Philippines, Inc.
Brought to You by San Miguel
Selling Modernity and Nationalism in a Post-Colonial Nation-State
By Jennifer Abalajon
Table of Contents
Introduction ..................................................................................................................................... 2
Commodities as Symbols and the Production of Culture ........................................................... 4
Research Aims and Methods ....................................................................................................... 8
Part One: San Miguel‟s Rise to Power ......................................................................................... 11
A Brief History of San Miguel: 1890-2010 .............................................................................. 12
The San Miguel Family: Elite Business Networks in the Philippine Economy........................ 14
Friends with the Government: Privatization of SOEs and the San Miguel Utility Projects ..... 19
Summary ................................................................................................................................... 24
Part Two: San Miguel Imagined: Shaping Modernity, High Culture and Nationalism in
Philippine Society ......................................................................................................................... 25
Western Influences: Language and Standards of Beauty .......................................................... 26
Class & Racial Cleavages: San Miguel Reflections.................................................................. 32
Branding in Everyday Life ........................................................................................................ 34
San Miguel on Corporate Social Responsibility and Governance ............................................ 40
Symbolic Power: The San Miguel Foundation, Inc. ................................................................. 43
National Morality: Beyond the Bottom Line ............................................................................ 45
Summary ................................................................................................................................... 46
Conclusion .................................................................................................................................... 48
Author‟s Note................................................................................................................................ 51
Bibliography ................................................................................................................................. 52
1
Introduction
I have been able to visit the Philippines three times since I left there permanently for the
US at the age of three. Each time, our family had pretty much the same itinerary. Manila for a
few days, then on to Roxas City, a day visit to the farm in Kasanayan where my mom grew up, a
trip to pay respect to the graves of three grandparents, and then off to the world-acclaimed
Borocay Islands where we would enjoy the rest of our vacation on the white-sanded beaches just
like the tourists. I remember one of the things my siblings and I looked forward to the most were
the Filipino foods and drinks. After all, we could never enjoy them in the US. Everywhere we
went, we ate Pure Foods hotdogs, Magnolia ice cream, San Miguel and Red Horse beer. We took
them on day trips, had them at parties, had them with dinner, on quiet nights, on rowdy nights, at
birthdays, for visits- for simply everything.
We thought our binge on Filipino treats had to do with the fact that we were foreigners
enjoying rare and treasured goods. However, one morning, when I smelled Pure foods hotdogs
cooking for breakfast, I realized that these products were not just used for celebratory purposes
but were part of everyday life. Little did I know that such goods were all owned and controlled
by a single food and beverage conglomerate, the San Miguel Corporation. Hearing that name, all
I remember thinking was that it was my father‟s favorite beer. Yet it was everywhere- on
billboards, on television, in movies, on clothing, invoked in everyday speech, on grocery items,
on sports teams, at music concerts, at important political events, in schools for book drives- the
name San Miguel loomed from the background at every major event in the country. My cousins
raved about it, took pride in it, bragging about how San Miguel is the “real” Filipino beer and
how we should appreciate it while we were around. All the uncles drank it when they played
Mah Jong and all the younger kids aspired to drink it one day when they were older. Often
2
during our trip my father, with a San Miguel beer in his hand, spoke of how great life was in the
Philippines back when he was a lawyer and bank manager. He told us stories of how he used to
seduce his clients with San Miguel beer, food and women, to close deals. He told us that if you
wanted to do good business, you better have some San Miguel. Then I thought- why San
Miguel? Why not just say beer? Why do Filipinos have the tendency to talk about things in brand
name form? It was then that I realized how popular and loved such brands were and in particular,
how San Miguel was more than just a brand, it had come to be a significant cultural symbol in
Filipino society.
While other corporations may play a large role in Philippine society such as Jollibee
Foods Corp, Philippine Long Distance Telephone Company (PLDT), Ayala Corp, Nestle
Philippines, Inc. and Manila Electric, none of them arouse quite as much popularity and national
sentiment as the San Miguel Corporation. None of them carry such meaning and symbolism in
Philippine society and culture. This paper will argue that the San Miguel Corporation, through
monopolistic economic initiatives and pervasive branding, marketing and campaigning
strategies, has achieved cultural hegemony in Filipino society, actively shaping Filipino
perception of modernity, valuation of high culture, and sense of national pride and morality.
More importantly, San Miguel and its commodities have not just become a symbol of the modern
Filipino life but have also been instrumental in transforming the Philippines from a post-colonial
state into a post-modern capitalist society that accesses nationalism through consumption of
commodities.
