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Featured Stories

OVERVIEW
Anak ng Jueteng
by Sheila S. Coronel
Like Joseph Estrada, Gloria Macapagal-Arroyo has been accused of accepting money from illegal gambling.

THE CAMPAIGN
Jekyll-and-Hyde Campaign
by Yvonne T. Chua
Alongside the official Arroyo campaign was a parallel structure that operated secretly and with little accountability.

Presidential Makeover
by Ellen Tordesillas
A foreign PR firm is re-engineering Mrs. Arroyo’s image.

CAMPAIGN FUNDS
Running on Taxpayers’ Money
by Luz Rimban
Billions of pesos in government funds were used to pump prime Arroyo’s candidacy.

THE VICE PRESIDENT
The Man Who Would be President
by Luz Rimban
Noli de Castro has come a long way from his days as a broadcaster; he may even end up in Malacañang.

CHARTER CHANGE
SOS: System Under Stress
by Sheila S. Coronel
Can Congress be trusted to hold a credible impeachment trial and to change the constitution?

IMPEACHMENT
Lights, Camera, Impeachment!
by Alecks P. Pabico
The impeachment proceedings should be the best show in town, but so far, it’s been a sleeper.

VOICES FROM THE PERIPHERY
For Visayans, The Center Does Not Hold
by Resil Mojares

The Moro People Can Be a Part of a Plural Society Without Losing Their Identity
by Omar Solitario Ali

The Time for Federalism is Now
by Rey Magno Teves

TWO AT EDSA
"When the Wheels of History Turn, You Hardly Expect the World to Turn Upside Down”
by Ed Lingao

“I Was at Edsa Out of Pure Disgust”
by Mylene Lising

FOCUS ON FILIPINO YOUTH: THE LOST GENERATION
Finding Spaces
by Katrina Stuart Santiago
They are the hi-tech generation, at ease with technology but otherwise lost when it comes to dealing with the complexities of a globalized world.

So Young and So Trapo
by Avigail Olarte
The Sangguniang Kabataan, training ground of future leaders, has fallen into the grip of traditional politics.

Teen and Tipsy
by Vinia Datinguinoo
More and more adolescent girls are drinking alcohol.

Perils of Generation Sex
by Cheryl Chan
Filipino women are having sex earlier, but are seldom aware of the risks, including sexually transmitted diseases.

The Business of Beauty
by Cheryl Chan
Shampoos, skin whiteners, and assorted other beauty products find a ready market among young women.

Machos in the Mirror
by Dean Francis Alfar
Filipino men are spending millions to look—and feel—good.

Male and Vain
Photos by Jose Enrique Soriano
Men are lining up to get facials, foot scrubs, and even dips in bathtubs filled with rose petals.

Growing Up Female and Muslim
by Samira Gutoc
Moro women still value religion and tradition, but are also responding to the challenges of modernity.

Shampoos, skin whiteners, and assorted other beauty products find a ready market among young women.

by CHERYL CHAN

	Filipinas pride themselves on their looks and deservedly so. [photo courtesy of Malaya]

THE QUEUES in mall bathrooms attest to our national vanity. With all the women putting on lipstick, powdering their noses, and whipping their dangerously long, buhaghag-free hair between vigorous brushstrokes, it is nearly impossible to get to the sink to wash hands. Whether the vanity is cause or effect, I'm not sure. Probably a little of both.

Cutting una bella figura, as the Italians say, is important in the Philippines. Filipinas pride themselves on their looks and deservedly so. Filipinos are a beautiful people, a product of a beautiful heritage. Even the men haven't been spared the urge to look good, and in recent years they have become increasingly willing to splurge on beauty products. But the majority of buyers is still female — and, it seems, getting younger. A quick browse in "Primp and Prettify" forum on GirlTalk, a popular message board dedicated to young women easily turned up threads on facial and underarm whitening, rebonding, dieting pills, and make-up brands. I can empathize. Being vain can be an empowering experience. As in: I am woman. I exfoliate.

In the Philippines, manufacturers and advertisers are eager to tap into the youth market, especially when it comes to personal care products. After all, the youth market is huge. In 2001, about 57 percent of the population was under 25; 15-24 year olds made up almost 20 percent. Also, "me" products such as cosmetics, haircare, and beauty products do better with youth who are increasingly savvy, product-aware, and more willing to pamper themselves. And they also have more disposable income than older demographics. Plus, their being Pinoy means they will spend more time on their looks than most other people on the planet.

