"Maximo" -- Cinemalaya 2010 Trailer

Our favorite femme boy movie character, the iconic Maximo Oliveros, lends himself to the promo campaign for the 6th Cinemalaya Film Festival. You may remember Ang Pagdadalaga Ni Maximo Oliveros debuted in the very first Cinemalaya in 2005.

While the spot (directed by Paolo Villaluna) enjoyably apes the memorable sequence in the film directed by Auraeus Solito -- in which Maxi and his friends stage a mini beauty pageant -- and how nice too, to see actor Nathan Lopez all grown up and still work the same innocent charm, it's disheartening to see all this appropriated for an icky message. Maxi is now performing, not out of the need to express himself, but for the approval of a panel of foreign judges.

"The world is watching" is this year's Cinemalaya slogan -- the campaign was devised by ad agency DDB Phils. -- and it may be a testament to how the country's most popular independent film festival has acquired an air of laurel-chasing self-consciousness. Poor Maxi, who used to bow only to love, is made to appear to be a sellout, a prostitute for fame. Blasphemous. Filmmakers, is this what you're really making films for?

GRADE: D

Related Links:
The two other spots in the ad campaign:
"Casket" and "Engkwentro"

The 10 Gayest Pinoy Commercials of the Decade (2000-2009)

"That commercial is so gay!" You might think that's an insult, but not to us. The Bakla Review and The McVie Show put together a list of TV ads from the Philippines in the last ten years that are campy, outrageous, provocative, uplifting, or moving -- in short, those that have made a special connection with us, people like us, or the queer in anyone of us. Heck, they may have even convinced us to buy the product! (McVie painstakingly details our not-so-scientific process and criteria here.) These commercials are so gay, and we salute them.

10. Lucky Me! Pancit Canton "Almost Kiss"



McVie: Two guys, seemingly straight (or just straight-acting closeted ones?), are drawn together by their love of, uhm, noodles. This commercial gives new embodiment to the naughty phrase, “Pa-canton ka naman!”
TBR: I think it’s really sweet. I hear the longer version ends in bed, with less guilt.


9. Penshoppe "Cogie"



McVie: The ad is for a body cologne, yet while watching the young Cogie Domingo in his jailbait days, one forgets the cologne and just focuses on the body. Subtlety? Time to throw in the towel.
TBR: The 30-second definition of a cocktease. I hear girls swooning, or maybe they’re old men.


8. Bench "20 years"



McVie: Kris Aquino, sexy guys romping around the woods in skimpy underwear, Richard Gomez in his heyday—what is gay? Repeat from the top.
TBR: And they’re sprinkled with fairy dust! Or feathers. Or birds. It’s a testament to how gay the Bench ads have been through the years.


7. KFC "Shrimp"



McVie: Wonderful casting, wonderful acting, wonderful timing. Nothing’s overtly stated, and it’s not meant to be taken seriously.
TBR: They want to out their officemate so they can have an excuse to group hug.
(The clip above includes a spoof before the original ad.)


6. PLDT "Billy"



McVie: The success of this commercial lies in the gay punchline in the end, when the male mannequin is revealed. The commercial doesn’t make fun of being gay; rather, it shows the gay condition as is. It’s funny without being condescending.
TBR: Always the best man, never the bride.


5. Nesvita "Trio"



McVie: Guaranteed to give gay viewers a nosebleed thrice over, with Derek Ramsey, Chris Tiu and Will Devaughn. Towards the end, the camera lingers at the backside of Derek before panning up to him and he asks, “Want some?” Do we!
TBR: Okay guys, you win. You may seduce me now.


4. Sunkist "Basketball"



McVie: Audaciously funny. It is a gay man’s fantasy-come-true in full orange color—hot, cute basketball player with other hot, cute basketball players.
TBR: Sunkist should replace Gatorade during practice.


3. Ponds “Holding Hands”



McVie: The first time this came out, people were a-buzz the next day: “Did you see that Ponds commercial?” What made it even more impactful for me is the portrayal of the gay couple as something very ordinary and matter-of-fact. (Plus points for making them a gorgeous-looking one, but hey! This is advertising.) Now if only they had cast Hayden Kho instead of Maricar Reyes, this would have leapt to the top spot of this list.
TBR: Who hasn't fallen in love with this -- or them? I want to be in that kind of relationship, too. I don't care if some girl thinks she can steal my boyfriend away with her soft skin.


2. Ad Congress "Kiss"



McVie: Not only does the commercial flip over the hot-dude-meets-hot-chick set-up, it also subverts the old-fashion image of a gay man as a mujerista but instead shows him as straight-looking and straight-acting as any other guy. It misses being audaciously subversive by not showing a full-blown kiss, but hey.
TBR: A tear just ran down my cheek. Thank you for recognizing us.


