The Irony That Protectionism-Benefited Local Telcos Are Using K-Pop Stars To Endorse Their Services

As the need for economic charter change is ON -- I really feel like I want to speak of the ongoing irony with the protectionism-benefited local telecommunications companies or telcos for short. This irony is portrayed in the fact that they benefit from protectionism then they decide to hire KOREAN endorsers to promote their services. Did the rise of DITO (which has part-Chinese ownership) eventually force them to do desperate measures? You may notice ads on Youtube, mobile game ads, or whatever may have Park Seo Joon endorsing Smart by PLDC or Blackpink endorsing Globe. You may also notice other stars like Lee Min Ho and Park Seo Joon keep appearing in the ads. Wait, I thought the call for protectionism was based on nationalism? If they're so nationalistic then why are they now having KPop stars endorse their telco services?

This reminds me of an old article I wrote about how theaters and TV stations in the Philippines have become heavily reliant on imported shows. The media industry of the Philippines demands 100% Pinoy-owned only media -- the very policy that caused ABiaS-CBN to lose its franchise. If they want ABiaS-CBN to have its franchise back then why not pass a law altogether to repeal nonsense, excessive Foreign Direct Investment (FDI) restrictions altogether? The local companies are now somewhat forced to get KPop stars endorsers. I guess the Kathniel Bandwagon is as obsolete as a car from the 1800s. I guess the teleserye stars are already losing their relevance all the more. Just think about how Blackpink had caused more starstruck Filipinos to go wilder than the local celebrities. Instead, they decided that they would decide to also get K-Pop stars to endorse their services. Though, it might be proof of yet another massive decline of the local Filipino film industry. Take note that GMovies was used during the Metro Manila Film Festival of 2020 -- something I decided to skip due to the application's rather lackluster performance. I still can't get over how the Rurouni Kenshin movies ended up owning the local film industry. I guess that's why the proposed bill to ban Filipinos from bringing foreign media from abroad was thankfully not signed by former president Noynoy Aquino. Besides, don't tell me that the teleseryes were filmed WITHOUT any imported equipment. 

That's why really laugh at the call for "nationalism" one way or another. It's because these companies are using IMPORTED EQUIPMENT in all their operations. They didn't source out locally made equipment in their local operations. There's hardly a "Made in the Philippines" product that didn't use imported equipment in the manufacturing process. A lot of the equipment was bought from imported brands. Some materials are imported such as if there's a shortage of certain raw materials to fill in the demand. They aren't able to operate with nothing imported. Don't tell me that they weren't importing apples from Japan to make apple pies for Filipinos. It's always a combination of local and imported products such as using locally made flour with apples from Japan. Foreign investors would want to use locally-sourced raw materials for their production. It's really time to stop this so-called nationalism. It's because those demanding protectionisms are endorsing it using IMPORTED EQUIPMENT!