GETTING OVER THE GHOST OF THE PAST WITH MCDO
By Ana Mary C. Visperas When destiny meddles in the picture of an almost perfect couple, the harmony shifts from upbeat to gloomy. The endless magic seems to fade away with the passionate love. From uttering the single word “breakup”, worlds are altered and ruined. The past of yesterday never dies. It creates ghost that haunts worlds within the ongoing life. It is undeniably true that breakup is a typical scenario that holds the past from fading. It haunts down those people who are used to be involved in the said relationship. At least that was highlighted in the last viral hugot ad of McDO, “Tuloy Pa Rin” banging the social world in June 4 and gaining about 7 million views on Facebook and YouTube. The one minute ad had summed it all. From an ordinary scene to a deeper story behind the girl’s past. It tells the story of this one normal average girl holding a tray of food in a fast food chain looking for a vacant spot. She has the spirit of happiness painted on her face when a vacant place got her attention. However, the curve of her lips began to turn into a grimace when that site became too familiar to her. She paused and gazed at it. Then she saw something. She was again on that day, the most heart-breaking day. She was watching a girl and a boy sitting on that spot. They were intently talking and the girl started to shed some tears. The boy got up but the girl’s face was pleading not to. She even tried to stop the boy and held his hand. But the boy mouthed “I’m sorry” and he parted the girl’s hand from his. He left the girl without looking back. Pain was written all over the girls face. She began to sob uncontrollably. And everything faded away in that spot. There she was again starring her own self. Once again, she was being hunted by the ghost of the past. After remembering the past, the girl chose to sit again in that spot where it all happened. As Krystle Jove Yague sings “Tuloy pa rin ang awit ng buhay ko, magbago man ang himig ng puso mo.” in the background, the girl chose to continue her life again and enjoy the moment of eating the new burger McDO. If not for the best acting skills of Elisse Joson this commercial ad would have not been successful and effectual. Elisse, 20, was crowned by the netizens as the queen of hugot. Since the released of this ad she has been receiving many complements and attentions from different people. And now she is currently starting to bloom in the world of actors and actresses with many upcoming projects. The competence of McDO and the beauty of the plot was wrapped up in this one. This commercial ad was not only to persuade people to try the new burger of McDO but also to implant new values to the viewers. It serves as a good inspiration for everybody not only for the broken hearted ones, to cope up and continue living in every circumstances. It introduces to the people the true essence of change that when change steps in the scene of life, nobody can cease the inevitable from happening. However, change beats off the crummy past of life and welcome things for the better. FAILED RELATIONSHIPS It portrayed the number one enemy of relationships, failure. With the boy leaving the crying girl behind it was already understood that they had a failed relationship whatever the reason is. It captured the unbeaten issue about breakups in the society nowadays. On-going relationships of teenagers are considered the most critical stage and closest to fail. Teenagers are still in the transitional stage of achieving full maturity. They are not capable of producing strong foundation for it. They tend to have a change of feelings emotions. They usually mixed infatuation and love feelings. “Breakup” usually pangs almost of the teenagers. For them it is the most painful part and risk on being in a relationship as it is seen in the girl’s reaction. Acceptance and moving on is not an easy thing to do. Nevertheless, mostly of them believe that no one deserves to be hurt. Just like in the scene, how it was easy for the boy to totally end their relationship and leave the girl behind, teenagers’ present ideology of breakups is that they speculate higher probability of break ups in each of the people’s love life. Every time teenagers see lovebirds around they become bitter and predict their separation date or worst they shout out “Walang forever!”. Art of moving-on The moment the girl sat in the chair, ate the burger and smiled again she already hugged the new changes in her life. It is the art moving on. It takes courage to love as well as to forget the painful past. Forgetting means accepting that everything is already over, no rewind, no continuation and no what if’s. Healing needs time. The girl in the commercial actually have not yet recovered from the breakup, even so she is willing to. It takes a long time to fix back the shattered pieces parts of the heart but eventually in the end, everything will be healed back. Reality check It is not afraid to be bold, too. The Tuloy Pa Rin featured only realism in the context. It chose to encase the subject breakup, moving on and change usually youth had been experiencing. In just one minute McDO was able to project the youths going on dilemma especially girls. Most of the viewers who shared this, hit the like button, or watched it many times are usually those who can relate and feel they are in girl’s shoes. Broken-hearteds as people label and call them. The girl’s scenario was all too common and familiar for the other girls. It was an insight of the heartbroken leagues in the reality on how hard it was for them to take in the breakup decision and pass through the stony process of moving on. They were considered to be a damsel in distress. Even so, the girl’s change of mood was the representation of all the girls bravery in facing all odds. They can withstand getting dumped in a relationship. They can smile again even with an aching heart. They can live without the man they used to love. And above all, girls could eat again in their favourite food chain bearing the changes in their life for the better without a man beside them. OPTIMISM Sanguine position is spotted in this viral ad. Though it was focused on relationships, the side of change was also shown. How McDO introduce its new burger was impactful. It did not only hit the meaning “Try the new burger McDO it is mouthwatering!” but also the line “When change happens, it can be for the better.” It was clearly have not been for selling purposes only but also for delivering a great lesson in life to the viewers. The ad was indirectly giving all the people a hint of happiness in life. It was giving the idea that there will always be a yesterday and tomorrow. In life, change is inevitable. However, the beauty is seen in the eye of the beholder. Change is on the matter of perspective, it can be for the better and worst. It’s only up to person to decide. And this ad suggests the first option, optimism. Instead of looking back for the past, people should see the life a head. Change should be look at as an option of bettering things not as laments of past. Past tense is past tense, no more regrets. Move on and welcome change, this is the greatest way to kill the ghost of the past. People should haunt it down first before it haunts them through the reality. Among all the commercial ads of McDO, “Tuloy Pa Rin” is the most worth remembering one. It has a great combination of artist, singer, director, background song and plot. It has a beautiful concept that it even beats off the current commercial ad of biggest stars in the industry of acting, Marian and Dingdong Dantes. In this one, while Yanyan and Dingdong are enjoying McDO’s fried chickens baby Leticia cried. They were both trying to get one another to do task of go-look-for-our-baby. They started to say the names of their partner, “Yanyan”, “Dingdong” until Dingdong lost the game and stand up. This is also quite captivating and good but then compared to the Tuloy Pa Rin ad, the message and story was not that good. Hopefully, McDO will create more of this quality commercials where people tend to feel the joy and pain of a person. This advertisement was a 2-in-1, it was a commercial and great perseverance for everyone. And it seems the commercial’s philosophy applies for both relationships and food chains: When change happens, it can be for the better. This ad is loved by everyone and people are asking for more commercial advertisement like this from different companies that would hit and embark 2016 at its best. (Click on this link to watch the full video of MCDO's Tuloy Pa Rin Commercial: https://youtu.be/lnY3Cl1BBpw )
