My husband just bought the January 1/15 2007 issue of Newsbreak. On page 32, there is an interesting Philippine Idol article of “Choosing our Idols”. It says that “the similarities between Philippine Idol and Philippine Politics are just too stark.
The similarities are indeed obvious . Here are list of similarities and quotes from the article.
1. One needs campaign machinery to spread the word.-
In the article “the mayor of Sariaya, Concepcion Doromal , offered to contact the 40 or so other town mayors of the province from whom she solicited a minimum 5000 pesos each” Also, some contestants were said to have supporters spending as much as 100,000 pesos a week and beginning to set up headquarters for voting and mobilization
2. Funding to support the campaign
An example of this was stated in the article “Another well-off supporter from Quezon, a lawyer approached Marcelo , spending from 15,000 pesos to as much as 40,000 pesos a week to see her through the next competition round. Each night like a dutiful campaign manager, he would distribute the prepaid cards to Marcelo’s supporters who would gather in one table just to text their voites within the prescribed two-hour period.
3. Volunteer supporters because one needs warm bodies especially during the performance night.
“The supporters of the contestants came in full regalia- shirts and balloons, pom-poms in blue and silver for the “hunky idol” Jan Nieto, and orange equivalents for “livewire idol” Gian Carlo Magdangal. Marcelo’s supporters had the same paraphernalia plus yellow hankies, on top of streamers and posters.”
4. One needs image consultants and publicists to package the Idol.
“Two well-meaning supporters , Manuel Minena and Gio Flores offered to fix how she looked, from haur to make-up to hown to even the way she moved on the stage. Di na ako mukhang sofa (I no longer look like a sofa) she says recalling the time that she jokingly told the judges she was lucky no one mistook her outft for furniture upholstery.”
Anyway, just grab a copy of Newsbreak to read the whole article.
To view the enlarged photos of the Philippine Idol Results Night, Click here.
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