maggi magic sarap and judy ann santos in a dream ad - only seen in dreams

have you seen your dream on tv?


this maggi magic sarap tv commercial featuring popular judy ann santos or juday as endorser is a dream seen on tv. to have juday in ad is a dream not only considering the amount of talent fee that needs to be paid but also because of the fact that juday is still at her peak. she is one of the most popular actresses around with a huge and in many cases rabid following.

pair to the dream of having juday in the ad is the the looks of the ad which is really very good. the production and art designs are excellent with every little meticulously set and every item you see in the ad art directed to perfection.


juday is also in dream looks - every piece of her hair in place, make-up just right making her look clean, nice and beautiful. this is one of the few ads of juday where her real personality comes out - wholesome, happy and beautiful. she does this understated beauty queen walk through stalls in a palengke (a wet public market), with an over-sized bag.


wait a minute..... palengke? what palengke? juday is in a palengke? to do what?


that is where this dream ad bursts.


why in the world will a showbiz superstar, specially someone like judy ann santos go to a palengke? it will not be surprising to know that the time they shot this ad in that palengke is the first time judy ann santos has ever set foot in a palengke in all her life.


on that alone, this ad already suffers from a catastrophic believability problem. judy ann santos must have at least 4 househelp under her employ. and even these househelp most likely do their shopping for food in a supermarket, not in a palengke.


as a superstar, juday may be used to wear clothes like what she is wearing on a daily basis, but very, very few ordinary folks wear the same type of clothes in a palengke. you wouldn't want nice clothes like that smeared with fish or meat blood, not to mention get all the smells of produce, slaughtered chicken and fish to attach themselves on your clothes. these types of clothes is also a magnet for holduppers and crime.


and did you notice the palengke? there is NO palengke in the philippines, not a single one that look like that. the stalls are neatly arranged, everything is clean and it smells real good (ok, that one we imagined). you also see produce hanging from stalls to give the place a nice look. this whole palengke look is just too art directed. the production design staff was just too much, every inch of that ad was drawn and executed to perfection. this palengke is so perfect that a palengke looking like that can only exist in our nightmares.

nestle is obsessive compulsive about branding, seeing the brand names of their products in every frame in their ads, but in this one they relented and now we just see the maggi magic sarap color of yellow. that's the reason why the whole commercial has been given an over-all look of the color yellow.

but this nestle ad is a huge improvement compared to their previous ads of years ago. nestle used to have tv ads where not only did the colors of the brand being advertised is in every shot, the brand name is also displayed prominently. i remember milo commercials where kids who play basketball where uniforms with the milo logo, the board of the basketball ring has the milo logo and the banners around the basketball court has milo logos on them. at least in this ad, they no longer have the brand's logo everywhere, just the brand colors.

this tv ad may look good visually, but it's one that exist only on a production designer's sketch pad and not even in our dreams. it is the farthest from reality. add to the incredible visual look what juday does in this ad makes one really go crazy, judy ann santos will NOT set foot in a palengke to buy food stuff and she will NOT cook a meal for guests. it's just too difficult to believe.

one of the most important principles of celebrity endorsement advertising is credibility and believability. this tv ad ignores that completely. this is one of the worst kind of celebrity endorsement ad where the over-riding principle appear to be - have the face of the endorser in the ad and it will sell.

we often hear actresses who appear naked in movies explain away their behavior as "for art's sake". of course we don't believe them. we know that art has nothing to do with their going naked in movies, it's all about the talent fee they were paid and the hope appearing naked in movies will make them famous.

well, this tv ad is very similar to that situation. they have the looks, the feel and juday doing what she is doing in this ad as "for art's sake", throwing away all attempts to be believable and credible.

and did i mention juday's palengke basket? look at it, it's this huge palengke basket with a red scarf tied around it for effect. duh! nobody carries that basket anymore. they use plastic bayong these days or just any ordinary plastic bag. and please, a red scarf tied around it???!!!

a WAWAM!




view the ad here: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=D082Lxm7k5Q