The problem with PLDT myDSL's Anna Banana Commercial - Updated

Let me guess the target market for this ad.



It's for low to middle income families who can afford a phoneline and internet connection in their homes (and who idealize living in a detached 3-bedroom house in an exclusive village) but cannot afford a Yaya or maid of their own

- probably because the salary meant for Yaya went to the phone company instead. If Yaya were there, Mommy could have elicited her help and included in the househelp's job description:

"create YouTube account, click to play Anna Banana video every 5 minutes."

Or at least: "do the groceries and turn the faucet off while I click on Anna Banana video every 5 minutes."

Or "call relatives and ask them to click on Anna Banana video every 5 minutes."

If the family in this ad is living in a Western country or have Western sensibilities, it is believable if they're not asking relatives for help in watching the vid. But clearly, they are in the PH, despite them living in a very 1st-world looking suburb, because - LOOK! - they're using PLDT.

Could you imagine anyone in the PH living in a house that big with no househelp? Could you? I'll give you three seconds.

Now, do you see that it is definitely unreal?

Of course ads aren't supposed to be "real," they only have to be believable or at least culturally correct / relatable.

If you could relate to this ad, If you find nothing off or odd or OA about this ad, then it is definitely for you. Surprise! you're PLDT myDSL's target market.


Second Surprise! The ad is for parents who are not grounded in their own reality. If ever the parents insist they're "grounded," they are only so in a way that fits with what they want/imagine that reality to be - they refuse to see what, who or where they are NOW.

Do you know those kind of parents?

You know -- - those parents who buy all the raffle tickets in the barangay kiddie beauty pageant contest their daughter is in so that their daughter will emerge as a winner (because they can't stand it if their daughter loses)

or the parents who do their kid's project because they couldnt stand seeing their child submit to the school a bad-looking one / or they couldnt stand seeing their child huff and puff and be challenged enough to actually make one,

Do you know those kind of parents? Or is it you?

Another surprise! We've all been there because it's easy. Us as a caregiver, helping - more than its necessary to do so - oddly calms us. Giving - more than we should - gives us a sense of (false) pride. "I helped, Im a good person, bow."

As the receiver of too much care from a giver, us as children - at one point in our lives - were then given permission to be complacent and to look up at ourselves not with truth but with warm-flattering-studio lights - the kind that conceals what we cannot yet admit/face/want to see.

Do you know a child like that? Or was it - is it still - you?


I found it disturbing how the mother in the ad is obsessed with getting her son's video to reach 100 views - and she's doing it all on her own - unnatural in our cultural context.

Because you SEE, it isn't about her son, really.

It's about her.

The 100 views is more for the mother than it is for her son. She thinks that by doing everything, she is therefore doing good - and by whose standards?

She is obsessed with the idea that her son might think of himself as pathetic - and that she is the mother of a pathetic son no one wants to watch - so she might as well control his perception which trumps everything else reality is telling her:

that her son's vid - though cute - really doesn't deserve 100 views,

that she is not really helping her son by helping him,

that giving everything is not loving (giving is giving, loving is simply just loving);

that she cannot see her son the way he is and so prefer to look at him the way she wants to see him - the fact that she is idealizing him means she is disrespecting him and so cannot see him as anything else other than what she wants him to be;

She thinks less of herself if people don't like her son or

she think more of herself if people like him - (SHE CAN'T SEEM TO SEE THE FACT THAT: "PEOPLE ONLY CARE IF YOU DO" is more real than her delusion);


Can she actually look at her son NOW and see him for what he is right at this MOMENT and not what she wants him to be?

Clearly, she wants to do anything and everything to make her child happy because she thinks that that's what would make her happy.

She carries all that weight to make her child's life easy, to make her child live the life the way he wants, the way she imagine his life should be - struggle-free and pain-free - even if sometimes it is best to allow him to learn how to do, think, be on his own.


See the fear in her eyes? Can she admit that she is afraid more for herself - and what people will think of how much control she has over her child's false self - than it is to raise an emotionally healthy person?




Her child is only taking his cue from her.

So it is no wonder that he's singing a self-made song about a girl who he says is his crush but compares her instead to a fried fruit is not really for the girl, it's for himself.

He really doesn't care about the girl, he only cares for what everybody thinks (how cool) he is in that vid by making it supposedly for the girl.

He only cares that people care. After all, he has the 100 views to prove it.

As long as he doesn't find out the numbers were manipulated by his own mother in the same way she manipulates his pseudo-self-esteem, trust in the fact that he'll grow up a brat, a Mama's Boy, a narcissist or a jerk.


