It saddens me that the new Bayo campaign showing interracially mixed Filipinos has been taken out of proportion and is being bashed in different social media sites. The objective of the said campaign is to celebrate one’s heritage and having Filipino lineage. It is not about being more beautiful IFyou had a mix of another race. To even begin to think that way is to question your own identity and pride as a Filipino.

Yes, I am not a pure Filipino, but I surely have always been proud of being partly Filipino. I’ve actually always struggled to blend in with crowds because I am partly Australian and partly Filipino while most of my friends were either one and whenever one of my nationalities were being picked at, I had to defend myself twice the amount that anyone around me ever had to do. It’s always been an issue for me: accent, culture, fashion and beliefs. So to finally have seen an advertisement, which accepts my two very different heritages made me even more proud of being both.

I think that this advertisement is about being bold, confident and proud- nothing more, nothing less. It is about being able to be bold enough to mix prints and patterns, different types of clothing, and colours too! The tag line “What’s your mix?” is referring to: what your mix is with clothes and prints. However, some people made it seem as if it was referring solely to your heritage mix. And, yes, although that is what may be inferred because of the visual aid “50% Australian and 50% Filipino”, I hope people understand and consider the function of figurative language. 

The way that I see it- no where within the ad did I see anything written about pure Filipinos not being world class or beautiful. So to those who have been saying so…what happened to Pinoy pride? All that was written was that having Filipino blood in us is worthy of being world class and beautiful. Still, I do highly believe that as well as being a Filipino, you also have to work hard to be world class; it does not happen overnight by simply being so. The line which says “..but mixing and matching of different nationalities with Filipino blood is almost a sure formula for someone beautiful and world class.” is a line that contains metaphoric language (a figure of speech) “a sure formula”, is not saying that there is actually a literal formula as that cannot be literally applicable. Filipinos are actually the more, if not the most, resilient among all races which is why there are so many Filipinos working hard and living all over the world. And that trait is considered world class and beautiful.

An ad like this is not racist. If that was the case then isn’t a person’s desire to bleach his/her skin, tan it, and even try to make his/her eyes rounder racist enough to our own kind? Doesn’t that say something about how we feel about the way we are naturally? I hope we can all look at things at all angles before judging. 

I understand that each one of us see things differently and I know that not everyone can be pleased with everything that they see or hear but, I also hope that we can be more careful and objective with what we say, especially in social media sites where so many people can read and misinterpret it, even.  

Yes, I am an endorser for Bayo but that is not the reason why I wrote this. I am just sharing my personal take on this because I understood what the brand was trying to convey.