why pinoys who are single or married need family planning in their relationship

some years ago, a comprehensive research was done on the habits and attitudes of pinoys on family planning.  both qualitative and quantitative researches were done on a nati0nal basis.

first to be conducted were a series of qualitative research, focus group discussions in metro manila, davao and cebu among several groups of women and men with varying age groups. and marital status. the qualitative research was done  to gain possible consumer insights for the development of advertising that will promote family planning use, advocacy work and public relations efforts. equally important, the qualitative researches were conducted to serve as inputs for the design of the quantitative research that was going to be done nationwide.

these charts are only a small portion of the whole research but it is quite telling on where the minds and hearts of pinoys, specially filipina women are in relation to family planning to themselves and their families.

the first part of the FGDs (focus group discussions) was a discussion on values and dreams of the respondents for their families.

an interesting methodology was designed. a drawing of a tree with roots, trunk and leaves were placed on the board. respondents were given post it pads where they were asked to write on them the values they believe  in, those that are important for them or their dreams. they were asked to put the post its on the board, place it anywhere inside or outside the tree. once everyone has done this, their answers were processed and discussed with the moderator.

where the respondents placed the post it in relation to the tree had meaning to them. post its placed outside the tree meant whatever was written there was not very important for them. those placed on the leaves were more important and down to the roots. to the respondents, those they placed on the roots were the most important for them.

these were the findings:

first, everyone in the FGDs said their family is the most important to them. that is true even among singles, specially more for those married or with children,  across all age groups and in both sexes.  in fact most of them even said their family is more important to them than themselves. they are absolutely willing to do anything and everything for their family.

they said that what they are working and living for is to fulfill the dreams of their families as a unit, to secure the future of their children and the family’s  well-being. this is not necessarily just about  money or wealth, in fact those were hardly mentioned.  what was more important to them were the emotional aspect, the joys and happiness that their families felt or aspired for. most of them said it is these priorities that they are presently working for and making such a huge effort for.

after  this  was discussed extensively, the respondents were then asked –  how will you feel when you find out today that you are pregnant? (or for male respondents if their spouses or significant others were pregnant?) the idea was to present to the respondents a simulation of what happens in real life – how an unplanned pregnancy happens to people.

to most of the respondents, pregnancy was something that is planned. for those who were married, they discuss it and plan for it with their spouses. the planning usually is just to agree if they want or do not want to have a child or an additional child at the moment.  for single respondents, it is normally not thought of as it was certain they did not want to have children out of marriage.

while they had these in their minds, the respondents know that getting pregnant was always a possibility as most of them were sexually active, even those who were single. they saw sex as part and parcel of having a relationship with the opposite sex.

to the question how will they feel or what is their reaction if they found out they were pregnant now, these were their answers to that question:

the respondents saw unplanned pregnancy essentially as a major disruption, something that will stop or derail the plans that they have been pursuing and currently working on for their families.  there is nothing else in their lives that had quite the same impact and effect on their lives than an unplanned pregnancy.

all of them considered being pregnant and having a child as a blessing, even among the singles. but they would rather plan it or get pregnant out of a determined, clear and agreed to goal and at the  right timing with their partners. an unplanned pregnancy to them is very unwelcome.

the respondents knew that having a baby at that point in time of their lives mzy not be the best time. they do not take having a baby lightly. they know it is a big responsibility and will involve giving most if not all of  their time and effort for the caring of the baby. that would necessarily take time and effort from their work and the duties and responsibilities they were presently fulfilling. most of them said life at its present state was already difficult, having an unplanned pregnancy will make everything more than doubly difficult.

that was the mindset by which advertising and marketing efforts on family planning will be set on in getting the target audience to use it. this and other researches were conducted to get a good picture of the user mindset.

but over and above the advertising and marketing use, this explains very well the challenges faced by family planning advocates.

~~midscape landmark~~
carlo p arvisu 

RAW School 2011 Best Ad, Jovert Bantilan’s RH Now Ad – off strategy is off communication

we don’t exactly know what Raw School 2011 is but the ad above has been going around twitter which is apparently a product of the Raw School 2011 competition. from what we can read from the FB page (http://on.fb.me/niFq2p) , Raw School seem to be a school for advertising students where creative directors from the ad agencies tutor or train students on advertising.

since advertising and reproductive health (RH) are two of our obsessions, we thought we should give our POV on the ad.

