Paper Bug

The 1955 Coco-Cola infomercial, “Pearl of the Orient”, showcases Coke both as a valued commodity and as part of the Filipino lifestyle. For decades, Coca-Cola has, and still, continued to reign in the consumers market stunning other companies with their artistic and viewer-friendly commercials. It has also succeeded in introducing Coke to every Filipino family, regarding Coke as a member whose absence would mean a lot of loss. The infomercial also opens the gateway to the Philippines at that time, presenting Filipino people and culture.  Image Courtesy: Coca-Cola The product Coke is represented here as Coca-Cola’s colonial effort to assert its influence in Philippine culture and establish business imperialism within the country. Coke production is viewed here as the force which offers employment to a lot of Filipinos, and its continuous stay and utilization of resources, sand, sugar cane and even cheap labor, tell the viewers of the Philippines’s richness in resourc...

Delotavo’s interesting visual artwork reflects on the negative effects the Coca-Cola Company has brought about to a Third World country, the Philippines. Antipas Delotavo is a social realist who only considers things as they are and whose works reveal much about exploited workers. The painting shows the response of Mang Juan, a typical Filipino worker, to the upsurge of foreign colonialism and the aggressive injection of Western influence. Itak sa Puso ni Mang Juan is a feedback on the negative impacts of globalization or commercialization in the Philippines. As perceived, a dagger-like tail of the letter C in the company’s title is pointed at the heart of Mang Juan. This exposes the struggle of an average Filipino worker, the embodiment of the Filipino public or the masa, against the agonizing monopoly and economic control of international corporations, most of which are offering products and services that entice consumers to live life according to “wants”, and not “needs”. ...