ping lacson’s tv ad: 1 smart + 1 smart = huh?

ping lacson surprised us with his ad campaign – it’s a thinking ad campaign. our image of ping lacson does not match what we see in the ads, we didn’t think ping lacson is the type who likes to think a lot.

the ad has two smart components in it. while the ad shows he thinks a lot, we think the ad has a problem on mathematics. the ad failed in addition, pretty basic really as 1 smart + 1 smart did not add up to anything.

first,  the tag line of “patas na laban para sa lahat”. one of the key problems of the country is that opportunities for growth are not available to all, only the rich and the powerful has better access to it. it’s not only is that the availability of

empowering components but also the dispensation of punishment. the strong and the rich gets the slap on the hand while the weak and the poor gets the whole book exploding on their faces. inequality of rewards and punishment are all over.

that is one part that makes lacson’s ad campaign smart. the message is a very real and relevant one.

it’s just that it’s something that most of the audience may not easily understand and know.

the ad at the end tries to simplify it by getting lacson to do the hand motions that mimic the logo of the concept. he puts one hand up then moves the other hand to level with the other.

 it is real but we do not think people readily identify it as an issue and we think it is a very complicated concept for people to understand.

the ad is supposed to explain it. taglines of ads are supposed to capture the proposition or main message of the whole ad, but in this case we do not think it did nor did it even try to attempt to capture it. 

the ad is clearly disjointed – the tagline at the end and the rest of the commercial. the rest of the commercial talks about corruption in government, specifically those the arroyo government and arroyo family members are alleged to be involved in.

that is a smart move. corruption in the arroyo government has populated most of the newspaper headlines in the country for many months, from one corruption allegation to the next. this is so prevalent that corruption is government can very well be arroyo’s legacy.

putting this message across is smart as it is recent, real and it resonates. but that message does not automatically and easily match with his tagline of equal opportunities. well actually it does, but it takes a lot more explanation and run on logic to get to the story that corruption in government affects the people in way where not everyone is given the same opportunity for growth and progress. 

there are logic gaps in there and the ad did not bother to explain them or explain they connect. first the ad talks about corruption, jumps to foreign investment then to  OFW jobs.  we wonder why having two smart things in one ad did not result to a great ad.