• we understand the ad was probably done by a student and was probably done without a strategy and no consumer insight
• not having a strategy and no consumer insight is the biggest and we even think  fatal weaknesses of the ad
• the ad intentionally or unintentionally position RH as anti-sex which RH is not about. not only did the ad position RH incorrectly, the positioning of RH being anti-sex gives anti-RH advocates a good weapon against RH. RH advocates have always said RH is not about sex but about health, responsibility and open and free choice. anti-rh advocates on the other hand play up the sex component like for example the approval of the rh bill will lead to promiscuity
• “pangmadaliang sarap” is the colloquial for sex. to some it means quickie sex. the line in the ad says people should not have sex (or quickie sex) because it leads to long term problems (“pangmatagalang  hirap”) of having a lot of children. the number of children is strongly implied in the number of spoons going after a small amount of rice in the visual
• that leads to a much bigger and problematic  fatal error of the ad that plays exactly to the liking of anti rh advocates – that rh is anti-children. almost all filipinos reject the idea of being anti-children. that is a huge negative to pinoys who are very much into family and yes, people.  our love for children is not just based on religion it is very much a part of our culture.
• it is possible that the creator of the ad wanted to communicate “responsible parenthood” or “responsible sex” where he wants to say that people who engage in sex should be responsible enough to know that their action can lead to pregnancy and that having too many children means parents will not have enough to support all their children. but nowhere in the ad is that directly or indirectly communicated. it is assumed, but it is not communicated.  one of the strongest principles in advertising is this – what you see is what you get. if it is not stated or included in the ad, it is not communicated. the only things the target audience get are the things you include in the ad.

the elements above are the core of what advertising is all about – the strategy and the consumer insight. fail in that and the ad is not worth anything and in this case, it even hurts the product or service you are advertising.

this ad is a WAWAM!

RAW School 2011 Best Ad, Jovert Bantilan’s RH Now Ad – off strategy is off communication

we don’t exactly know what Raw School 2011 is but the ad above has been going around twitter which is apparently a product of the Raw School 2011 competition. from what we can read from the FB page (http://on.fb.me/niFq2p) , Raw School seem to be a school for advertising students where creative directors from the ad agencies tutor or train students on advertising.

since advertising and reproductive health (RH) are two of our obsessions, we thought we should give our POV on the ad.

• we understand the ad was probably done by a student and was probably done without a strategy and no consumer insight
• not having a strategy and no consumer insight is the biggest and we even think fatal weaknesses of the ad
• the ad intentionally or unintentionally position RH as anti-sex which RH is not about. not only did the ad position RH incorrectly, the positioning of RH being anti-sex gives anti-RH advocates a good weapon against RH. RH advocates have always said RH is not about sex but about health, responsibility and open and free choice. anti-rh advocates on the other hand play up the sex component like for example the approval of the rh bill will lead to promiscuity
• “pangmadaliang sarap” is the colloquial for sex. to some it means quickie sex. the line in the ad says people should not have sex (or quickie sex) because it leads to long term problems (“pangmatagalang hirap”) of having a lot of children. the number of children is strongly implied in the number of spoons going after a small amount of rice in the visual
• that leads to a much bigger and problematic fatal error of the ad that plays exactly to the liking of anti rh advocates – that rh is anti-children. almost all filipinos reject the idea of being anti-children. that is a huge negative to pinoys who are very much into family and yes, people. our love for children is not just based on religion it is very much a part of our culture.
• it is possible that the creator of the ad wanted to communicate “responsible parenthood” or “responsible sex” where he wants to say that people who engage in sex should be responsible enough to know that their action can lead to pregnancy and that having too many children means parents will not have enough to support all their children. but nowhere in the ad is that directly or indirectly communicated. it is assumed, but it is not communicated. one of the strongest principles in advertising is this – what you see is what you get. if it is not stated or included in the ad, it is not communicated. the only things the target audience get are the things you include in the ad.

the elements above are the core of what advertising is all about – the strategy and the consumer insight. fail in that and the ad is not worth anything and in this case, it even hurts the product or service you are advertising.

this ad is a WAWAM!

anti-corruption president noynoy aquino declared president elect

“Hindi ako magnanakaw.” that is the line we all remember noynoy aquino said in his tv ads. and  that is the line that most of us embedded into our minds and got us to vote him to office.

today, congress will declare this man as the next president. we expect that he delivers starting july 1.

why will richard gordon lose this election?

on theory, richard gordon is a good candidate for the presidency. he is a known achiever with an excellent and highly impressive success credentials from his work at olangapo city, the rehabilitation of subic bay and his work as tourism secretary. he has no  corruption or any other scandal baggage that pulls him down or that others can use against him. in fact none of that appeared during the election. or perhaps his opponents did not find the need to bother with gordon.

and that is where the problem of gordon’s candidacy lie – nobody wants to bother with him. it is in many ways the reason why he will lose this election.

gordon is a smart man. he speaks very well, he knows the issues and offers interesting solutions to problems he sees. but he has no audience for these things. very few listens to him.

why will gordon lose this election?