1. Rexona "Everybody"



McVie: This commercial out-gays ‘em all because, not only does it show a gay man’s fantasy (hot men in towels), it shows them in abundance! And it’s a musical! Using a Backstreet Boys song! And it has Jordan Herrera at his hottest! Despite—or precisely because of—the guys’ macho posturing, this commercial goes way over the top and onto rainbow land. In the end when Jordan asks, “Wala ba kayong mga kamay?” we all feel like giving them a standing ovation, in more ways than one.
TBR: Yeah, it couldn’t get any gayer unless the towels came off. We were hypnotized by it, and we'll never recover.


***
Didn't Make The Cut:
Aside from the gamut of Bench spots that could easily fill its own top ten (see #8), we considered some hotdog commercials, just because they’re about hotdogs, and endorsements from personalities trailed by gay rumours – sometimes, they're also about hotdogs. Any commercial with hot guys was up to scrutiny, passing through the straight/gay litmus test. But it was hardest to say goodbye to these two undeniably gay creations: an uber-campy shampoo musical with perky ingenue Sandara Park, and a refreshingly sincere double entedre from macho symbol Robin Padilla.

Did we miss any of your favorites?

***
This article is part of a series of The Bakla Review's 2000's Decade in Review. Check back often for more.

Related Link:
Reviews of Commercials

Globe Broadband - Tattoo

Let's pretend we get the message. Prepaid internet is so affordable and accessible, you can practically walk around with it etched to your skin. Did you get that on first viewing? Neither did I. But we do get the subliminal message, and it's sex. The genius of the ad is that it turns corporate logos like Yahoo, Friendster, Multiply, and MTV into eye-popping ink art. On rock-hard caramel bodies, of course. Who knew logos could be so lickable?

GRADE: A-

Related Link:
Frannyye's YouTube Channel

KFC Shrimp Surfers Commercial

The commercials think outing homosexuals is funny. I would say wait, in real life, it's potentially very serious matter to the gay person, especially if the outing is not by his own initiative. But these admakers sure do make it funny.

In an all-male table meeting, an office dude tells his mates that someone is hiding a secret, and that he has just the thing to make him squeal. He proceeds to open a box of KFC, and, alas, someone indeed squeals. The image that follows is a few short seconds of performance comedy gold. Who is this actor who plays the closet office worker? With quivering fingers and a face tangled in knots of anxiety, he makes the surprise revelation work. Kudos, too, to the actor who does his nervous voice: "May shrimp na sa KFC, pare."

Like me, you may argue that an effeminate reaction doesn't necessarily mean a guy is gay, and that it's just another old stereotype used by marketers who want to say they include people like us in their agenda. But then, nowhere in the commercial is "gay" ever mentioned, so maybe the copywriters have pulled a clever trick on us -- winking at something we conclude for ourselves. More likely, the spot is aimed at the young urban office demographic, no matter which gender. Who can't relate to having a co-worker with a secret?

You may also wonder why his business buddies would want to out him in the first place, except only to have an excuse for a group hug, and to reassure him (and each other) that "We accept you." I guess that's the consolation. Outing is funny business, but it becomes feel-good with acceptance. Let's ignore the excuses that the guy makes as the advert closes. Maybe he's not ready yet, even though the good-looking men around him seem too eager to press their bodies against him. The great positive message in this commercial is not in the homosexual who comes out, but in the straight men who are unafraid to express tolerance and intimacy.

GRADE: B+

Related Links:
Ad at YouTube
Photo Still From Commercial
A Different Opinion By David Corpuz

Sunkist Iced Tea - "Basketball"

Just how many commercials out there feature a finger running down a sweaty chest, ass-grabbing, chest-bumping, and three peeling off of basketball jerseys, one of which reveals a shaved armpit -- in 30 seconds?

This ad for Sunkist Iced Tea may or may not be homophobic, I'm still not sure. We're supposed to laugh at the idea of a basketball player (who's MVP, so he must be macho), suddenly turned "honest" after drinking the iced tea, and divulges -- in a flamboyant manner -- his real motivations for playing the game: the boys. The ad subverts stereotypes (that athletes, particularly in the macho sport of basketball, can be gay too) even as it feeds on them (they're in the closet and their "true" selves are sex-obsessed screaming faggots). The last reaction of the teammate on the right is point for discussion. However, the guys are hot, and the display of skin is delicious. Who are these terrific models? I didn't really find it funny, and I don't know if it effectively sells its product, but it has instantly become one of my favorite commercials for all time. I can't stop watching it.

GRADE: A-

Related Links:
Same ad on YouTube
Sunkist Iced Tea-"Movie"
Commercial Closet
Best Gay Commercials according to David Paul Robinson