The Insights — S02EO1
The timing cannot be more than perfect. Just when I was thinking of recent ads or campaigns that can be used to talk about insights, a friend shared an awesome ad. I was 15 minutes away from calling it a night.
It’s 1:06 AM and I just finished watching the first good ad in 2018 — and it’s from a familiar name in every Filipino household: Vicks.
If I remember correctly, a lot of Vicks VapoRub commercials are very hard sell and never plenty. Being a household name already, it doesn’t need much effort to be part of every home. So it’s surprising to see an online video, much more a four-minute film from Vicks Philippines Facebook page. This is so unexpected — but very welcome. At long last, a good ad with interesting insights.
I wouldn’t know if people will consider these insights, given that the film is a true-to-life story. But I’ll still do it just because I respect the effort and detail done for this ad.
First, and the most obvious insight or lesson: parenting changes people. It was the main theme of the video, and they made good work in showing that. I think what made me appreciate it more is that they showed the struggle of being a parent, much more, a single parent of an abandoned child. The film showed it when the main character tried to sing a lullaby, and when the new family is visited by people from social welfare.
Building from how the main character was portrayed from the start, I’d say that we all felt his hard work for the poor kid. And quietly, we cheered for this story to have a good ending.
When social workers came, there is panic — we all know why. This guy is a tambay and a siga. He is a good-for-nothing man living in an informal settlement. Maybe he will lose the custody, in spite of that new-found love for the child — the odds are against him.
But again, parenting changes things. Responsibilities and the very concept of holding a power to grant life over a defenseless, innocent human being transforms the toughest of us. The second half of the ad showed that well.
Insight two: some people abandon parenthood. If the first insight rings true, this insight rings true as well. As many parents change as they experience responsibilities, some people do not take it easier.
I think the ad made a good choice not to show the reason why the mother of the child left or was gone, because it opens up so many possible causes. And that’s the reality — human beings and the relationship we built with one another are very complex, and there are a variety of reasons to radically change the course of our lives, leaving some people in the aftermath.
Whether it’s life choices and/or untimely deaths and injustices in this society, the weight of one’s decision will vary from one witness to the next. But whatever that problem and solution is, a parent can and will hurt more people than himself.
It’s a sad reality.
Insight three: The Community. There are a lot of points that caught my eye in this ad, particularly about the community the main character and the baby is in.
In the Philippine society, a siga (someone that appears to be an alpha) is always present in a neighborhood. But the presence of a siga is not the focus of my observation, but of his environment, and how his environment responded to the struggles he is facing.
Because no matter how dire the situation is, his neighbors cannot take care of the abandoned child. Economic status will always be a factor in deciding to get an abandoned child, and in a poverty-stricken place, chances are not always so high.
But the film also showed the good side of Filipinos, particularly the urban poor, in this siga. In spite of circumstances that limit his knowledge and ability to take care of an infant, he stood up and took the role. He wasn’t ready for it, and I bet it took a hell of an effort to learn, but he accepted his current condition — being a parent. I remember one quote we always say in the movement: Nauuna ang kapasyahan kaysa kahandaan. He accepted before he was even ready.
And with the care that he mustered for the child, he attracted and inspired people around him — the lola and his fellow sigas, who became very welcome to help. The ad teaches us that care inspires more care.
In a community that is seldom depicted as tough, the ad brings in brightness to a place often ignored and left in the dark. The #TouchOfCare is present in the most unlikely of places and character.
Lastly, the ad teaches us we can find our worth in incredible, unexpected circumstances. We may not be ready every time, but the choices we make in that moment, and the struggle we endure to keep it alive inevitably changes and defines us.
Here’s a YouTube link of the Vicks commercial:
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