• he started late in the campaign. it felt like he did not tell anyone he was planning on running for the president in this election. this is an election that started very early, by the time he announced his candidacy, his competitors, villar, aquino and estrada in particular were already way ahead of him in getting the people to form a support based for themselves.
• gordon has no constituency. he is an elected senator but he may have lost that political base through the years and as how it is in politics, voters who voted for a candidate as a senator does not automatically translate to a vote when the same candidate runs for the presidency. the criteria changes and the thinking process applied by the voters is re-invented.
• gordon is very much a lone wolf. gordon may have a very loud howl compared to some of the presidentiables and the his peers at the senate but he does not belong to a pack. he operates too much on his own and that is an automatic weakness for someone who is running for president.
• gordon has an obnoxious personality. he sounds smart all the time but over and above that, he comes off as obnoxious and a real ass hole. that is a turn off among many voters across all demographics and most specially for the bulk of the voters, the CDE. a minimum requirement for this set of voters is a likable personality if not a charming one.
• he had very little funds for his advertising and other marketing and communication efforts. aside from the historical value of this election, this one will also go down in history as one of the most expensive. manny villar started his campaign and spending many centuries ago, way ahead of everyone else. not having funds is a definite killer in this election.  we live in a world if mixed media and communication channels. funds is a prerequisite for success.

