Erap and the Last Song Syndrome
02/15/2010
he airwaves are full of VILLARroyo and the Yellow candidate’s political propaganda and advertising.
A conservative estimate of the former’s expenses on ads has been placed at P1.6 billion, an estimate whose accuracy is attested to by professional admen. The latter gets equal or possibly even more media value from the free plugs and skewed news and human interest reportage of the yellow media.
However, the effusive media presence of this candidate has not helped him maintain his post-Cory funeral popularity. There are surveys and there are surveys, but we have it from our contacts in all camps (including the Yellows) that a Malacañang survey shows Estrada to be just one point behind VILLARroyo. And Erap has not yet even come out with his last song.
The “Last Song Syndrome” (LSS) is the tendency of the subconscious human mind to absorb and retain the last tune it hears with the greatest impact, due to emotional content, timing, and various other factors. A good campaign jingle or ad heard and seen over and over again, and then heard and seen again at a crucial last moment, can even make people hum or dream it sub or unconsciously. The task of a media communication or propaganda plan is to overcome today’s radio, TV, and Internet cacophony in the most cost-efficient way possible. President Estrada’s campaign, which is not as well-endowed as the other major candidates, has been in no hurry to join the rush to compete in number of ads. Erap has repeatedly said that he does not want to peak too early, a lesson learned from over half a century of entertainment field experience.
To a great extent, the VILLARroyo campaign has been succeeding extravagantly in implanting its tune in the subconscious of some sectors. After all, many street children are now singing about Villar’s alleged humble origins. Unfortunately, the VILLARroyo campaign is achieving the LSS too early in the campaign. Even before the official campaign period has started, VILLARroyo’s campaign jingle is already suffering from over-exposure.
The same can be said of the Yellow candidate’s campaign, which harps the tune of his mother and father’s legacy. This may have dominated the early introduction of his candidacy, but midway through it all, the public has realized that it is not enough for him to lean on this and has asked what his own promise was. However, his succeeding campaign line, “I will not steal,” has become dubious, trite and hollow.
If you have ever experienced LSS, you will realize that it is those melodies that have the highest nostalgic and sentimental value to you that remain. These are the songs and tunes associated with past childhood or teenage experiences that carry deep, emotional, and sentimental impact such as birthdays, courtship, estrangement and the like. Of the presidential candidates at the head of the pack today, the one with the potentially highest emotional appeal was the Yellow candidate. I say “was” because after the funeral of Cory Aquino, the outpouring of sympathy was a “tsunami” which, unfortunately, he and his civil society and Makati business backers played on too much and too early. The mood or mourning of the public has faded, and now its attention is focused on who and what the candidate was (or is). This they have found wanting in performance and many other respects.
From the very start, the candidate with the least emotional appeal was VILLARroyo. He and his spinmasters knew this; thus, they used the only advantage of the candidate to the hilt — his seemingly unlimited war chest. From there they then proceeded to create the emotional basis in order for the biggest voting block to identify with him: The poor and downtrodden. His “hindi coño, taga-Tondo” was lapped up by the masa kids like pan de sal, but the real VILLARroyo — who is said to be seen as a shady, wheeler-dealer on our public coffers — came to light. VILLARroyo’s propaganda has clearly reached its limit and only meticulously manipulated survey plots and massive buying of politicians and interest groups have kept up his presence. The only candidate just waiting to tap into over a half-a-century of a love-and-tears affair with the masa — or 91 percent of the electorate — is candidate Joseph Estrada.
His story begins with 50 years of playing the underdog and the victimized Filipino in movies that drew millions to the cinemas — as Asiong Salonga, Commander Alibabas, among others; then as the mayor whom the masses truly appreciated; the senator who raised the lowly farmers by raising the carabao as a national priority; the vice president who fought kidnap gangs and the bane of the poor: rogue cops; and the president who initiated rolling stores and medicines with socialized prices, opposed utility rate increases, and who was then unjustly persecuted by the oppressive “rich” and elite class and imprisoned unjustly for six years and six months — while yet maintaining his “macho” magnanimity by forgiving all those who wronged him, and being asked to be forgiven by the mother of all Filipino mother-images: Corazon Aquino.
It’s the last song and the Last Song Syndrome that counts. It will be the last message that the masa voters will hum in their minds and on their lips on voting day.
Watch for Erap’s last song in this campaign.
(Tune in to 1098AM, Sulo ng Pilipino, Monday, Wednesday, and Friday, 6 p.m. to 7 p.m.; Global News Network, Destiny Cable Channel 21, Talk News TV, Tuesday, 8 p.m. to 9 p.m. on our “Chinese New Year Special: Nottingham University in China”; also visit http://hermantiulaurel.blogspot.com)
(Reprinted with permission from Mr. Herman Tiu Laurel) | |
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