Christmas is a time for food manufacturers to go full
blast with their advertising moneys by coming out with the all-color layouts
showing well-styled food of the most mouth-watering variety. After all, sharing
food is the Filipino way to celebrate the holidays. After attending the Misa de
Gallo and other religious obligations, whole families come together for their
traditional Noche Buena and Media Noche dinners.
The customary NOCHE BUENA (literally, “Good Night”
in Spanish) is served each year on Christmas Eve, Dec. 24—and the sit-down meal
features the most extravagant dishes ever seen on the family dining table.
MEDIA NOCHE (Spanish for “Middle of the Night) is
a similar grand feast served on midnight, on New Year’s Eve, Dec. 31. It augurs
more prosperity for the family in the coming year.
Giant food companies like Purefoods, Kraft, California
Manufacturing Corp., and Del Monte advertise heavily on a regular
basis, during these holiday months, to capitalize on these great Filipino
feasting events.
ROYAL SPAGHETTI & MACARONI, "Royal Celebration", 1979
NEW ZEALAND CREAMERY: Queensland, Ques-O, Che-Vital, 1987
The Creative Guild of the Philippines, an association of
creative personnel working in the advertising industry, was just 3 years old
when the 1987 Creative Guild Ad of the Year Awards night at the refurbished
Metropolitan Theater was staged. One of the frontrunners for the Ad of the Year
was DEL MONTE SPAGHETTI SAUCE’s “Godfather”, a much-talked about TV ad produced
by McCann Erickson for Del Monte Phils.
WATCH THE DEL MONTE SPAGHETTI SAUCE 'Godfather" TVC HERE:
To drive home the “Italian-ness” of the product, the agency
made use of the iconic Don Vito Corleone, a fictional character in Mario Puzo’s
“The Godfather”, ably essayed in the 1972 film by Marlon Brando. McCann caster
Amy Salona found a talent in the person of Enrique “Ricky” Rivero, an
occasional stage actor, who, when fully-made up, became Brando’s
doppelganger—right down to his raspy voice.
TV viewers took notice of this well-produced, imported
looking commercial, what wit its authentic production design,moody lighting, the supporting characters,
and most especially, the uncanny duplication of the “Godfather’s” look and the cast's superb acting. It was no wonder then that the Del Monte commercial was chosen as the TV ad of the month for August 1987, by a jury consisting of
agency art directors, creative directors, copywriters and producers.
In the grand awards night, however, Nestle’s MILO “Gymnast”,
headlined by SEA games gold medalist Bea Lucero,edged out the DEL MONTE’s “Godfather”, for
the plum TV Ad of the Year prize. But Enrique Rivera’s portrayal ofthe “Godfather” was so unforgettable that he washonored as one of the 10 Best
Commercial Models of the Year. He was cited for his ‘effective portrayal of a
distinctive character in the most natural and realistic manner, through
skillful acting that captures the drama between product and consumer'.
DEL MONTE'’s “Godfather”
would win more technical awards at the next Philippine Advertising Congress,
but the best was yet to come. In 1990, the same Del Monte brand will win top honors
at the Creative Guild TV Ad of the Year for
the commercial “Novices”, the most prized award for the evening. For McCann
Erickson, the feeling was just—magnifico!
The DEL MONTE
brand of canned and bottled food products has been around since 1886, and its
history is intertwined with the pineapple industry in the Philippines. The
named was used by a foods distributor that provided coffee to the Del Monte
Hotel in California. The distributor used the same name to produce its canned peaches
which were marketed by the California Fruit Canners Association (CFCA) in 1898,
a group of 18 West Coast canning companies.
The Cannery of CFCA was built in 1907 and by 1909 was the largest
fruit and vegetable cannery in the world. In 1917, it acquired pineapple farms
and a cannery in Hawaii and added canneries in Florida and the Midwest, as well
as in the U.S.-owned Philippines, in 1926.
DEL MONTE CHRISTMAS AD, ca. 1935-36.
The Philippine cannery, called Philpack, was headed by Harry
White from 1926-1938, who steered it through start-up years. In Bukidnon,
experimental plots were planted with pineapple crowns, until mechanical farming
using U.S.-made tractors and trucks modernized the process.
Early DEL MONTE
advertising featured products that were imported from the U.S.—cling peaches,
cherries and fruit salad—all promoted during the holiday season from the late
1920s thru the ‘30s.
DEL MONTE CORPORATE CHRISTMAS Ad, 1961
The War closed down the Philippine cannery but was
rebuilt soon after, using surviving pineapple crowns to restart the business
anew. Slowly, but surely, the Company gained new packing lines.
It was in the 1950s that Philpack opens its Sales and Marketing
offices in Intramuros, Manila, that resulted in more effective, and more
professionally done advertising and promotions. Not only did the Cannery expand
with a new can plant, but also was equipped with new processing lines for tomato, papaya and
tuna, and a seaport.
DEL MONTE PINEAPPLE JUICE, New Year Ad, 1965
By 1967, DEL MONTE
products includes fruit juices, catsup, pineapples of different cuts, tomato
sauce and even sardines, all actively advertised in magazines and dailies.
On this spread are an array of omnibus Christmas ads
featuring DEL MONTE products spanning the first 40 years of DEL MONTE in the Philippines.
KATIALIS "Gifts of the Three Kings" Ad, showing the 3 magis presenting Katialis bottles
as gifts to scab-ridden Filipinos. c. Jan.1936
Time was when the Feast of the Epiphany or Three Kings was a fixed date—January 6—which also marked the end of the Christmas season. With the 1969 revision of the General Roman Calendar, the date has become variable, celebrated on the first Sunday of January.
DEL MONTE PINEAPPLE JUICE, "Little King", a more whimsical depiction of your little king.
c. Jan. 1965
In the Philippines, the 3 Kings were looked at as gift-givers, the way Americans looked at Santa Claus. This began in the Spanish times when the “Dia de los Tres Reyes Magos” was celebrated in Filipino homes with feasting, merry-making and gift-giving. Children would leave their buffed shoes all in arrow outside their rooms to find them stuffed with gifts the next morning—courtesy of the 3 Kings!
REPUBLIC BANK, "Forty One Kings", Get the royal service of not just 3 Kings but 41! Bank branches, that is. c. Jan.1965
These ads of yesteryears celebrate the Feast of the Three Kings--when the day held more significance to Filipinos. After all, it extended the Christmas season for another week, thus prolonging the feasting and merrymaking--not to mention school vacations.
THREE KINGS WHISKEY BRAND
from La Tondena, Inc. c. 1940
The ads range from the wild (Katialis) to the whimsical (Del Monte), but the highest tribute has got to be La Tondeña's whiskey brand fittingly named "Three Kings", perhaps to capture the intoxicating joy that the holidays bring!
