“May this serve as a warning to other would-be celebrities yearning to follow in Revillame’s footsteps as well as to their handlers and network bosses… It was via Facebook, Twitter and similar networks that Filipinos with access to the Internet were able to form a consensus… The traditional media actually had to play catch-up as the anti-Revillame movement gathered steam online. It soon became a development that none of the broadsheets, tabloids, radio stations and TV networks could ignore.”
BY: Dan Mariano
I seriously doubt if many—or any—of the critics of Willie Revillame were able to watch live the March 12 episode of his varie-ty show Willing Willie. Outrage over his maltreatment of a 6-year-old boy began to snowball only days later thanks to a video clip that ran for just 10 minutes or so and quickly circulated via YouTube.
The spectacle of the crying Jan Jan who was forced to simulate the lewd body movements of a macho dancer shocked Netizens who got to watch it. Within hours the video clip had gone viral.
Contrary to Revillame’s protestations, I don’t think ABC5’s rivals were responsible for the campaign to have both Willing Willie and its host pulled off the air. I have been monitoring the traffic of critical comments online, primarily through Facebook—although I understand the flurry of anti-Revillame remarks was much thicker on Twitter.
In fact, early on in the controversy the other networks seemed to be distancing themselves from the issue. I have little reason to doubt that the backlash was entirely spontaneous.
In his rant last Friday, Re-villame pinned the blame for his recent predicament on—not unexpectedly—his previous employer. The aim of his monologue was to dismiss this latest controversy around him as nothing more than an extension of his legal battle with ABS-CBN.
Revillame’s attempt to divert the public’s attention away from the Jan Jan episode has obviously had little effect that could be considered favorable to him. Rather than extricate himself from this storm, Revillame only succeeded in proving that he indeed deserves the lashing he is now getting from the typhoon of popular indignation.
Whether or not Willing Willie manages to return on air two weeks from now, the Jan Jan incident has shown the awesome power of social media.
It was via Facebook, Twitter and similar networks that Filipinos with access to the Internet were able to form a consensus. It was in cyberspace where they vented their revulsion over Revillame’s exploitation of a toddler and his pathetic elders, where they first aired their demand to have both the show and its host yanked off the air, where they announced a plan to boycott the products of Willing Willie sponsors and where the advertisers themselves sensed that the anti-Revillame backlash had become a genuine popular movement.
The traditional media actually had to play catch-up as the anti-Revillame movement gathered steam online. It soon became a development that none of the broadsheets, tabloids, radio stations and TV networks could ignore.
In North Africa and the Middle East, social media have become a powerful communication tool capable of sparking social unrest and actually toppling dictatorships. Here, Facebook, Twitter and the other online networks have persuaded some of the biggest corporations into withdrawing commercial support for a TV monster.
May this serve as a warning to other would-be celebrities yearning to follow in Revillame’s footsteps as well as to their handlers and network bosses.
To paraphrase Honest Abe, you may fool all the people some of the time, you can even fool some of the people all of the time, but you cannot fool all of the people all of the time—especially if they already have access to the Internet.
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