely, there is fine print on the tarps which say they are government property.

From there, I begin what I must say about these eyesores on our national highway. Why is the people’s money being spent on these things? As far as I know, having tarps made is not paid for with loose change. There are more decent things that money could have been used for. How many poor kids’ school tuition could that have subsidized?

Why is Chairman Fernando’s face on these tarps? I actually tried not to think that he spent the MMDA’s money on posters to hint loudly about his well known ambition to run for president. But what other reason could there be for his face being on them?

What’s with that pink glow around him on the poster? Why does he insist in throwing all this pink at us? He can bark to the high heavens all he wants that pink enhances your calm, but when a bus cuts in front of me while I’m driving, no amount of pink will keep me from going ballistic like John Spartan in “The Demolition Man”. I think the pink is his queer eye sense coming out, which is all fine and dandy as long as he keeps it to himself and not use our tax money to indulge in it.

Isn’t the MMDA charged with keeping the metropolis clean and making vehicular traffic flow smoothly? Last I checked, this agency is not exactly doing an excellent job with either of those tasks. So please tell me what is up with this atrocious display of arrogance from a man who is being paid with our tax money to show us a good example. Sure, I can appreciate good unsolicited advice, but what does this man’s face have to do with it? If he’s trying to shock Metro Manila drivers into being courteous and law-abiding, he’s got another thing coming, because each time, I wish I could swerve and drive as far away as possible so I wouldn’t have to see his face again. I’m sorry, but the man’s no Brad Pitt. If whoever thought of this campaign wanted attention getting value for the tarps, why not put some hot actor or model’s face on them? Hell, if it was Marian Rivera on them, I’d look forward to reading the advice, for the obvious reason, come on!

I’m sorry; I really now have nothing but disdain for this campaign that Mr. Fernando embarked upon. It’s something that he should have given a second, third, or even tenth thought before doing. I mean, I have nothing but respect for him with all that he accomplished in Marikina; especially after driving through that city last Good Friday. But if he wants to run for president, he could try doing it with some class, and most importantly, NOT USE GOVERNMENT MONEY to plaster his face everywhere.

One more thing that bothers me is that on the net I’ve only come across a few sites with entries about the tarps. No news website has anything about them? Has our society become that dense and pervasive that we take one look at something questionable done by the government and just tolerate it? But then, a couple of them underneath the EDSA-Buendia turning ramp were smeared with red paint right across the chairman’s face, which was quite amusing to say the very least. So someone did choose to voice a dissenting opinion in a not so subtle manner.