Pope Francis gestures as he addresses thousands of the faithful at the Mall of Asia arena in Manila, Philippines, Friday, Jan. 16, 2015. AP
MANILA, Philippines—Pope Francis says he has come to the Philippines to help the poor, but the country’s businesses, big and small, are also cashing in on his image.
The Pontiff is the most trusted figure for many in the Philippines, where 80 percent of its 100 million people are Catholic, and this week’s trip has generated a marketing frenzy for “Brand Pope.”
Images of a smiling Pope Francis are splashed all over media stamped with logos of a myriad big companies.
Gerald Bautista, a marketing strategist for 20 years who runs his own consulting firm in Manila, said putting the Pope and a brand together has a hypnotic effect on consumers in the Philippines.
“He has no negative attributes, (and) gives 100 percent benefits in terms of credibility and integrity,” Bautista told Agence France-Presse (AFP).
“They (consumers) would subliminally think that the brand is good. Subliminally, it influences their choice when they go to a supermarket,” he said.
The Catholic Bishops Conference of the Philippines (CBCP), which is organizing the Pope’s five-day trip, said it was unfazed with the Pope’s image being used for commerce.
Asked if it was proper to profit from the Pope’s image, conference spokesperson Bishop Mylo Vergara said the decision to do so was “really up to” the businesses involved.
The CBCP has in fact signed on some of the Philippines’ biggest companies as official sponsors for the tour, allowing them to place their brands on welcome banners erected throughout Manila.
Pope Francis would frown upon usage of his likeness to sell products, according to Andrea Tornielli, coordinator for the Vatican Insider website in Rome.
One of the nation’s biggest telecommunications companies is one of the official sponsors of the Pope’s trip.
Its spokesperson insisted the company’s motives were altruistic, pointing out it was providing free phone and Internet infrastructure so Filipinos could share information about the Pope.
“This is not a money-making event for us… our main effort is to help every Filipino experience the Pope,” the spokesperson told AFP.
Papal sales surge
Meanwhile, small business owners are also enjoying a surge in sales out of the papal visit, as they flood sidewalks and malls with a dizzying array of papal souvenir merchandise.
Filipino bishops did not put out guidelines on the use of the Pope’s image for merchandising to give the poor a chance to make money, Fr. Rufino Sescon of the organizing committee told AFP.
“(And) if we regulate, it might look like we’re the ones trying to make money off the Pope,” he said.
Josie Rudavites, who runs a tiny stall outside one of Manila’s most popular churches, said daily sales had jumped 10-fold to P3,000 since she started selling badges and calendars with the Pope’s image.
“The Pope is all the rage,” Rudavites, 36, who normally sells candles for praying at the church, told AFP.
A customer at a nearby stall, Angie Nalang, said she had brought her 17-year-old autistic son to the religious market surrounding the church because he was desperate for a souvenir.
“He said he wants anything with the Pope on it,” Nalang told AFP, as her son picked a white T-shirt with an image of the pope smiling and waving. AFP
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