DOH uses “pep squad” to depict “stupidity” (“gaga girl”) & teenage pregnancy (di ka ba mainis)      

     From a report of the Inquirer.      

    Here again is the DOH infomercial campaigning against teenage pregnancy: Dancers or models dressed as “pep squad” or “cheering squad” members in school colors (in one sequence, in school color green; in another sequence, school color blue, in another sequence, school color maroon) enter the gymnasium to the strains of the lyrics “gaga girl/ gaa-gaaa girl” (stupid girl) with text or compu-graphics and “bobo boy/ bo…bo boy” (dumb boy) also with compu-graphics and “pag kitakits kita, sabi ng puso ko, boom-boom-boom” (“when we eyeball my heart goes boom-boom-boom) then the “pep squad members” execute somersaults, tosses, pyramids and the usual routine while the females flirt with the males while on the pyramid, to lyrics depicting them– or “pep squad members” as representatives of teenagers, — being mixed up with problems of teenage pregnancy.        

      As Inquirer reported, this DOH infomercial was taken down two hours after it was uploaded last night because of howls of protest from netizens.      

     Aside from the language to which netizens objected — ang nakakainis din dito, ginamit ang “pep squad”/ “cheering squad”, or models/dancers dressed as pep squad members performing pep squad routines, to represent or depict symbolically, teenage “airheads” (“gaga girl”. “bobo boy”), or students who may have problems with self-control and later on have problems with teenage pregnancy. As in — after the male and female athletes acrobat to the top of the pyramid, they eye each other lasciviously implying they are thinking of having sexual relations.    

      Infomercials such as these are produced by top PR and advertising firms using taxpayers money: they are researched upon, brainstormed, focus-grouped, conferenced, storyboarded, presented and approved – yet no research was done on the nature of a pep squad or the actual lives of pep squad members who were used as symbols to represent students conflicted with teenage pregnancy.        

      In reality, the pep squads of schools are elite varsity teams. They are carefully organized thru methodical recruitment, strict screening and auditions, and rigid evaluation.

      Every other semester, there are pep squad members in the classes. They do the work equivalent to the load of three people: Everyday, every morning, they train for four to five hours at the gym, then in the afternoon, they have to attend regular classes at 15 units. Have you ever tried back-breaking training starting at 8 in the morning straight up to 12 noon, take a hurried lunch, attend classes 1pm to 6pm, take a hurried supper, then work on your assignments and reports for the next school day? Everyday. Not every week or twice a week. Every waking morning of your young life.

        They live the life on an Olympic marathon runner or a Russian prima ballerina or a Chinese child gymnast being bent into a pretzel seven hours a day by an autocratic regime – except that here, the pep squad members train voluntarily out of an incomprehensible devotion to perfection. And you’re telling me they represent an average teenager who may face problems with teenage pregnancy? Why are you using one of the most disciplined and astounding athletes of the school population to symbolize teenage pregnancy? The DOH officials who approved this should have used photos of themselves to represent the intelligence aptitude they wish to depict except that they are mostly overweight and underaccomplished.

     (the objectionable vid below, embedded from the Inquirer, used here non-commercially for educational purposes).