He may not strike you as the traditional protagonist of change, but beneath the affable exterior lies the heart of a revolutionary.
Meet Gie Gatchalian, former general manager of JWT, ex-president of Campaigns & Grey and now, along with Audie Orleans from Saatchi & Saatchi and client-side veteran Mars Aaron, one of the three permanent advertising screeners of the Advertising Standards Council (ASC), a newly created organization affiliated with the KBP (Kapisanan ng mga Brodkaster sa Pilipinas) which took over the reviewing duties of the Advertising Board of the Philppines last March 31.
So how much different is the new guard from the old?
“Pretty much in the last years of the AdBoard, the executive director was the one doing the advertising pre-screening,” explains Gatchalian. “Theoretically, he had the authority to approve stuff on his own, but that was hardly ever done, and everything ended up getting passed on to the panels. Now with the ASC, there are three individual screeners who can exercise that authority.”
“We individually look at the TV, radio and out-of-home stuff for review,” he adds, “and if there are some issues, we tell the presenter right then and there. If they’re willing to revise on the spot, we can come to an agreement and clear them for production. Once OK’d, the finished material is compared to what was approved. If all is well, then it airs.”
Of course, ask any AE who’s been tasked to present before an AdBoard panel and he or she will tell you how many hours they’ve wasted just waiting for their turn. So much so that the agencies resorted to just dropping off the particular material and pick it up later. In an attempt to expedite matters, the AdBoard panel would then conduct their review sans agency—the drawback being that should said material be disapproved, the agencies would not immediately know why.
Not so with the ASC.
“That can still happen,” cites Gatchalian. “For those in a hurry, they can still wait. But I’ve seen people waiting…and it’s too much for my comfort. We’re not interested in bogging the system but to make it more efficient”
To this end, one significant step was to augment the number of screeners available—at least two screeners available per day. Also, with revisions now allowed right then and there, a lot of the account people may make a habit of bringing along their creative co-workers to the reviews.
In addition, the ASC has adopted the Code of Ethics of professional organizations like the Philippine Medical Association, specifically the ruling which states that individual doctors are not allowed to make endorsements.
“We take those [codes] seriously,” Gatchalian stresses, “and annexed their rules to the ASC’s. Also, in the old Code of Ethics, there was no comparative advertising. Now, certain areas are allowed, as long as the facts that are to be compared are easily verifiable. Like cars and appliances where everyone publishes their own specifications.”
You won’t be seeing the major companies go head-to-head in their TVCs anytime soon, of course. There are still limits, yes, but that doesn’t mean no one’s trying.
“I don’t know to what extent creativity has been curtailed in the past,” opines Gatchalian. “But I see more attempts to curtail the rules via certain wordings which do not make the ad more effective. Probably the agency or advertiser thinks the ad will be more effective. That irritates me. It’s stupid.”
Even professional screeners have their limits, too, it seems. So what’s been his biggest challenge to date?
”Having patience,” Gatchalian declares without hesitation. “I’m really concerned with making the system more efficient so that agencies and advertisers don’t have to wait too damn long, clearances are made quickly and easily, and differences can be discussed and resolved in an intelligent manner.”
That’s straight talk from one advertising mofo you don’t want to mess with.
