.
Two weeks ago, Mr. Silva sent out an email concerning one of Globe's services.
Below his letter is Emily Abrera's reply.
QUEER EYE FOR THE DUMB GLOBE GUYS!
By John L. Silva
10/11/2004 12:06:46 PM
“How enlightened” I initially thought when I saw the big Globe print ad offering the soundtrack from Queer Eye for the Straight Guy. (For the absolutely clueless, “Queer Eye…” is a current American hit show on cable tv about five gay guys redoing a straight slob and making him presentable at the end of each episode.) The print ad uses a cute looking guy having a facial (read: gay) wearing headphones ostensibly listening to the music. There were other offers in the ad. If you text Queer you get a chance to win half a mil. If you text Spot, you get “…daily funny tips on how to spot a queer guy.”
I texted Spot, curious to know how Globe spots a queer.
The first text I got back was “YOU’LL KNOW HE’S QUEER IF… he recognizes the brand of your expensive, new sexy stilletos!”
Wrong. I wouldn’t know a Manolo from a Prada. That’s not me. There are Senators and Congressmen, CEO’s and chairpersons of our largest conglomerates known to be “sensitive” types that could tell a stilleto brand instantly. But, I wouldn’t hastily conclude they were queer. Only nasty gossips and trashy tabloids say that.
The next text I got from Globe was “YOU’LL KNOW HE’S QUEER IF… he sweetly compliments you on the color combination of your outfit!”
Who writes this turd? I’m generous with compliments on my friends’ writings, their NGO work, even their cooking but not just their outfits. I have straight friends complimenting me on my outfits. Now, I’m suppose to think they’re queer?
Next globe text: “YOU’LL KNOW HE’S QUEER IF…he always watches the UAAP basketball games even if he doesn’t understand the sport!”
Now I’m feeling there’s a creative writer in McCann (Globe’s ad agency) who’s projecting his own perverted sense of being queer. Maybe he gets off watching sweaty basketball players dribbling balls because he must be so ugly he can’t get anyone to play with his balls.
Next text: “YOU’LL KNOW HE’S QUEER IF…he’s a big fan of Cher or he loves listening to Barbra Streisand!”
Oh, please, so Seventies. Bill Clinton is a Cher fan. Does that mean he likes dick now?
Next: “YOU’LL KNOW HE’S QUEER IF… he constantly applies lip balm on his lips!”
Because you think we just want to wear lipstick all day.
Next: “YOU’LL KNOW HE’S QUEER IF… he admires a woman for her sense of style rather than her personality or her gorgeous body!”
Ok, Bullshit over. The last remark I think even McCann Chair Emily Abrera would find discomfiting, or I would hope so. This pervert writer wants to imply that we queers are airheads and are so hunk and penis prone that we can only admire hairdos and dresses and nothing more.
Enough of this garbage. The above texts Globe has been sending are anti-gay, pander to the current prejudices about gays, and plain insulting. I don’t recognize myself, a gay/queer person, on any of the above trashy texts and, if Globe/McCann doesn’t know it, there are millions more of us who don’t know and couldn’t frigging care about a stilleto nor, by implication, want to wear them, or be silly all day complimenting people’s color combinations, or dying to wear lipstick, or get hung up on women’s style all because we don’t want to go to bed with them.
Furthermore, each of those horrid texts have an accompanying sales pitch, about getting your horoscope, Scooby Doo logos and Star Wars factoids. While insulting us, Globe is selling and making money on ancillary phone material to children and other non-gays.
To make my point clear, consider if this bashing were on the other “stilleto.”
YOU’LL KNOW HE’S STRAIGHT IF…he likes women with Dolly Parton breasts.
YOU’LL KNOW HE’S STRAIGHT IF… he changes his Jockey shorts every ten days.
YOU’LL KNOW SHE’S STRAIGHT IF…she just likes talking on the phone the whole day, doing her nails and watches the soaps.
YOU’LL KNOW SHE’S STRAIGHT IF…her husband’s fooling around because she only likes the missionary position.
On behalf of outraged gay Filipinos, I want Globe to stop this SPOT A QUEER CAMPAIGN immediately. Or else I will expose and out all closeted queer Globe and McCann corporate heads who know these texts about themselves aren’t true.
