Manila: Authorities axed an advertisement that spoofed a 1521 battle which implied that the killing of a Spanish colonial leader by a Filipino-Muslim hero in central Philippines was not due to nationalism but a mere disappointment over diapers, a local paper said.
The clearance for the airing of the advertisement of EQ diapers was recalled due to its insulting depiction of the battle between Lapu-Lapu and Ferdinand Magellan, a Portuguese who landed in the Philippines as a representative of the Spanish colonials, in Cebu, central Philippines in 1521, Mila Marquez, executive director of the Ad Standards Council (ASC) told the Inquirer.
In a letter to Jones Campos, executive director of the Advertising Board of the Philippines (AdBoard), Marquez said that ASC’s decision was made after the National Historical Commission (NHC) issued a cease and desist order versus EQ’s advertisement.
ASC has sent copies of the recall order to all broadcast and TV agencies, for their guidance, said Marquez.
ASC also sent its recall order to the Philippine Association of National Advertisers (Pana) for the latter to compel EQ to apologise over the advertisement’s historical lapse, as demanded by the local government unit of Lapu-Lapu City, said Marquez.
She referred to Lapu-Lapu City Mayor Paz Radaza who had protested over EQ’s distortion of the country’s nationalistic history.
Earlier, Radaza demanded that JS Unitrade, EQ’s distributor, should issue a public apology for its self-proclaimed license to bend a historical truth just to sell diapers.
EQ’s advertisement depicted Lapu-Lapu as a disappointed sultan who decided to fight Magellan because the latter gave a peace offering of low quality diapers.
A petition for the scrapping of the advertisement went viral on social media, prompting a response from ASC and AdBoard.
Magellan’s death from Lapu Lapu’s hand, called the Battle of Mactan, is commemorated in Lapu Lapu City every April 27.
Filipinos are proud of the incident that marked the killing of a Spanish colonial at the onset of a Spanish rule – it eventually lasted for almost 400 years, following its ending by an anti Spanish revolution in 1898.