Using Caloy: Celebratory or predatory?

A Filipino book historian would probably know how many copies of Jose Rizal’s novels have been printed from his lifetime to the present. If he were paid, even a peso, for each book printed, he or his estate would be raking in millions in annual royalties from required textbooks. Unfortunately, as a national hero, his works, his name, and his likeness are all in the public domain. Rizal it seems, has always been copyright-free.

By way of brand names, Rizal beats all the other heroes hands-down. There are more Rizal brand names than Bonifacio, Aguinaldo, Mabini, Del Pilar, and Lapu-lapu combined. If you want a safe place for your savings, you have RCBC or the Rizal Commercial Banking Corp. If you are building a house, there is Rizal Cement. And, before microwave, induction, and vaping, if you needed a light, there were Rizal matches. I haven’t counted but I want to know how many avenues, streets, drives, and eskinitas have been named in Rizal’s honor throughout the archipelago. Rizal is, literally, with us from womb to tomb: one can be born in a Rizal Hospital and later lie in state at a Funeraria Rizal. It is not well-known that San Miguel discontinued a Cerveza Rizal from its product line, leaving two legacy products Pale Pilsen and Cerveza Negra. The latter, I am told, was marketed to expectant mothers.

Copyright as we know it today did not exist to protect Rizal’s works from 1896 to 1946, that’s 50 years after the creator’s death. In the wake of Rizal’s celebrity, the family took their cue from Teodora Alonso, the hero’s mother, who flatly refused the offer of a government pension, saying: “My family has never been patriotic for money. If the government has plenty of funds and does not know what to do with them, it’s better to reduce the taxes.”

If there is anyone who needs a copyright lawyer right now, it is Philippine Olympian Carlos “Caloy” Yulo. Filipinos can’t get enough of him. As I write this, on a P2P bus cruising down Edsa, I saw a number of billboards congratulating Yulo on his triumph. On the surface, there is nothing wrong with these, but it is a slippery slope to epal. Speaking of epal, how many politicians added their mugshots to Yulo’s name, face, or likeness in laudatory public messages that should be seen as pre-election campaigning? I leave comments on this issue to my neighbors on this page.

Social media is bursting with memes with catchy images and slogans that should be mined by ad agencies on the prowl for fresh talent. We will not comment on personal greetings in this column and focus on the congratulatory messages from companies who stand to gain from association with Yulo.

Let’s start with the competing burger giants. McDonald’s, in my opinion, wins over Jollibee by inverting its trademark golden arches on a red field, transforming them into two ribbons from which two Olympic gold medals hang. Bold. Simple. Classy. It is a meme that National Artist Arturo Luz would award a gold to for minimalism. In contrast, Jollibee has Filipino horror-vacui and fills up the space with the text: “Caloy: Our Pride Our Joy.” With the two capital O’s in the slogan in the form of gold medals, we are subliminally made to think that these were awarded not just to the Olympian but also to their patented Chickenjoy. KFC was, like McDo, confident in its brand—just the logo and a play on the company slogan “finger lickin’ golds.” Bold. Simple. Not baduy.

Chowking transformed their trademark fried lumpiang shanghai into a balance beam with the image of a gymnast on it. Slogan wins the gold for corn, “Chowludo ang buong bayan sa ’yo Caloy” (The whole nation salutes you Caloy). Colgate did the same with the image of toothpaste, without a toothbrush, turned into a balance beam with the line “another reason to smile.” Another gymnastic event is referenced with a shopping basket whose handles become parallel bars. Sequenced images of Caloy in motion jump over the bars. No need to concoct a silly phrase for this company, it just used two words, “Pilipinas Puregold.”

A shoutout from the banks was worth looking into. Metrobank used “Another golden moment for Carlos.” EastWest Bank used “You made it further for you and for your country! Congratulations Caloy!” PSBank really pushed its luck with “HisTWOric. Congratulations Caloy!” BDO should’ve played with their logo but probably had no time so they settled for two hands, each holding a ribbon with a gold “O” that looked like a “0” interest ad for credit card purchases. Text was equally uninspired: “Our pride, our champion! Congratulations to PH’s first ever Double Gold Medalist, Caloy!” On this double triumph, Double Dragon missed the boat. Last but not least is BPI that used “Leaps and Bounds. Congratulations on another gold Caloy!” If you don’t read the small congratulatory texts, the meme looks like a warning on increasing interest on loans and overdue credit card bills. Botttomline is, in which bank does Caloy maintain savings, checking, or credit card account in the Philippines?

We should separate the sincere and celebratory from the predatory messages. Yulo reserves all rights to his name, image, and likeness for commercial purposes and should benefit from it. More so, if pledges in cash, prizes, and freebies are not fulfilled.

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Comments are welcome at aocampo@ateneo.edu