I want a retraction published in the newspapers stating this campaign is not a correct image of gays and will be stopped.
As compensation for the harm done, I want Globe to sponsor a positive gay and lesbian event in the future like gay pride day.
I find this whole matter regrettable because Globe’s ad on getting a gay oriented soundtrack seemed progressive. But when they added the daily text subscription on How To Spot A Queer, they were dumb about the show’s storyline. It’s about empowered, happy queers, doing makeovers for clueless straight men. It has absolutely nothing to do with figuring out who’s queer!
If you reread all the Globe texts again, you’ll see the general stereotype and a surprise. They insult us gays not just by the punchlines but because they think all gays want to be women. But read hard enough, and you’ll see what Globe actually thinks about women.
No brains, just shops for stilletos.
No brains, just obsesses about what colors to wear.
No brains, just stylish and gorgeous bods.
Globe better quickly figure out when is International Women’s Day and what they could sponsor as well.
(Reactions: 0917 352 6394 – yes, still Globe for now or jsilva79@mac.com Let me know how you feel so I can pass it on to Globe and McCann)
PLEASE PASS ON THIS PIECE TO ALL IN YOUR LIST. ESPECIALLY TO YOUR STRAIGHT FRIENDS.
DATE: 10/12/2004 / 05:12 PM
FROM: Emily Abrera
To: John Silva
Subject: Re: QUEER EYE FOR THE DUMB GLOBE GUYS!
Dear John,
I must say I was truly dismayed upon reading the piece you sent around. I do wish you had at least called to ask us about the ad and how such text content is sourced, before you let your outrage dictate the tone of your editorial. After all, you know me personally (and you have my cel number, my friend), and have met the top people at Globe; and you have also met and corresponded with the senior executives at Harrison Communications, the agency who handles Globe. (Yes, they are part of the McCann group, but they have done a lot of excellent work and deserve to be known in their own right.) Had you called us, we would have clarified the following:
While we do conceptualize and produce Globe Telecom ads, the agency team does not write any of the themed SMS content. Globe sources these from different content-providers. If I'm not mistaken, the specific tips you are referring to were even developed by a group of gay writers! That in itself doesn't necessarily mean the messages are right, John, but these SMS texts are made and meant to be taken light-heartedly... as many themed text promotions are. The copy says so: "... daily funny tips... " and even the intro "You'll know he's queer if..." already suggests the tone of what's coming next.
It is obvious from your article that you did not find them funny. Well, having read through the tips you quoted, I can't say I found them particularly hilarious, but neither am I unduly bothered, because I honestly didn't take them seriously. Nor did I find the statements insulting to women or to feminists.
I don't find anything wrong with anyone having a sense of style, --- man, woman or gay --- nor do I think that complimenting someone for it is a bad thing. I did not think that any of the tips in any way suggested that queers (or women for that matter) are brainless, or have penis-envy, or are penis-deprived. I think that's stretching it to ludicrous lengths. I know many intelligent, accomplished, sensitive and talented people, some of whom happen to be gay, and I think they would at worst consider the SMS tips as "kababawan". By the same token, people download horoscopes; participate in text quizzes, etc., more for entertainment than anything else. Do these constitute stereotyping? In a sense, yes, but not anymore so than most jokes or clever commentary do. If you reflect on the show "Queer Eye..." it's guilty of the same sort of stereotyping, it that's the label you wish to give it.
It is also important to point out that these texts are not forced on people... you have to download them to get them. Refusing to download them is as eloquent a comment to make about a theme's relevance or acceptability. This is also a key input that is considered by Globe.
I am certain that no malice was intended, not by the people who wrote the content, nor by Globe for making them available. Still, I thank you for your comments, John, although frankly, I did not particularly care for the way you chose to express some of them.
For the record, we have never had occasion to think that the clients we deal with at Globe Telecom have anything but the highest respect for women and their capabilities. I'm sure that at Globe, men and gays are considered in no lesser light.
Best regards.
Emily Abrera
P.S. Send this around, too. It's the fair thing to do.
