Manila the Real Thing
In this country we would probably consider it obscene that in a city where millions live in poverty, more money is spent exhorting the nation to buy a fizzy drink than on providing basic amenities.
Advertising dominates Manila, the capital of the Philippines. The most squalid tin shacks are covered in posters; every bus is emblazoned with lurid signs; radio and TV commercials pound out a relentless message to buy. Borrowing techniques from commercials, this documentary cuts between the world of the advertisers, who claim a social responsibility to promote a better life, to the people for whom this hope is just a dream.
One protagonist sees the wholesale advertising of western products as proof that they are on the road to modernisation. But is this wholehearted embracingof a western lifestyle a good thing? Producer Philip Brooks
Series editor Paul Watson
Followed by Sarajevo - a Street under Siege