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THE PHILIPPINES, JULY 6, 2012: Local skin whitening product line for men Belo Men issued an apology and pulled out its alleged racist series of advertising campaign after drawing flak over social media.
The ad shows a man throwing the keys of his car to a valet with a copy saying "10% lighter. 100% more sosyal" (upscale) and "dude, make alaga my car ha! (Dude, please take care of my car).
Another execution shows a young man’s potential father-in-law playing golf with his buddies with the copy "10% lighter. 1005 approved".
In a report at ABS-CBNnews.com, Cristalle Henares, daughter of Belo Medical group founder Dra. Vicki Belo, said that the ad wasn’t intended to offend the public.
"Comedy sana siya. We thought that’s the way to talk to men," added Belo.
Apparently, some thought otherwise.
"BAYO’s ad is NOTHING compared to Belo Men’s. WTF?! You can’t misunderstand that ad. Being 10% lighter means you’re 100% better. #SAYWHAT," said Bianca Llamis @starspark on Twitter.
Benedict Bernabe, @benedictbernabe tweeted to Henared saying "the Belo Men ad going around in FB is kinda tasteless. Haven’t we learned anything from the Bayo ad yet?"
However, there were some who found the ad humorous rather than offensive.
Wesley Villarica @wesvillarica commented: "Personally, I find it really humorous and it should really just be taken with a grain of salt".
This is not the first advertising campaign to be lambasted by the public as ‘racist’ through social media.
Just recently, the controversial Bayo "What’s your Mix?" campaign featuring Filipino-Australian actress jasmine Curtis-Smith, accompanied by the copy "50% Australian and 50% Filipino".
Men’s magazine FHM Philippines’ March 2012 issue featuring actress Bela Padilla with dark-skinned women in the background was also taken down and re-printed with a new cover after getting ‘racist’ comments on the day of its release.
Executive Optical’s billboard along EDSA showing woman embraced by a dark-skinned man also drew mixed reactions from the public.
