A Picture Paints A Thousand Words, One of Them is the Derogatory ‘ALDOG’

Unfortunately, the photograph which was supposed to be cute, the photo which Sunday PINASaya director Rich Ilustre posted on his Twitter page on 30 October 2015, painted perhaps the most pejorative word anti-ALDUB camps can ever come up with–ALDOG.

ALDOG is the name created and used by many non-ALDUB fans (or Brand X fans) to mock and harass the iconic TV character Yaya Dub, the showbiz breakout star who made this character famous Maine Mendoza, and her supporters collectively known as the ALDUB Nation. Rich Ilustre probably had the best intentions in posting the picture of a dog wearing a Yaya Dub-inspired costume for a PAWS Halloween event, but that will not prevent bashers from using it to further ridicule ALDUB and its fans. I’m afraid it will only encourage notorious  bashers  to continue posting derogatory remarks and memes against ALDUB and their supporters on social media. It will fuel the already burning cyber bullying and internet harassment incidents perpetrated by anti-ALDUB fans. The photo is so ambiguous that it can be easily interpreted in both helpful and harmful ways which Rich Ilustre should have foreseen. It can be so potentially damaging to the brand (ALDUB) insofar as maintaining a positive and favorable (and not to mention, profitable) public image is concerned.

An “ALDOG” meme created by some Brand X loyalists (source)

In terms of brand and PR management, Rich Ilustre clearly caused a mess.

Unless Rich Ilustre deletes the aforementioned photo, it will become even more difficult for ALDUB defenders like ALDUBriela, ALDUB Protectors, ALDUB Hydra, and other groups with a similar mission, to comprehensively inspire the termination of cyber bullying and online harassment against ALDUB. It will also most probably make it a bit difficult now to successfully launch ALDUB, particularly Maine Mendoza, as a cultural icon. Why? That’s because the photo carries a very loaded meaning. In the context of art and politics in the Philippines, for instance, the image of dogs is used to satirize politicians and depict their servility to neoliberal economic and political superpower. In current Philippine showbiz, the image of dogs is used, unfortunately, to pertain to what Brand X loyalists call as “retarded fans ng ALDUB.” Rich Ilustre practically made it so easy for the bashers to download a photo that they can use as a meme that degrades the ALDUB brand.

In the essay Media Brands and Consumer Experiences by Calder and Malthouse (2008), it is said: “The brand is the concept the marketer wants the consumer to have of the way the consumer should experience the product.” By posting the Yaya Dog photo on his Twitter account, how does Rich Ilustre, being an ALDUB benefactor and beneficiary, want the consumer to experience ALDUB? Upon viewing the Yaya Dog photo, how does the ALDUB consumer experience ALDUB? And what about the Brand X consumer–how does he/she experience ALDUB?

To be continued…