these are things that gordon should have realized as he was making his decision to run for president. too bad with all his smarts and eloquence he failed to see them.

~~~mindscape landmark~~~
carlo arvisu

whatever happened to “the transformers” of richard gordon and bayani fernando?

we likes a lot the idea of “the transformers”  of gordon and bayani when they first announced their candidacy of president and vice-president. aside from that time, there was really no mention of it afterwards. too bad they didn’t they make a big  deal of it, we think  it could have been a game changer for them,

this poster artwork we have here we think is one of the best we have seen in this campaign.  

why the loren legarda campaign collapsed – the drama queen factor

loren legarda’s ratings in the poll to begin with was bad,, mar roxas dominating the polls for vice-presidentiables from the very beginning, with mar enjoying double the ratings that legarda was getting.

recent movements in the polls for the vice-presidential race show dramatic changes – with jejomar binay resurgent, roxas softening while legarda collapsing badly. 

what? jejomar binay?  

that is the question most have been asking, binay has not done anything spectacularly different and attention calling in the recent weeks., how did binay manage to now be in the running in the election?

first, it’s the halo effect from a resurgent erap estrada. estrada and binays poll results rose at about the same time. estrada gaining in the polls had a positive effect on binay.

more than that, binay’s poll ratings went up as he gained supporters from the collapse of legarda in the polls. it appears a large part of those who abandoned legarda went to binay and much less to roxas. binay was the biggest beneficiary of the collapse of the legarda campaign.

we think advertising has a lot to do with it as well. from what we have seen, legarda have had a lot more tv ads aired over binay. but a look at the ads of legarda tells us these were ads that she should have not aired at all.

the ads of legarda depicted her as the essential drama queen  with her melodramatic, pa-drama effect delivery of her lines, the slow motion camera movements (or at least that is how it seems) and the ho-hum messages.  the legarda tv ads was just too personal and intimate  – the idea of  loren legarda taking care of everyone, the mother hen who will fix everything.

what makes these ads worst is the way she delivered her lines. she delivered all of them in a hushed, slow paced, tear jerky type of delivery that it makes the whole ad insincere, fake  and we are sure to many very funny. it was just too much on the emotions. or at least a trying hard effect on tugging at the hearts of voters.

we have written about legarda here before the election and we called her the drama queen for keeping us in so much in suspense if first will she run for president, then next as vice-president, then with what political party. in every interview during that time, she kept on the drama of suspending for all of us to watch the number of times she changed her mind and the length of time she needed to decide what to do with here political career.

we think in theses ads legarda simply  carried true what she really is – a drama queen.

• at last – loren legarda joins manny villar as VP. but let’s wait till 3:30 pm for the drama queen to say it
• drama queen senator loren legarda to announce 2010 plans within the week! oh, oh – here we go again!

noynoy aquino calls supporters to go out and vote!

manny villar’s kurot sa puso “panata” tv ad

Nicanor Perlas for President TV Ad

If only there will be someone who can help us really inform people that A NEW PHILIPPINES IS POSSIBLE then more will know why we are voting and campaigning for Nick Perlas. Here is a video that could be the TV AD OF NICK PERLAS FOR PRESIDENT.

CLICK THIS LINK TO VIEW THE TV AD.

If you want to MAKE THIS TV AD POSSIBLE CONTACT US AT 09088-PERLAS (737527)

manny villar and loren legarda airs negative ad – attack tv ad against noynoy aquino

this was aired in tonight’s prime time newscast at abs-cbn — a negative, tv attack ad versus noynoy aquino.

the execution is a talking head of manny villar and loren legarda with supers that state the attack on aquino. we saw the tv ad only once and the the ad attacks aquino on no/lack of experience and no/lack of achievement. aquino is not mentioned by name but these attack points have been floated around against aquino in the past.

we think the negative ad was aired as a tactical move to arrest the decline in villar’s poll ratings. latest pulse asia, SWS and manila standard polls is showing  aquino widening his lead over villar as villar’s ratings started to deteriorate from the previous polling period.

we will post the ad here once this is made available.

truth from villar’s ad agency on “scroll”, the plagiarized tv ad from an argentina tv ad

Ad agency defends Villar ‘Scroll’ ad

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abs-cbnNEWS.com | 04/07/2010 10:55 AM

MANILA, Philippines – The ad agency of Nacionalista Party standard-bearer Sen. Manny Villar on Wednesday defended its “Scroll” TV ad, which has been widely compared to the “Truth (Upside Down)” political ad of Argentinian candidate Lopez Murphy in 2006. 

In a statement, TBWA\Philippines admitted that it adapted the Villar ad from the Argentinian politician’s ad. The agency said it belongs to a worldwide network of ad agencies and that many of its ideas for ads have been adapted in several countries. Among its ideas are ads for adidas, Pedigree, Absolut, Apple and Nivea.

“The fact is, many ideas of the local agency have been adapted in many countries in our network, the most recent of which is the work it had done for Absolut vodka. That’s how powerful ideas become even more powerful,” the agency said.

It added: “While the ad format was adapted from The Truth ad by TBWA\Argentina, the message is genuinely Manny Villar’s. And it hopes to inspire a country deeply steeped in hopelessness, negativity and cynicism.”

The agency said that while the local adaptation of the Murphy ad has generated positive feedback, other sectors have used the ad to attack the Villar campaign.

“From the outset, the adapted format was made known to our Client. The agency did not conceal the truth. That’s the truth. And nothing but the truth,” it said.

source: http://www.abs-cbnnews.com/nation/04/07/10/ad-agency-defends-villar-scroll-ad

 

there are few truths that came out from the above.

• one is that as we had guessed, Santiago/Puno/Mangada/TBWA is the ad agency of  manny villar in the philippines.  (read here: did the manny villar campaign plagiarize a Cannes Lions award winning argentina tv ad?)
• villar knew it came from argentina. apparently, they had told villar about it. so we can assume villar approved of the plagiarism

 

that is it. there are other things but not all of the truth came out.

• we do not know if it was plagiarized or not. the ad agency did not confirm that they paid royalties or that they secured the permission of the argentina client to use the ad here in the philippines.
• it’s not enough that the ad is within the network, they need to ask for and be given permission to use the ad in the country. it is not for  the ad agency to give permission for its use, it’s the client’s. in this case it is the presidential candidate in argentina.

 

on other matters:

• the ad agency mentioned they have  ads they developed in the country has been used in other countries.  that is true BUT these are the same client in different countries.  for example, absolut argentina and TBWA argentina (or any other country) can use an ad developed by TBWA philippines for absulot philippines. it does not happen that another client of TBWA argentina, let us say adidas argentina will use an ad developed by TBWA philippines for absolut philippines.  ad agencies who will allow things like these will be fired by the clients.   

until the next villar tv ad, then.