It's the Pandemic and I look stressed AF, but that shouldn't be an issue!

 

I think you know by now that Belo is currently under fire for their latest, dark humored new video ad that highlights how the pandemic has made us forget about ourselves and that Belo is there to save us from looking haggard. Because you know, it's the pandemic and amid all the deaths, despair, financial losses, and economic turmoil, a facial is still paramount.

I haven't seen the ad, but screenshots of the girl in the video ad. You can count on the Internet people to take screenshots of these things...and lots of it. Nothing is ever really lost in the Internet. Be careful of what you put out there.

The story goes like this, according to those who have seen the ad: Girl is watching the T.V. and as she watches the grim reality of the pandemic unfolding before her eyes, her features and body went seemingly cursed with all the negativities and manifested as muffin tops, pimples, hairy AF armpits, and uni brows, a symbolism of how this pandemic has brought unfathomable anxieties, losses, and pains upon people. But we can all rise again. You can rise again by looking good. And that you should go to Belo. By the way, do you still have your 13th pay?

When I first saw the girl in the ad, I remember one photo that my husband cheekily took while I was sleeping. It's been an ongoing game of ours to take photos of each other while sleeping for a good laugh the next morning. Damn, this pandemic makes you do sh*t crazy things. 

Oh there's the photo for all of you to see (and feast on, for bashers).

We told each other that these photos should be kept private for our amusement only. I mean, why would you want people to see your ugliest self?

But this moment gave me the courage to put this out here.

That photo of mine was taken after struggling the whole night to sleep. Because I just discovered that we might have been conned by one of our clients; that I was having one of my self- worth issues once again and I hated myself because I've worked on this for years and I'm an influencer who tells people to love themselves, but I can't even do that to myself; that I was exhausted from folding two weeks' worth of laundry; that I got really hungry because of all the stress at work and I ate chips, and while I was expecting to feel good about it, I felt bad because I knew it was making me really fat; that I thought I was fat AF and unhealthy and unsightly; that this whole pandemic has caused me anxiety since the onset and it comes up all the time and I always try my best to suppress it; that my heart breaks seeing businesses close and people who are not as privileged as me getting hungry, but I can't fckingg do anything about it because I'm having problems with income as well because of the pandemic. And then I finally got to sleep around 8am. The next day, I thought to myself, at least I got to sleep; at least there's one successful thing that happened in my life the other day. I think by the time this photo was taken, I was suffering from Maskne and I haven't shaved my armpits in a month.

But the last thing on my mind was a facial or a laser. I wanted proactive economic and health solutions. I wanted extra income. I wanted to help people.

As of this writing, I stare at this picture of mine and looking back, I think what I needed that time was grace and support. Thankfully, my loving husband was there to give that. 

And that fat, unhealthy, ugly version of me in the photo tells the story of the many people who go through the same things everyday in this pandemic. And you know what? We only want three things: 1. For people to cut us some slack. 2. To be asked if we're okay and what we really needed. 3. And to give us what we need. You can't just tell us to facial our way to a good feeling if our actual needs are not being addressed. 

I think the lesson to learn here is just like beauty, Self Care is skin-deep too, I guess; it comes after when you are given the proper care, tools, and support in the first place. And in this precarious time where people are dying left and right, economies are crumbling, and people are struggling to get back on their feet, and we're still somewhat walking in the dark in this pandemic because of bad governance, kindness is a valuable currency and if people can't afford or choose to not look radiant or pretty (according to your standards), then that should be okay and let's not fault them for that. We all don't have the same privileges, even if we are in the same situation.

And before I end this, here are some lessons for brands if they want to come up with a video ad that wants to capitalize on the pandemic:

1. Well, let me start by saying that CAPITALIZE shouldn't be your mindset because that will be the output of your video. The quality of your video begins with how you frame your approach. When working with brands, I always ask frame my approach and questions using helpful words and statements: HOW CAN I HELP PEOPLE FEEL BEAUTIFUL IN THIS PANDEMIC? HOW CAN PEOPLE FIND VALUE IN THIS VIDEO?

2. According to the interwebs, the ad agency behind it was Gigil. Gigil became famous in social media for their quirky video ads for brands. I am actually a huge fan of Gigil's works and as I have assessed, based on their interviews that I have read, that when conceptualizing their videos, they always pay importance to insights and more so to their intuition; after all, the founders and members have YEARS of experience in the field and definitely have a good grasp of what will work and won't work in advertising. But beauty is a touchy subject and it's always important to take into consideration the opinions of stakeholders when making videos; not just what worked for the agency and what will go viral (in a good way).

And to end this on a good note, Belo has immediately taken action and took down the video ad and issued an apology. Good crisis management, in my opinion.

I hope the brand and agency have learned from all of this.

How about you? What do you think of the ad?