Two weeks ago, Mr. Silva sent out an email concerning one of Globe's services.
Below his letter is Emily Abrera's reply.
QUEER EYE FOR THE DUMB GLOBE GUYS!
By John L. Silva
10/11/2004 12:06:46 PM
“How enlightened” I initially thought when I saw the big Globe print ad offering the soundtrack from Queer Eye for the Straight Guy. (For the absolutely clueless, “Queer Eye…” is a current American hit show on cable tv about five gay guys redoing a straight slob and making him presentable at the end of each episode.) The print ad uses a cute looking guy having a facial (read: gay) wearing headphones ostensibly listening to the music. There were other offers in the ad. If you text Queer you get a chance to win half a mil. If you text Spot, you get “…daily funny tips on how to spot a queer guy.”
I texted Spot, curious to know how Globe spots a queer.
The first text I got back was “YOU’LL KNOW HE’S QUEER IF… he recognizes the brand of your expensive, new sexy stilletos!”
Wrong. I wouldn’t know a Manolo from a Prada. That’s not me. There are Senators and Congressmen, CEO’s and chairpersons of our largest conglomerates known to be “sensitive” types that could tell a stilleto brand instantly. But, I wouldn’t hastily conclude they were queer. Only nasty gossips and trashy tabloids say that.
The next text I got from Globe was “YOU’LL KNOW HE’S QUEER IF… he sweetly compliments you on the color combination of your outfit!”
Who writes this turd? I’m generous with compliments on my friends’ writings, their NGO work, even their cooking but not just their outfits. I have straight friends complimenting me on my outfits. Now, I’m suppose to think they’re queer?
Next globe text: “YOU’LL KNOW HE’S QUEER IF…he always watches the UAAP basketball games even if he doesn’t understand the sport!”
Now I’m feeling there’s a creative writer in McCann (Globe’s ad agency) who’s projecting his own perverted sense of being queer. Maybe he gets off watching sweaty basketball players dribbling balls because he must be so ugly he can’t get anyone to play with his balls.
Next text: “YOU’LL KNOW HE’S QUEER IF…he’s a big fan of Cher or he loves listening to Barbra Streisand!”
Oh, please, so Seventies. Bill Clinton is a Cher fan. Does that mean he likes dick now?
Next: “YOU’LL KNOW HE’S QUEER IF… he constantly applies lip balm on his lips!”
Because you think we just want to wear lipstick all day.
Next: “YOU’LL KNOW HE’S QUEER IF… he admires a woman for her sense of style rather than her personality or her gorgeous body!”
Ok, Bullshit over. The last remark I think even McCann Chair Emily Abrera would find discomfiting, or I would hope so. This pervert writer wants to imply that we queers are airheads and are so hunk and penis prone that we can only admire hairdos and dresses and nothing more.
Enough of this garbage. The above texts Globe has been sending are anti-gay, pander to the current prejudices about gays, and plain insulting. I don’t recognize myself, a gay/queer person, on any of the above trashy texts and, if Globe/McCann doesn’t know it, there are millions more of us who don’t know and couldn’t frigging care about a stilleto nor, by implication, want to wear them, or be silly all day complimenting people’s color combinations, or dying to wear lipstick, or get hung up on women’s style all because we don’t want to go to bed with them.
Furthermore, each of those horrid texts have an accompanying sales pitch, about getting your horoscope, Scooby Doo logos and Star Wars factoids. While insulting us, Globe is selling and making money on ancillary phone material to children and other non-gays.
To make my point clear, consider if this bashing were on the other “stilleto.”
YOU’LL KNOW HE’S STRAIGHT IF…he likes women with Dolly Parton breasts.
YOU’LL KNOW HE’S STRAIGHT IF… he changes his Jockey shorts every ten days.
YOU’LL KNOW SHE’S STRAIGHT IF…she just likes talking on the phone the whole day, doing her nails and watches the soaps.
YOU’LL KNOW SHE’S STRAIGHT IF…her husband’s fooling around because she only likes the missionary position.
On behalf of outraged gay Filipinos, I want Globe to stop this SPOT A QUEER CAMPAIGN immediately. Or else I will expose and out all closeted queer Globe and McCann corporate heads who know these texts about themselves aren’t true.
