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Is the 'racist' BAYO advert real?


UPDATED 07JUN2012 Philippine-based fashion retail company BAYO has come under harsh criticism in social media for supposedly running an ad campaign with racist undertones. The authenticity of the now-viral ad has yet to be proven, however. 
 
On June 5, what appeared to be a full-spread advertisement for BAYO made the rounds on Facebook featuring actress-model Jasmine Curtis-Smith striking a pose with the caption: "50% Australian and 50% Filipino: What's your mix? -BAYO"  
The alleged BAYO advert, as shared via social media. Note the "manifesto" on the righthand side. Racist 'manifesto'?  
Although the photo is authentic —it appears on the BAYO website— what irked netizens was the "manifesto" that appeared alongside it.
 
"Call it biased, but the mixing and matching of different nationalities with Filipino blood is almost a sure formula for someone beautiful and world class," it read. This elicited a wave of criticism across cyberspace, culminating in an article on tech site Mashable that highlighted peoples' reactions to the manifesto.

"The campaign said being Filipino isn't enough. You should be 1/2 another nationality to amount to something, preferably Caucasian," tweeted Marikit Singson. "The message is....you have to be mixed race Filipino to be beautiful? WTF?" said the tweet from "Joshua".    

The Mashable article also went on to point out that the advertisement "is no longer available on the brand’s Facebook page".    

Lack of evidence
 
However, a closer examination of BAYO's official online presences —on Facebook as well as on their website— shows no indication nor slightest trace of the existence of the original manifesto.
 
BAYO Manila's latest tweet as of June 5 featured a link to the original "What's your mix?" ad campaign stills on Filipina stylist Jenni Eperson's blog. Although the post has been taken down, a cached version of the page only shows similarly-captioned photo ads —but no copy or mention of the manifesto.
 
The same advertisements —just captioned photos, with no lengthy body copy— also appear on the BAYO website.  
The original ad, as seen on the BAYO website.  
The long-winded yet poorly-worded text of the manifesto itself also raised some eyebrows online:
 
"I assume an ad agency made this ad. If this assumption is correct, they must have gone through the proper process of coming up with studies and FGD's to see the different possible interpretations to the ad. Either they took a lot of shortcuts (yes, the grammar is not so good), or the message is deliberate. Which one is it? (or did I miss other possible conclusions?)," wrote Rene Salvador San Andres.
 
"I want to know kung agency ang gumawa nito. if so, anong agency? LOL. Poor Bayo. Tsk," added Paul Andrew Pisig.
 
"very wordy..wonder hu's the ad agency?lol," said Margaret Kate Sy.
 
Which begs the question: Is the now-viral advertisement authentic to begin with? And who wrote the manifesto? BAYO's official statement
 
In an official statement sent to GMA News Online on June 7, BAYO Vice President Lyn Agustin apologized for the negative impact that the advertisement has had. However, she was silent on the origin of the manifesto. "We at BAYO deeply apologize for the message our campaign has unintentionally conveyed. We would like to express our regrets to those who have been offended or felt discriminated against," Agustin said. "Our company and our partners have always taken pride in being pro-Filipino as we continue to celebrate our uniqueness and achievements. We believe that being a Filipino will always make you 100% beautiful. It is unfortunate that this message got lost along the way," she added. — ELR, GMA News
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