Pop Culture in Third World Countries

Pop Culture in Third World Countries
Claudio, Claudine F.
Editorial & Column Writing
Prof. Jeanie Derillo


“What is the difference between unethical and ethical advertising? Unethical advertising uses falsehoods to deceive the public; ethical advertising uses truth to deceive the public.”
~Vilhjalmur Stefansson

I thought advertising agencies is supposed to be run by creative people? By people acquiring extraordinary imagination and creativity? By people with visionary skills to promote something unknown to popularity? I thought Advertising is supposed to be an art? But how could art bring about deception and sense of superficiality to people?

Condoms. Liquors. Women. Passion. Lust. Safe Sex.

Putting the word “safe” before sex is one heinous thing to do. Sex has become something that is “common” to the world. It has become “okay”. The supposedly sacred word had been degraded to a meaning too cheap and dirty. The supposedly gift from God to married couples has now been tainted. It can now be bought from filthy bars and clubs. It's as if it has become some pirated film bought on sidewalks.

Now, almost the whole world is starting to have a bent notion about sex. And what's saddening is that “Thirld World Countries” who are supposed to strive for development, is part of this world. The countries who are supposed to be focusing to their growth are now being pulled back down to immaturity because of pop culture. Just the Philippines for an instance. Filipinos were once the most conservative and religious people in the world. Now that we have been contaminated with popular culture produced mostly by the west, our people's definition was now changed into hospitable beings. Prostitutes.

Popular culture has deceived us through the power of media. Before we are the ones who create the demands. Now advertising does it for us. We no longer have the power to control which and which are not our needs. It's now them who tell us. So tell me, how could the third world countries rise up on their feet if popular culture would bombard us with false needs and require our stupidity to satisfy them?

“Advertisers constantly invent cures to which there is no disease.” ~Author Unknown

Such a mess, these ways of the world. Modern advertisements has turned into the devil who tempted Jesus on the mountain. And we are no Jesus. We are trying so hard to transform the rock into bread and jumped off from the top of the mountain just to find out that we are powerless and the devil who has seen would leave us there bloody and helpless.