I want a retraction published in the newspapers stating this campaign is not a correct image of gays and will be stopped.
As compensation for the harm done, I want Globe to sponsor a positive gay and lesbian event in the future like gay pride day.
I find this whole matter regrettable because Globe’s ad on getting a gay oriented soundtrack seemed progressive. But when they added the daily text subscription on How To Spot A Queer, they were dumb about the show’s storyline. It’s about empowered, happy queers, doing makeovers for clueless straight men. It has absolutely nothing to do with figuring out who’s queer!
If you reread all the Globe texts again, you’ll see the general stereotype and a surprise. They insult us gays not just by the punchlines but because they think all gays want to be women. But read hard enough, and you’ll see what Globe actually thinks about women.
No brains, just shops for stilletos.
No brains, just obsesses about what colors to wear.
No brains, just stylish and gorgeous bods.
Globe better quickly figure out when is International Women’s Day and what they could sponsor as well.
(Reactions: 0917 352 6394 – yes, still Globe for now or jsilva79@mac.com Let me know how you feel so I can pass it on to Globe and McCann)
PLEASE PASS ON THIS PIECE TO ALL IN YOUR LIST. ESPECIALLY TO YOUR STRAIGHT FRIENDS.
DATE: 10/12/2004 / 05:12 PM
FROM: Emily Abrera
To: John Silva
Subject: Re: QUEER EYE FOR THE DUMB GLOBE GUYS!
Dear John,
I must say I was truly dismayed upon reading the piece you sent around. I do wish you had at least called to ask us about the ad and how such text content is sourced, before you let your outrage dictate the tone of your editorial. After all, you know me personally (and you have my cel number, my friend), and have met the top people at Globe; and you have also met and corresponded with the senior executives at Harrison Communications, the agency who handles Globe. (Yes, they are part of the McCann group, but they have done a lot of excellent work and deserve to be known in their own right.) Had you called us, we would have clarified the following:
While we do conceptualize and produce Globe Telecom ads, the agency team does not write any of the themed SMS content. Globe sources these from different content-providers. If I'm not mistaken, the specific tips you are referring to were even developed by a group of gay writers! That in itself doesn't necessarily mean the messages are right, John, but these SMS texts are made and meant to be taken light-heartedly... as many themed text promotions are. The copy says so: "... daily funny tips... " and even the intro "You'll know he's queer if..." already suggests the tone of what's coming next.
It is obvious from your article that you did not find them funny. Well, having read through the tips you quoted, I can't say I found them particularly hilarious, but neither am I unduly bothered, because I honestly didn't take them seriously. Nor did I find the statements insulting to women or to feminists.
I don't find anything wrong with anyone having a sense of style, --- man, woman or gay --- nor do I think that complimenting someone for it is a bad thing. I did not think that any of the tips in any way suggested that queers (or women for that matter) are brainless, or have penis-envy, or are penis-deprived. I think that's stretching it to ludicrous lengths. I know many intelligent, accomplished, sensitive and talented people, some of whom happen to be gay, and I think they would at worst consider the SMS tips as "kababawan". By the same token, people download horoscopes; participate in text quizzes, etc., more for entertainment than anything else. Do these constitute stereotyping? In a sense, yes, but not anymore so than most jokes or clever commentary do. If you reflect on the show "Queer Eye..." it's guilty of the same sort of stereotyping, it that's the label you wish to give it.
It is also important to point out that these texts are not forced on people... you have to download them to get them. Refusing to download them is as eloquent a comment to make about a theme's relevance or acceptability. This is also a key input that is considered by Globe.
I am certain that no malice was intended, not by the people who wrote the content, nor by Globe for making them available. Still, I thank you for your comments, John, although frankly, I did not particularly care for the way you chose to express some of them.
For the record, we have never had occasion to think that the clients we deal with at Globe Telecom have anything but the highest respect for women and their capabilities. I'm sure that at Globe, men and gays are considered in no lesser light.
Best regards.
Emily Abrera
P.S. Send this around, too. It's the fair thing to do.
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