Social media is a double-edged sword. We've seen it in action many times before. It is what catapulted Justin Bieber to stardom (eew) and Rebecca Black to infamy (I still maintain that The Cure's "Friday, I'm in Love" is and always will be the song for Friday). It causes a most dramatic ripple especially when wielded against known brands and their all-important image. So when this powerful force is put in the hands of a prankster, whether the strike is a hit or a miss, some amount of damage will definitely be inflicted. But, how deep the wound -- ah, yes, that's where it gets interesting.
In the aftermath of the March 24th prank at Greenbelt (pic on the left), the damage might not be huge nor permanent, but it sure laid out all the cards on the table. This is just me, but I think Ayala Land's releasing an official statement about it was unnecessary, plus it kind of made it worse. They let it get to them; their saying something about the incident suggested that it disturbed them enough to acknowledge a mere prank.
Heck, the fact that the picture made the rounds on the internet yesterday is testament to how "disturbing" it is. While some say it's wrong because it's not true (more on that in just a bit), it seems that more people are finding it amusing for its cheekiness.
Remember the children's story, "The Emperor's New Clothes"? The tale goes that a vain ruler wanted to have the best outfit in all the land and was willing to pay any price for it. A couple of tailors decided to take advantage of his vanity and pulled a fast one on the emperor by dressing him in a "magical" suit. Except, it's really invisible. The emperor was convinced (or too embarrassed?) to say that, in fact, there's nothing there, but he still carried on with pride and even paraded around the town in his fabulous new clothes. Obviously, the townsfolk were all aghast at seeing their ruler in his underpants, but maybe out of fear for their lives if they let out even a small giggle, no one said anything and simply cheered the mighty fool on. That is, until a young boy let out a yelp, pointed at the emperor, and guffawed, "He's not wearing any clothes!" The spell, so to speak, was broken, causing an uproar of heckles and jeers to finally erupt from the tense crowd.
Much like the young boy in the story, the Greenbelt prankster called out the white elephant in the room. S/he said what many of us already knew: discrimination is alive and well in the Philippines. A friend said it best when he pointed out that there seems to be a "force field" around these upscale malls. For instance, just by crossing the street from Market! Market! to Serendra in Bonifacio Global City, you'll feel like you've stepped into a totally different world. Of course, there's no stopping the so-called C and D markets from penetrating that "force field", but it is bitterly apparent that their presence make them stick out like a sore thumb. Yet, when we switch it around -- i.e., replace "Greenbelt" with, say, "Divisoria" -- then the sore thumb is now that socialite in the Zara outfit and a Longchamp tote on her spa-scrubbed arm, buying 8 umbrellas for just Php100.
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Heck, the fact that the picture made the rounds on the internet yesterday is testament to how "disturbing" it is. While some say it's wrong because it's not true (more on that in just a bit), it seems that more people are finding it amusing for its cheekiness.
Remember the children's story, "The Emperor's New Clothes"? The tale goes that a vain ruler wanted to have the best outfit in all the land and was willing to pay any price for it. A couple of tailors decided to take advantage of his vanity and pulled a fast one on the emperor by dressing him in a "magical" suit. Except, it's really invisible. The emperor was convinced (or too embarrassed?) to say that, in fact, there's nothing there, but he still carried on with pride and even paraded around the town in his fabulous new clothes. Obviously, the townsfolk were all aghast at seeing their ruler in his underpants, but maybe out of fear for their lives if they let out even a small giggle, no one said anything and simply cheered the mighty fool on. That is, until a young boy let out a yelp, pointed at the emperor, and guffawed, "He's not wearing any clothes!" The spell, so to speak, was broken, causing an uproar of heckles and jeers to finally erupt from the tense crowd.
Much like the young boy in the story, the Greenbelt prankster called out the white elephant in the room. S/he said what many of us already knew: discrimination is alive and well in the Philippines. A friend said it best when he pointed out that there seems to be a "force field" around these upscale malls. For instance, just by crossing the street from Market! Market! to Serendra in Bonifacio Global City, you'll feel like you've stepped into a totally different world. Of course, there's no stopping the so-called C and D markets from penetrating that "force field", but it is bitterly apparent that their presence make them stick out like a sore thumb. Yet, when we switch it around -- i.e., replace "Greenbelt" with, say, "Divisoria" -- then the sore thumb is now that socialite in the Zara outfit and a Longchamp tote on her spa-scrubbed arm, buying 8 umbrellas for just Php100.
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