Oh Hail the Half-and-Half

Seriously, I have no problem with ads portraying famous celebrities and "beauties" of this land as a certain-percent Filipino and the rest as something else. I mean, that's the reality. Some people may argue that Filipinos are not, say, "pure", that our bloodlines have been mixed with Chinese, Japanese, Indian and even Spanish races.

I even have to say that with my foreign-like (or pretty "foreign") last name, my family has this three-generations-old legend/joke that our ancestors were really English convicts bound for Australia that ended up in our Pacific-facing province.

Some have expressed they were offended by the ad, some even defended it. I saw a Facebook comment that it all boils down to a "mutt" discussion (haha). Heck, it's on Mashable; the issue's now raised on a web-level that Mashable readers can only understand!

When I first saw it, I thought, "Oh of course, we celebrate the obvious and that is the advantage of the half-and-half". Really. There's nothing wrong with "50% Australian and 50% Filipino" and even "30% Indian and 70% Filipino" (whoa, is this like a complicated genetic computation?), I think the problem is --- they are the MINORITY. It especially comes with a critical slap when the copy of the ad says:

“Call it biased, but the mixing and matching of different nationalities with Filipino blood is almost a sure formula for someone beautiful and world class.”


HAHA, "Call it biased.." it IS! You got that right!

I don't think that the ad is offensive at all, it is just alienating. There is that obvious preference for the "mixed" people, most especially the ones who are part Caucasians. Since college I have friends who kidded about marrying foreigners just so our kids will have the advantage here; it is just SAD and it is so true. We are not only a culture that wants to look white, we have become a culture that gives advantage to those who are not "indigenous". Why can't we just embrace and celebrate EVERYONE, including those who do not have grandparents or parents who are a lighter or darker shade of... fabulous Malay/Pacific Islander tan?!!

Yes, I remember Bayo having a 100% Pinay campaign before which I loved; I think I bought a couple of shirts because of that. Now this makes me wonder --- these mixed-race models Bayo used, where do they tend to lean towards... their Filipino side or the other side? Seriously. Answer this under oath, in the eyes of your god, whatever. I am not saying pick a side; say, are you more Australian or more Filipino or more Chinese or more Indian? Just a question. Because whether you like it or not, Jessica Sanchez is more American than Filipino or Mexican.

Seriously, who cares if you're one-eighth Spanish or whatever. So everything is all about the genes now? Gattaca? Anyone?

And while we're at it, why not revive a 100% Pinay campaign in its real mixed sense?

If you want mixed, there you go. Everybody's happy.