TV Commercials In The Philippines

I guess the old saying is true, that you miss stuff only after you lose them.

And I know, it does sound ridiculous that some of the things I miss from when I was still in the Philippine Islands were the Filipino TV Commercials.

Yes, and I am talking about those yucky and those singing-dancing-Bollywood-style commercials complete with their predictable story lines, corny themes, loony tunes and silly jingles.

But then again, I have been based in Southern California for close to ten years now and from what I have seen, all I can say is that I probably wouldn’t miss any of their TV Commercials, that’s for sure.

Thank your lucky stars (or in God if you believe in one) for the world-wide-web and for the video-sharing feature of most social networking sites and video-sharing websites such as of course youtube.com.

Why? Because now, you can watch all the best (and the worst of course) TV commercials. And you can get to see all the past and the present TV ads of almost any country, right on your computers.

Here is one that I have just watched that says, it is the Top Filipino Commercials:

Okay, even if I only knew four or five of the ads shown, it was still a treat.

Now if you google Philippine TV Commercials, you would see this nice page from wikipilipinas.org entitled Top Ten Philippine TV Commercials That You Love. And of course they have a separate page for the Top Ten Philippine TV Commercials That You Love To Hate. Yes, I used to have a long list of that too, but now, I guess I love all of them (yes even the "baduy" or corny ones).

Going back to wikipinas, apparently wikipilipinas took a survey (they didn't give us any details about it though) and they came up with the Top Ten. Here is that list in its rank order with their corresponding video links (with one or two unavailable due to a TOS violation). Enjoy!

1. McDonalds – “Karen Po” at YouTube

2. PLDT – “Suportahan Taka” at YouTube

3. Coca-Cola – “The Coke Beat” at YouTube or YouTube related

4. Tender Juicy Hotdog – “Goodbye Carlo” at YouTube

5. Coca-Cola – “Kasama Ka, Coca Cola” at YouTube

6. PLDT – “ Dugo-Dugo Gang”

7. San Miguel Beer – “Sabado Nights” at YouTube

8. Sprite – “Magpakatotoo Ka” at YouTube

9. Palmolive – “I Can Feel It” at YouTube

10. San Miguel Beer – “SiBoom” at You Tube

Source: wikipilipinas.org

From that list alone, you would know that eating, eating out, beer drinking, soda (softdrink) drinking, telecommunications and personal hygeine among other things are big business in the Philippines.

And so is advertising a big business there as well, be it print, TV or whatever media. Movies and TV are also big.

And it is interesting to share that my wife and a few of her family members got to be cast as extras in a local Filipino film, who featured big name Filipino Showbiz Action, Drama and Comedy Stars. Throw in a few Sexy Stars and you got a hit.

Now if it wasn’t for the long waiting times in between takes and the heat and humidity at shooting locations, they probably will still be doing those film extra roles.

I have a friend before who is still a Print, Ramp and TV Commercial Model in the Philippines and have also appeared in numerous Filipino films. And it used to be at one time, he would invite me and some other friends of ours to his TV Commercial shoots and we would also be in the commercials themselves. So, that would probably explain some of my weird attraction to Filipino TV Commercials.

Anyway, I guess I like all those commercials in the list above.

But here is probably my favorite Philippine TV Commercial. I know a few of you will say that this is not an original Filipino commercial, but merely the Filipino version of the "I Wish" Coke ad.

But then again, this has been redone in different countries and in different languages and I believe the Filipino version came out the most outstanding, as it put a lot of more attention to detail, timing and choreography, it captured more of the local culture and the scenery plus the main and supporting cast were outstanding. Besides, the lead did a lot more other things than just walk in a straight line and handing out cokes and smiling while singing beautifully. Yes, not an easy thing to pull off.

So here, sit back, watch, listen and enjoy: (I swear I can almost smell the indistinctive sidewalk odors of downtown Manila in a hot and humid day)

Here's a link to Youtube of the "I Wish" Coke commercial showing an English, a Spanish and the FIlipino (Tagalog) Versions.

So do you have your own list of TV Commercials that you love?

Also I know you have a long list of those that you love to hate, but let's not be hateful now. (We still love Floyd Mayweather Jr. even if he said those nasty things about Filipinos and Asians which are all over youtube right now).

If you are in the mood for more Philippine TV Commercials, I recommend this article about commercials and the local culture and spotlighting Jollibee TV Commercials.

And in case you are in the mood for some Classic Filipino Commercials, I added a few below.

Anyway if you are in general a TV commercial lover or not, please leave a comment.

And also feel free to share your fave commercials and also the video links and give a cheer or two to any homesick person or a sentimental fool scouring the internet (cyberspace) right now in search of their favorite (childhood) commercial, Filipinos included. And in case you didn't receive the memo, Filipinos are now among the most dispersed people in the world and also lately they have been tagged as the world's top viewers of videos streamed over the internet. Hmmm, what could be a reason for that?

Mabuhay!

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Just wanted to add a few more classic Filipino Commercials. Enjoy.

Although these would most probably only appeal to those who were in the Philippines and who are 40 years old and older.