If much of that marketing is still geared toward young females, well, girls have always been assumed to be conscious about their physical appearance. But these days it seems even those who are not yet quite in their teens are already worrying about how they look. Recently, our family was enjoying a birthday feast in honor of my grandfather when we noticed my 12-year-old cousin just picking at her plate. It turned out she had put herself on a diet. I remember when my girlfriends and I were the same age and we thought nothing about stuffing our faces with French fries and chocolates. Back then, only moms and much older sisters struggled with diets and exercise regimens.

That wasn't so long ago, yet things seem to have really changed since. Today the pressure to look good starts years before girls even hit puberty. The other day, my friend's niece wistfully said she wished she were more maputi (fair-skinned). She is only six years old. Perhaps she aspires to be Snow White and she wants her very own set of seven dwarfs. Or she may have just walked away from the television set in which ads were extolling the virtues of fair skin and the other supposed standards of beauty.

It seems we believe beauty is an ideal-especially when we leaf through glossy fashion magazines and see photos of gorgeous models. Or turn on the TV and wait eagerly for that magical moment when the kampanerang kuba (hunchbacked bell ringer) is transformed into a beautiful mestiza. Incidentally, that's a teleserye that has kids among its target audience. Billboards, radio jingles, television commercials, magazine flyers, newspaper ads, and press releases — media exposure has real impact, especially among more impressionable youth.

A 2003 study by advertising giant McCann-Erickson found that media have become "surrogate parents" to the country's youth. The media act as arbitrators of right and wrong, hip and cool, what's in and what's as passe as last year's ponchos. TV viewership especially rates high among the youth who spend about eight to 14 hours a week watching TV.

NOW MAYBE it's easy to make a six-year-old believe she has to be maputi to be considered pretty, but have that kid grow up a bit and she may not exactly be snapping up just any beauty product that promises to make her fair-skinned. Teens are a fickle market with no brand loyalty, says Art Ilano, assistant marketing professor at the University of the Philippines in Diliman. They switch products easier, unlike older markets that tend to settle for certain brands. Because of this, companies have no choice but to bombard the youth market with constant reminders to "Buy me! Buy me!" And boy, do they bombard.

According to market research company AC Neilsen, the personal-care industry poured P23.4 billion in advertisements in 2004, a quarter higher than in 2003. In comparison, telecommunications is a distant second at P13 billion, and we already know how ubiquitous mobile-phone ads are. At P6 billion a year, skincare is second to haircare in ad expenditures, which stand at P10 billion (oral care is third at P3 billion). These numbers probably come as no surprise to people who drive down EDSA or read newspapers and magazines, and especially not to those who watch television, the most popular ad outlet.

But it's the skincare ad category that has seen the highest rate of growth. This is largely attributed to the increasing popularity of whitening products. According to a 2004 Synovate survey, skin-lightening products are popular across Asia. Some 38 percent of women surveyed in Hong Kong, Malaysia, Korea, Taiwan, and the Philippines use skin-lightening products.

Filipinas, however, are the most avid consumers with 50 percent of respondents reporting current use. My neighborhood Watson's store displays shelves upon shelves of skin whitening products. Most companies now include a whitening component in their entire product line, from soaps and moisturizers to toners and sunblocks and creams.

Having fair skin, though, is not enough to be called a real beauty these days, at least based on the nonstop ads. At any given time of the day — and night — there is bound to be a shampoo commercial extolling the virtues of having long, shiny tresses. Once primetime hits, suds and bubbles practically spill out of the TV sets with all the hairwashing going on.

On ABS-CBN between 6:00-6:30 pm, a shampoo commercial comes on air like clockwork. "Bounce!" it exhorts, "Freshness! Bounce!" while yet another mestiza model sashays around a basketball court bouncing her hair all over the place. Fifteen minutes later, there's another shampoo ad, this time done like a bad MTV video with an inanely catchy refrain, dancing girls and a storyline that goes, girl wants boy, boy snubs girl because she is bruha-looking, girl uses shampoo, boy falls in love with girl, and they live happily ever — or until she stops using the shampoo. The commercial seems to last five long minutes. The tagline: instant ayos, parang magic talaga, kinamay lang inayos na (perfect hair instantly, just like magic, just with the fingers).

A confused confession: I use that brand but my hair doesn't ayos in a similar manner, instantly or even after I tug at it with my fingers for an hour. I still need to use a brush or a comb. I concede an advertiser's creative and artistic license, and the small print does say "results may vary." But I'd like to do a real-life test and see if any girl can attain a perfectly straight, perfectly shiny 'do just by running her fingers perfunctorily through her hair.