RC Cola's new TVC highlights being distinctly Filipino

MANILA, Philippines - Pinoy culture has greatly evolved over the decades. Remember those funny e-mail anecdotes illustrating how one would know if a person is truly Filipino? If one has a giant fork and spoon wall decor in the living room or a painting of the Last Supper above the dining table? Some may find it offensive, others funny. But even then such distinctiveness makes us truly who we are. 

This is what RC Cola is celebrating — the uniqueness of being a Filipino. In the previous television commercial which aired last summer, each scene displayed unmistakably Filipino traits — teens in realistic, natural, everyday situations enjoying RC Cola. It even showed them throwing slippers to dislodge a basketball stuck in the ring, hanging out in front of a sari-sari store, eating banana-cue or simply busy texting — typical of a local neighborhood.

In the new RC Cola commercial featuring  Maja Salvador and Asian star Kim Bum, RC Cola once again gives credence to the Filipinos distinct characteristics. So, why get a Korean star for the campaign?

Filipinos love to watch Koreanovelas. These Tagalog-dubbed TV dramas have become so much a part of Filipinos’ lives it has become part of our culture. Credit this to Filipinos’ insatiable appetite for love stories. What RC Cola has done is bring this seemingly ìfar and unreachableî Koreanovela talent closer to Filipino RC Cola drinkers’ hearts by putting him in a Pinoy setting. So, Kim Bum came to the Philippines to shoot the commercial.

A closer look at the commercial also revealed several delightful Filipino idiosyncrasies such as texting in abbreviated words, having a menagerie of stuffed animals at the back of an early model but well-maintained car.