An instant fairy tale

Think back ten to fifteen years ago. Jolina was still the icon and you wished you could ask your mom to buy those butterfly clips but your dad insisted Power Ranger action figures are for big boys like you. You agreed, but after taking the five-man team from its box, you immediately took hold of Pink Ranger and played. You spent your whole
afternoon watching Mexican telenovela, dubbed Japanese animes and the commercials in between hoping to see Rico Yan in his Eggnog commercial.

Now, Jolina tries to sing and dance ala Gaga in a Sunday noontime show, the Power Rangers are competing with Sex Bomb’s Daisy Siyete in terms of show seasons and Rico Yan is but a name for your younger sister. Late afternoons are now filled with Filipino drama remakes. All the dramas and cartoons you grew up with are either placed on a
worse timeslot or axed by the TV exec to give way for some starlet.

You don’t even bother to pay attention to commercial breaks anymore because you are tired of looking at Kris Aquino or Manny Pacquiao’s face. The only interesting ads for your eyes are those with Daniel Matsunaga or some hot guys taking their clothes off in front of you.

But comes this.



Suddenly, everything goes back. It was all familiar. This is the same commercial you saw back when you can still cheer for Bobby-Angelu. But wait, the guy looks different, the girl too, and the place, that’s not where it was before. But it was the same commercial you admired, you tell yourself.

Guy sees Girl. Girl sees Guy. Guy smiles at Girl. Girl smiles back. Some magic happens emphasized by sparkling glitters. (Cue from the product) And in the end, the two are together, happy. All the time, the background songs just makes the moment even more worthwhile.

Then it hits you. Just like the happy ending fairy tales your nanny used to read to you before you sleep when you were five, this same 30-second motion clip had that same effect back then. That’s why it looks very familiar.

And the fairy tale effect lingered on you more than you ever expected. You spent your teenage years waiting for that magical moment when all the people around you would suddenly slow down and the universe will let you feel the moment as you saw him walk by and look into your direction. Knowing that he may be around the corner waiting, you
filled your young days hoping that in the middle of what you are doing, some enchanted moment will let you use your smile and breathe from the same toothpaste ad.

Then you grew up. Waiting turned out to be tiring. Magic became passé.

It took you time, years actually to realize that there is no background song when some important moment in your doomed life occurs. The closest you had was when the jeepney you were on played You Belong With Me the day you learned he is dating a new guy from a college not even part of Diliman campus.

But you still like the ad, admit it. It has changed its actors, but it never gets old on you.

Or maybe, just maybe, the whole idea of the ad with the fairy tale charm it exudes and the promises that lay ahead the last few shots bring did notreally leave you.

Go check, the inner wishful kid might still be there.