[SPOTTED]: Media Manipulation in the 2022 Presidential Campaign TV Ad of the BBM Administration.
During the 2022 Philippine Presidential elections, the candidates for president created campaign advertisements to showcase who they were and what they could offer to the country. One campaign ad that quickly became controversial in social media was the paid television advertisement of Ferdinand "Bongbong" Romualdez Marcos Jr., the 17th and current president of the Republic of the Philippines. This advertisement was played during the course of the election starting from December 2021 (Guanzon, 2022). Since then, the citizen voters have seen the windmills in Ilocos Norte as Marcos' campaign materials. The advertisement aimed to touch the heart of the citizen voters (DRPS One - PH TV Ad Archive Channel, 2021). Also, it was created with the intent to introduce Bongbong Marcos and his campaign slogan: "Bangon Bayan Muli" (Guanzon, 2022).
Although this campaign advertisement was created with the sole intention of introducing Bongbong Marcos, the ad's content detrimentally affected the citizen voters, especially the supporters. The BBM Administration claims that Bongbong Marcos initiated the construction of windmills in his hometown, Ilocos Norte (Lagman & Ines, 2022). The sad truth behind this claim is that the Bangui Bay Wind Power project was built using funds from the World Bank and was initiated by a private company named NorthWind Power Development Corporation (Salazar, 2022). This propaganda of Bongbong Marcos misled the citizen voters into thinking that BBM built the windmills. This disinformation is so widespread that it became harmful to the community, especially to his supporters, because most Filipinos do not have the critical analysis skill to identify this form of media manipulation in this campaign advertisement (Spacey, 2020).
This information is one of the many fake claims of Bongbong Marcos, his use of media manipulation to spread information shows a lot about the true agenda of his administration. Now that he is in the highest position in the Republic of the Philippines, the current state of our country proves that citizen voters should do better in choosing and critically analyzing our future leaders. Marcos' tactics made him remain at the top ranking in presidential surveys, which continued as he hid from the media and the people about his platforms and say in the social issues in our country. Always remember never again to let the past go back to the present to ruin our future. All in all, Ferdinand "Bongbong" Marcos Jr. would not be where he is right now if it was not for his surname, "Marcos," given that to this day, he does not have many accomplishments to live up to his name.
References:
DRPS One - PH TV Ad Archive Channel. (2021). Bongbong Marcos
Paid TV Ad Q4 2021 60s. [Video]. YouTube. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=8eyLi63P4vg
Guanzon, S. (2022). Windmills in Marcos Jr.’s campaign symbolize
return to Marcosian ‘golden age’ – study. RAPPLER. https://www.rappler.com/nation/elections/windmills-marcos-jr-campaign-return-golden-age/
Lagman, M., & Ines, J. (2022). FACT CHECK: Bangui Wind Farm in
Ilocos Norte Not Bongbong Marcos’ Project. OneNetwork. https://www.onenews.ph/articles/fact-check-bangui-wind-farm-in-ilocos-norte-not-bongbong-marcos-project
Salazar, C. (2022). Inauguration 2022: Marcos repeats false claim on
Ilocos windmills. Philippine Center for Investigative Journalism. https://pcij.org/blog/3391/inauguration-2022-marcos-repeats-false-claim-on-ilocos-windmills