How The RC Commercial Knew How To Go Viral

There's a new advertisement from RC Cola and I need you to sit down for this.

And if you've already seen it, you can collect a blanket and some coffee from the back to recover from what you've just experienced.

A couple of days ago (from the time I'm writing this blog), RC Cola Philippines released a new advertisement, the commercial's contents are as follows:

A young man wearing a school uniform comes home from school, he bursts into their kitchen where his mother is preparing dinner. 

The young man is crying, his mother asks what's wrong and the young man asks his mother if he's adopted. 

His mother is confused as to where all of this was coming from, the young man tells her that his classmates are bullying him and teasing him for being adopted, his mother denies this of course but the young man shouts as he demands the truth, he takes off his uniform and bend down on the dining table and exclaims:

"Ma, ipaliwanag mo bakit ako may apat na baso sa likod?"

In english, "Mom, explain to me why do I have 4 glasses on my back?"

I thought translating it would make it less weird but it didn't.

As the young man bends down we see that there are four glasses seemingly anatomically stuck to his back, he cries and his mother cries, she tells him that it's probably time to tell him the truth.

And you might think this is the cliché drama moment where the mother tells him his adopted but no.

Instead, the mother takes off the scarf she's wearing, pulls on her head and it pops off from her neck like a bottle cap and it's revealed that on the stump of her neck is a RC Cola bottle.

The mother then bends over and pours her "Neck-RC" onto her sons back.

The last shot of this commercial is their entire family happily drinking RC cola from the glasses on the back of the young man, the young man is drinking from a long straw and the mother is holding her own head whilst drinking. 

And with that the commercial ends...SO

Obviously there's a lot to unpack there, this advertisement became viral in a matter of days and people's usual initial reactions are confusion, disgust and uncomfortable laughing and after the dust settles and after the thousand memes flood each and everyone's timelines in social media, people started to make their own theories as to what is the meaning of this commercial that escaped the pits of hell.

Some people speculated that the mother being an RC cola is a symbol to acceptance of difference, that her son is truly adopted but that doesn't matter because if his back are full of glasses, then his mom is and RC cola. They are different but they complement each other as a family as families should.

Some say that the commercial is a symbolism to the sacrifices mothers make for their children that if you're child feels estranged from the world, it is your duty as a mother to tell him that they don't have to feel alone in this strange world because you will be as strange as to say that you will understand them for what they are, because that's what mothers do.

Those are all sweet and wholesome interpretations but some people took offense of the commercial, mainly Preen.ph (a women's lifestyle website).

Preen.ph wrote an article of how insensitive the commercial was to both indigenous and adopted children, saying that how they made fun of the young man thinking his adopted due to his curly hair and the color of his skin, they go on to say that the glasses on his back represent a "buntot" or tail which is an old stereotype or slur towards Aeta people because they are seen as lower or almost closer to animals by people who are pieces of shit themselves.

And in my personal opinion, their interpretation could not be further from the truth.

Because at first glance at this commercial (putting aside all the weird stuff), the idea of the son being adopted only came to my mind because the dialogue of the son put it there, if it wasn't implied that he was contemplating if he was adopted it would have never occurred to me that he was, because AGAIN, at first glance there is not even a single thing different about the son and the rest of the family.

If it was truly RC's intention to embed the idea of him being adopted in our minds then they would've made the son Caucasian or some other obviously different race, because all I saw was a family of Filipino's.

Then you might ask "Then why did they cast a curly haired dark skinned kid instead? They obviously casted him because he looks Aeta"

That is wrong again and I'm certain of it on a personal level.

I have actually met the child actor in the commercial, his name is JM Salvado and the reason why (I believe) they casted him in the advertisement is that because he is an extremely talented actor.

I've worked with him a few years ago for a short film that my friend directed, JM Salvado played a sassy child just like in the commercial and he was phenomenal in the short film and so when I recognized him when I watched the commercial for the first time, I knew that he was also going to be phenomenal there because of his superb acting skills for someone his age and his amazing comedic timing.

So maybe people bashing the commercial could've thought that MAYBE (JUST MAYBE) the reason they casted JM was because he was a good actor.

I wonder why they took it into a race level almost immediately? 

But back to the point of what I'm writing before I ranted about Preen.ph is what I think is the main goal or the point of this commercial.

Of course it was to sell RC cola but the question is why was it this angle they chose to take? Was it to create controversy and cause the internet to explode over theories of its meaning? Was it to ACTUALLY offend people? because then again "Bad press is still good press" or was it just to deliberately confuse people and use shock factor as a way to go viral?

Well, the only one who can answer these questions are the production team behind the commercial themselves...and they did.

Dionie Tanada, the creative director behind the commercial recently released a statement as to what was the thought process while creating it.

So that's it. The point is no point.

And you might think that that sounds like some sort of stunt that a snobby art student would do but what they did is actually genius.

So this is my opinion of what they did.

They knew exactly what is the mindset of their target market was which was Generation Z or Gen Z.

They knew that the millennials and baby boomers liked it when commercials told them what to do which is to give them a comprehensive list of what the product is, what it does, how much it is or where you can get it, because it made them feel safe, because they knew every aspect of what the product is.

But RC cola tried to appeal to Gen Z-ers directly, because they saw the change in millennials and baby boomers that I to have actually been starting to realize, that due to the ever rising power of influence social media has on people, Gen Z-ers actually lead the pack of what goes viral and millennials and baby boomers follow in their path.

And RC cola knew that if you get the people in charge of what goes viral, the others will follow.

So now what RC cola needed to find out was how to appeal to Gen Z, what is their criteria on choosing what goes viral and yet again RC cola figures it out.

They figured out that Gen Z doesn't know what it wants, it only know what it wants when they see it, so RC cola just needed to be as loud as weird and an untraditional as any commercial can be and it paid off.

The Gen Z recognized it and they did what they do.

They judged it, they laughed at it, they become uncomfortable and disgusted by it, they got offended and they loved it and they gave it every emotion it needed to go viral.

And now this is where I want to tell a lesson to other brands who are thinking of following (or more accurately) copying RC's footsteps.

DON'T

RC achieved virality because they did not follow a path towards success, if you do what RC did to the letter, you will fail, because they did not follow a path towards success, if you do what RC did to the letter, you will fail.

You might notice that I repeated what I said because I really want other brands to listen.

And I'm not saying that every brand just copies and follows every trend instead of creating them, there are a few notable brands that don't.

Take 'Angkas' for example who talks to their customers like they are their 'Kapitbahay' and becomes likable because of their relatability and laid back attitude, they created their game that only they can play and win.

Advertisement used to be a huge talent show to see who will be the best, but now it has a screaming match to see who will scream the loudest.

Did it ever occur to you that Preen.ph might've written their hate post just to stand out to the thousands of love posts about this commercial?

Others might say that that shouldn't be, that making it into a screaming match will drown out those who are actually talented in advertising.

But if you think that then you have totally missed the point of Advertising, you know why? because you listened to me.

When I said that Advertisement used to be a huge talent show you immediately agreed because I was trying to make a point that agreed with your point.

Advertisement has always been a screaming match.

People just learned how to scream differently overtime.