--- I suddenly remember one Christmas years ago at the World Trade Center Xmas Bazaar where people were packed like sardines in the venue while looking at and buying Christmas-related wares/products/gifts. The place was so packed people were shoving each other for space. I saw a young boy - probably 11 or 12 loose his footing for some reason - as it was natural to do at an overcrowded venue - but suddenly blames his "shameful" "ego-"trip" (pun intended) on his Yaya.

"Oy! Wala akong ginagawa sayo ah!" the yaya blurted out as if she has done so - and is so used to do - for the nth time.

"Ikaw eh!" the brat insisted.

To which his mother handled the situation by embracing the boy, patting his back and healing his bruised identity - as one incapable of falling over - by condoning his un-called for blame and pacifying his temper. And suddenly, in my mind's eye, I see him years after playing the same game but this time addressing the blame to his mom.




Oh, and this post really is not about the ad, it is about YOU.

The ad was made for you anyway and the fact that you like it or find nothing wrong with it means the makers of the ad know YOU.

That's a signal for you to ask: "Do I know me?"



Actual Youtube comments about the ad:


Nobody but his mom would watch his video. His mom had to feed his ego to boost his self-esteem. I feel for the mom.
EJBronteable 2 days ago 9


from what country did this take place? Philippines?
TheMegaCommentkid 15 hours ago


yan ang tunay na magulang !!
gagawin ang lahat mapasaya lang
ang anak !! hindi naman lahat pero
na touch ako sa effort ng mama
nya para maka 100views !! hahaha
VerseSeventeen17 4 days ago 14


my kudos to whoever conceptualized wrote and directed this commercial....GENIUS!!
katef4 8 hours ago



"`The problem with kids today...' Stop right there, I'll finish: is parents today."
- The Last Psychiatrist

What Whitney Houston's Songs tell us about being in pseudo-love and being in authentic love

What is pseudo-love?

Pseudo-love is ego-love.

It is you loving the self which the world sees,

it is you caring for the self which the world helped create,

it is appreciating the self from the standards of others, from the judgments and opinion of others,

it is you loving yourself through the eyes of others,

it is you finding your worth only by being deemed worthy by people/places/things/events outside you.

It is you looking at yourself from the eyes of others.



You know you're in pseudo-love when you're saving all your love for someone whom your friends believe is in love with someone else.

You know you do not love your self when you'd rather be home feeling blue when you have an option not to.

You know you're in pseudo-love when you feel the need to run to someone and feel safe in his or her arms, and if you don't, you literally feel like you're going to die.

You know you do not love your self when you feel unfulfilled, empty when there's no one caring for you, no one wiping away your tears or kissing away all your fears.

You're in pseudo-love when you expect someone to fill you up, to give you love - more love than you've ever seen.

You're in pseudo-love when you think he or she is all you've got in this world or that he or she is all the man or woman you'll ever need.

You do not love your self when you allow yourself to belong to someone.

You're in pseudo-love when you live to make him/her happy.



What is authentic love?

Authentic love is knowing your Self,

it is going inside your Self,

it is experiencing all the feelings your Self has gone through - not repressing them, not NOT acknowledging them, not dismissing them, not judging them. It is You just allowing your feelings to surface, you just allow them to be felt by you.

Ultimately, by doing so, you get to know You. The You that is safe, that is still. The You that knows that the You -

as you are - is more than enough.

The You that is left untouched by any pain, attachment, sadness, happiness, pride, etc.

The You that is just is.

The You that is still.

The You that is simply Love.


You're in authentic love when you know no one can take away your soul and dignity.

You're in authentic love when you know that the greatest love of all is inside you.

You're in authentic love when you know love will save the day,

You're in authentic love when you respect and honor your self,

when you feel like doing your hair for you,

when you call your friends and love being and enjoying their company,

when your heart decides to stop riding the emotional roller coaster

and when you feel strong enough to start moving mountains, swimming seas and climbing over walls.




You are secure in Love and in your Self when you realize you can only love someone authentically

when you learn to love your Self first - and you act on this fact.


"If you do not know your inner center, love will become an attachment.

If you know your inner center,

love will become devotion.

But you must first be there to love.

When you re rooted in your self, when you know who you are,

then you will not cling to anyone.

Only then can you love because sharing is possible and with no conditions, no expectations.

You simply share because you have an abundance. You have so much it is overflowing.

This overflowing of yourself is Love."

