At the first look of the photo, what do you first notice?
I really think that FHM is using this to market their product. It's a negative business strategy. However, it would still cause greater popularity rather than having Bela Padilla on the FHM cover alone. It's not typical that an FHM cover girl in the Philippines would have african-american models surrounding her then this concept can trigger a lot of reactions of many Filipinos here and abroad.
Someone said that this is a disgusting color representation. I partially agree with it but as much as I am concern, majority of the Filipinos are racist. Sorry, but just observe when your friends are talking about an electronic gadget accessories they bought from Divisoria. Along the conversation, these phrases would come up, "dee bi dee, dee bi dee", "bombay", "negra". Is this not racism?
The modern Filipino communities right now are over reacting in every small detail they observe/see in their surroundings. Why are we always making early judgment? It seems that our community is completely sick!
If we remove those african-american models, we have Bela Padilla. What I could expect would be reactions like, Bela is now joining the wagon of immoral artists. What else to expect, Bela is not a good model of the youth, parents would tell their daughters not to be like Bela, and so on. Are we not going to stop of being like these? We are overreacting again and this happenned numerous times.
FHM had that concept maybe for many reasons. But for one, it's a business strategy. FHM wants to make sure that their March issue would be the topic of the town. Now, look what's happening. Everybody on the internet is talking about this, the media are all over broadcasting this issue, and the general audience which includes "US" are now victims again.
One more thing to add, Bela Padilla might also be the ultimate victim among us all.
You may also join our Forum discussion about this topic at Bela Padilla's FHM Cover Controversy.
