Thread by @sejoalzir

A SEMIOTIC ANALYSIS OF MARCOS' TV AD

We need to do this exercise in critical studies to unravel narratives, texts, and meanings embedded in images signs, and symbols to unmask the intent of artists, designers, or creatives. In the case of Marcos' TV ad, we will unearth motives.

Semiotics is the study of signs, symbols, their interpretations that influence perceptions and meanings that construct thoughts. Humans live or survive in the midst of signs and symbols--traffic lights, company logos, colored baby tags in birthing centers, danger warnings, etc.

In the Philippines, even the image of a black cat is a whole horror story. Because we are so used to signs and symbols, marketing specialists or TV ad makers use them subliminally or conspicuously to arouse our minds or stir our feelings. We relive the past or construct meanings.

Now let's analyze Marcos' TV ad. The first scene is the Bangui windmills in Ilocos Norte. They are signs of progress because they are considered as "new technology". The ad maker made Marcos look like a technocrat or a proponent of technology-based development although he is not.

Then the magical act happens: Marcos picks a running, heavy windmill and turns it into a pinwheel. So strong and godly, right? Well, his father was deified during his dictatorship as the mythical Malakas. The ad maker wanted to bring the audience back to the past, to Marcos Sr.

The pinwheel, a child's toy, is clearly about nostalgia, the campaign strategy of the Marcos camp that plays the Bagong Lipunan jingle that was heard in the 70s for nostalgia. Marcos Jr. has nothing to show to Filipinos, so he goes back to his father's glorified "New Society".

Even the shape of the pinwheel is reminiscent of the sun in the Bagong Lipunan logo. The intent of the ad maker is to exploit the incomplete memories of martial law babies and the happy memories of young loyalists then who are now old. Marcos Jr. wants them to be storytellers.

The wind and the spin also send a message that boosts "Babangon Muli". It's not only about rising up and going full circle but also soaring. Kids who play with pinwheels by running towards the wind know the feeling--the joy of flying. In politics and economics, that's progress.

The texts of the TV ad such as "magandang umaga", "pagsikat ng araw", "may kabuhayan", "may kinabukasan", "hindi titigil", "sama-sama", at "umangat ang bayan" were the rhetorics of the Marcos dictatorship and its Bagong Lipunan that were heard in the rural areas in the late 70s.

I still remember those community activities--tree planting, backyard cleaning, gardening, and street beautification, which I now consider as the way of the Bagong Lipunan to keep the poor, the illiterate, and the hungry busy--no time for protests. After all, there were prizes.

The text that really scares me is "ikot ng panahon". That's from Marcos Sr. to Marcos Jr., a full circle. Malakas in the 70s is now sakalam, the favorite expression of the young supporters of Marcos Jr. Life during martial law was all about miserable scarcity--food or justice.

Who are the audiences of the TV ad? All Filipinos--ABCDE, urban and rural, men and women, rich and poor, young and old, professionals and laborers, and children and adults. The people in the ad, the use of technology, and the images of livelihoods and communities represent them.

If I weren't a Robredo supporter and martial law baby who knows a lot about the scarcities and injustices during the Marcos dictatorship, I'd be convinced because the pinwheel plays with my nostalgic memory. I used to make coco leaf pinwheels when afternoons were calm and slow.

Analyzing is descriptive, and my interest even in critical studies is solving--prescription. In the case of this TV ad, I want to suggest some responses that will weaken its impact. If only we have groups like the Lincoln Project in the US, responding to Marcos is child's play.

Let's say the Magsaysay Project exists. I would propose two videos--one mocks the ad by turning it into cocaine addiction and the other uses the ad to expose a gruesome case of injustice during martial law-- that of Boyet Mijares, a teen who was kidnapped, tortured, and killed.

A Marcos look-alike picks a windmill that turns into a pinwheel and passes it to his aides who disassemble it--the body a tube for snorting and one of the blades a surgical blade for cutting.

"Umiikot ang panahon. Walang bukas. Walang araw. Walang umaga. Hindi makakabangon."

The other video will recreate the bedroom of a teen in the 70's. A pinwheel on his bed.

"Hindi natuloy ang pagbibinata ni Boyet. Walang kasintahan. Hindi na nagkaroon ng asawa. Hindi nagkaroon ng anak. Walang pamamanahan ng laruan. Walang awa siyang pinatay noong martial law."

To effectively respond to Marcos' nostalgia-based campaign strategy, we must deromanticize fake memories. Nobody is nostalgic for ugly things, sad events, bad people and grim stories. So, we must expose the ugliness of martial law and the miseries during the Marcos dictatorship.

Done.