Osho

F Sionil Jose is not lazy to sign my copy of his book

At Powerbooks on February 11, 2012, F Sionil Jose declares that he prefers to limit the questions asked in the Open Forum so he can sign a lot of copies of the books he is selling.

And we all agreed.


I saw my thesis adviser from my university days and was excited to greet her until I actually did and discovered I combined the first name of Lit teacher A and the last name of Lit teacher B and voila, she shakes her head in puzzlement on why I was calling her by not-her-name.

And then I forgot how I managed to recall her actual name or how she managed to tell me who she is

but I remember how I cringed in embarrassment for my amnesia

and felt shame that I did not remember her but that she actually remembers me and what my thesis was

and I went around in circles trying to save my faux pas

but I could not and so told her, sincerely, how it was good to see her again (am not sure if she could say the same to me) and honored her space by making an exit.



I also witnessed Dr. Margie Holmes express her respect and adoration for F Sionil Jose

and saw I.R. Cruz smile in amusement at Dr. Holmes' candid confession.


F Sionil Jose's daughter offered a seat to me and I also discovered that it was her first time attending a book launch of her father's.


I lined up with mostly old men and women and a few younger women and men (local and foreign) to have our book copies signed (I was carrying a copy of his Gleanings of a Life in Literature) and wondered the standard profile of F Sionil Jose's fans/readers

while an older friend instructs me to stop lining up and eat the free food instead.

The Greatest Voice of All

"Houston was a mezzo-soprano, and was commonly referred to as "The Voice" in reference to her exceptional vocal talent. Her vocal range extended from G below middle C (G3) to high B-flat (B♭5); she could belt out to treble F (F5). No other female pop star – not Mariah Carey, not Celine Dion, not Barbra Streisand – quite rivals Houston in her exquisite vocal fluidity and purity of tone, and her ability to infuse a lyric with mesmerizing melodrama.""


Aint no Way Whitney Houston is dead. But she is.



All at Once, fans took a moment to realize, she's not coming back,

and it's finally hit everyone all at once.


Instantly, we remember that One Moment In Time we heard her excellently unforgettable voice and sang (or at least tried to) any of her songs.

She is the Queen of the Night.

She has more than a Million Dollar Bill.

But sadly, she has Something in Common with the late great Michael Jackson which Houston herself admitted to in her 2009 interview with Oprah).



In her 2009 "comeback," everyone thought she was Fine.

Some even called her return a Miracle.

But now we know It Isn't, It Wasn't, It Ain't Never Gonna Be.


She was open about her struggles and spoke about it so candidly and honestly.

She described how she expertly combined cocaine and marijuana enough for me to be curious enough to Try It on My Own.

She related how she once thought her marriage to her ex-husband Bobbi Brown was Worth It.

She told everyone how she adored her father - despite him suing her for $100M before he died - and staunchly defends him still by claiming that him suing her was influenced by people around him.

She recounts how her husband started to change for the worst when her father died.

She told of how she was spit on.

How she was controlled.

How she witnessed the women come and go in her ex-husband's life

and how she experienced all the abuse and knew its Not Right But Its Okay because she stayed on anyway.

She said

being with Bobbi had become a habit.

"He was my drug" she told Oprah.

She felt he was "All the Man that I Need."


"I Belong to You" -- she probably felt this towards Bobbi.

"Love That Man" she could have said.


Despite the abuse, she was 14 years attached to him enough to declare "(I'm) Saving All My Love For You"

But the pain became unbearable that the cracks were showing.

She was reportedly seen So Emotional in public

yet she stayed and still hoped that Love Will Save the Day.


Whitney My Honey, did you think he will Run To You whenever he said he would?

Did you numb all that pain away with medication?

He might be out of your life but is his evil eyes still haunting you?


She also said "I'm my own worst enemy"

and

"The biggest devil is me."

Kevin Costner confirmed Whitney Houston's feelings of inadequacy when she reportedly asked, "Am I good enough?"

"Would they like me?"



and we could only wonder how she could have felt or thought that way about herself.




I now wonder if Madonna or Tina Turner or Mariah Carey could've helped her, with them having been in a similarly violent and physically/emotionally/sexually abusive, addictive, controlling relationship (Madonna with Sean Penn, Mariah Carey with Tony Mottola and Tina with Ike Turner).

Whitney Houston, the world thanks you for helping us understand the fact that The Greatest Love of All is indeed learning to love one's Self.

In your next life, feel free to say "I Learned from the Best" and that ultimately you can truthfully say "I Know my Own Strength."