Branding the Philippines: Smile Philippines

Several bloggers sent this white paper and I read some pages and decided it's a waste of my precious time. For one, the person who wrote the stuff does not really know what he's talking about and second, the topic is tooo stupid to even spend time about. Why?

This country has been here for the last 45,000 years and you're born here, and you still don't know this country? You finished college, read voluminous books about the history of this country and now, you're asking several people what this country is or is about?

Branding is all about perceptions. Perceptions, most of them, are based on reality. Reality is perceived based on someone's values. Values are ingrained. They are shaped by someone or the society that you're in.

Society, therefore, shapes a country’s branding.

How will a foreign PR FIRM know about the Filipino brand when it thinks along Western lines? Branding is someone's best foot forward and the only people who know this country's best front are those who lived here, not some blond haired stupid guy from Missouri.

Branding is the soul of a product. If someone has to sell this country, one must sell the most important value or asset this country has---its people. 

I have gone to different parts of the world and the reason why I always, always go back here is simply I miss the love of my fellow Filipinos.

The Pinoy is the USP of our country. Pilipinas Kay Ganda project is simply not "it”, because that’s not what we are selling here. We are not selling the beauty of our place. We are selling the beauty of our souls as a People.

Talk about beaches, and we are not the only ones who have them. Talk about resorts, islands, rivers, streams, etc and someone will say Malaysia, Indonesia and Thailand all have them.

What these countries don’t have is a freedom-loving race of people, who, despite their poverty, still smiles and tells you to “live long”. Talk about Pinoy—a warm, human being who endures long struggles, who strives for the best always, and looks at life in a totally different way.

Brand the Philippines? Use the words “Smile Pinoy”. We are the only race in Asia that always smiles even in times of great personal tragedy and difficulty. We smile and love our fellow human beings. Those smiles always warm some foreigners' heart.

Plagiarism in the Aquino Era: Tourism Secretary lacks the academic discipline

Hey, I realized that we are protesting all for nothing in this Pilipinas Kay Ganda issue. I seriously think this is all ado about nothing.


Our Supreme Court was just accused of plagiarism. Now, its the Department of Tourism. 


Flash back, and why not even include President Noynoy Aquino, who, like beleaguered US president Barack Obama, piggy backed his way to the presidency by mouthing the same old lines as what true Filipino change agents have been doing since the 70's.


Aquino stole the standard lines of dissent from true Pinoy change agents and made it his campaign slogan. The only thing that Aquino forgot to copy is their prescriptions for change, the most important thing.


Aquino is also a plagiarist. That's why Bertie Lim and Emong Romano are still there manning the Department of Tourism. Useless to demand Lim or Emong's head since Aquino will just brush that aside and tell everyone that the two still gets his "unsolicited support". As they say, it takes one plagiarist to know two (e-hek).


One of my friends say that the reason why Lim and Romano copied the Polish tourism campaign is simply, they admire Lech Walesa who once led the Polish labor movement. They think of Noynoy as somebody like Walesa, which, to my mind, is as stupid as Pilipinas Kay Ganda.


What pisses people off is, you already plagiarized, why support a poor plagiarized copy of the material? I mean, come on people! Imagine, they did not check when they upped the site that in the SEO tagging department, the very words lead to porn?


Before, the word "Pilipina" used to say "maid". Now, its triple x porn.


The most insulting thing about all of this is the very fact that we have a distinguished secretary at the helm of the Tourism department. I mean, Bertie Lim used to head the Makati Business Club which publishes quarterly research studies about the Philippines and the Philippine economy. Don't tell me that those researches were all plagiarized or were not checked or scrutinized closely by Lim?


This is very serious because it shows not just amateurism, but plain and simple stupidity and shows a lack of academic discipline on the part of our Tourism secretary.


If this kind of work passes his scrutiny and approbation, how many such idiotic decisions and departamental orders were released without the proper scrutiny and academic or research backup?


We cannot allow such things to happen especially at this department which strives to promote a good image of our country. 


This also shows lack of leadership, a leadership better than others.