Over consumed Filipino Workers

ABSTRACT

The study aims to uncover how diaspora, particularly labor migration, is portrayed by the promotional campaigns of Duty Free Philippines, through thematic and visual aspects. Also, the study aims to determine a correspondence of the texts to the decades-long policies and programs of the State, on overseas labor from Corazon Aquino to Benigno Aquino, III.

Louis Althusser’s Ideological State Apparatus and Michel Foucault’s Discourse Analysis were used to be able to render a textual analysis of the following campaigns: 1989 Fiesta Shopping Center campaign, 1994 Babalik Ka Rin campaign, 1997 Kabuhayan Shopping Program TVC, 2004 Sikat campaign, and 2012 Babalik Ka Rin Christmas TVC.

The researcher was able to deconstruct the said TV campaigns and identify the discourses they manifest through decades. There were some apparent changes in the narratives as far as the presentation of the OFW story and image is concerned. The first few campaigns gave light to the OFW labor experience, while the latter ones depicted overseas work as a momentary event in one’s life. The depiction of the balikbayan shifted as well from the dramatic welcome of a hero, to the comedic and pleasant depiction of a provider and economic investor. Such changes have corresponded to certain policies and programs on overseas labor, that have affected the production and discourse projection of the campaigns. However, despite the narrative change is an unchanging diasporic discourse that often concealed the many aspects of overseas labor.

Keywords: diaspora, Overseas Filipino Workers, Duty Free Philippines, promotional campaigns

Gonzales, A.P. (2013). Over consumed Filipino Workers: A textual analysis of diaspora in Duty Free Philippines’ TV promotional campaigns (from Corazon Aquino to Benigno Aquino, III)

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