3
Commodities as Symbols and the Production of Culture
One of the most basic definitions of culture is “a set of ideas and behaviors that are
acquired by people as members of society.”1 Human culture in particular, as opposed to other
primates, depends on the use of symbols.2 As a result, cultural learning occurs in systems of
symbolic meaning. The symbols in such systems perpetuate a shared set of dominant economic
activities, social patterns, core values (key, basic or central values), ideas, judgments, and even
personality traits and behavior. 3 In a capitalist mode of production, such symbols prevail in the
exchange and representation of commodities.
Karl Marx, in his classic work Capital Volume I, argues that the most elementary form of
society in the capitalist mode of production is the individual commodity.4 He defines it as an
external object whose qualities satisfy human needs of whatever kind, whether from the stomach
or the imagination.5 He states that it is absolutely clear that man changes the forms of such
materials or commodities to make them useful to him, constituting its use-value.6 However, he
goes on to say that the mystical character of the commodity does not arise from this use-value
but rather from its ability to reflect the social relations between the producers, the objects and
men themselves.7 Marx states “It is nothing but the definite social relation between men
themselves which assumes here, for them, the fantastic form of a relation between things.”8 As
David Harvey explains in his series of lectures entitled Reading Capital, Marx understood that
people under capitalism do not relate to each other directly as human beings, rather they relate to
1
Robert Lavenda & Emily Schultz, Core Concepts in Cultural Anthropology, 16
Lavenda & Schultz, 22
3
Kottak,Cultural Anthropology, 28
4
Karl Marx, Capital Volume I, 125
5
Marx, 125
6
Marx, 163
7
Marx, 164-165
8
Marx, 165
2
4
each other through the myriad of products which they encounter in the market. He argues that
there is a fetishism attached to commodities, which affect the material relations between persons
and the social relations between things. Thus, under a capitalist mode of production, social
relations are governed by this mass exchange of commodities, which functions in a symbolic
system.
In such a commoditized world, culture and even nationalism can thus be consumed.
Steve Kemper, in his book Buying and Believing, addressed the cultural production of ads and
marketing in Sri Lanka. Particularly, he wanted to explore the production of public culture in a
postcolonial nation-state. Notably, the Philippines, like Sri Lanka, possesses such a colonial past
(both from US and Spanish possession) and does dwell in a similar postcolonial nation-state
reality. Furthermore, Kemper discovered that in such a post-colonial state, whether or not
advertising sells commodities, it also “creates culture”, highlighting the often overlooked
importance of this function in the economy.9 More importantly, advertising has become a means
by which the people of a given postcolonial society acquire both a sense of global modernity and
local identity.
To support this seemingly paradoxical claim he first points out how access to global
modernity is produced. He states, “Participation in virtual communities of consumption depends
on advertising, electronic media, and patterns of living that link individuals to the
deterritorialized world of commodities.”10 Kemper‟s mention of the world of commodities as one
that is deterritorialized means that it is a world not tied to any territorial notion of a state, which
he argues could threaten local tradition and morality. However, according Kemper, advertising in
the post-colonial state actually gets pulled in two directions; it can have both a homogenizing,
9
Kemper, 4
Kemper, 2
10
5
deterritorializing effect and a localizing effect in that it can shape local definitions of such things
as modernity and taste. He argues that “On the one hand, there are economies of scale that follow
transnational campaigns, the homogenization of taste, and the deterritorialization of the
imagination. On the other, advertising „in the local idiom‟ caters to, not to say creates, local
preferences.”11 Additionally, if one thinks of advertising as a device of capitalism, then the
system of capitalism itself, Kemper argues, “brings with it a set of values- individualism and
material gusto are two- as well as a set of material interests, and local societies enter the
intercultural encounter with their own economic and political interests.”12 Given this, Kemper
describes advertising agencies and executives as “middlemen to the national imagination”.13
More importantly, he claims that they do not just function as the avenue to this “national
imagination” but in a consumer society, they become the very sources of it, “producing new
images of what it is to be a woman, a man, a parent, a responsible person…and, naturally, a
consumer.”14
Looking more closely at how a consumer can be made to buy ideas of culture, modernity
and nationalism, Arjun Appadurai, a significant scholar on the study of modernity, emphasizes
the imagination as key to understanding the culture of global modernity. He argues that the
“imagination is central to all forms of agency, is itself a social fact, and is the key component of
the new global order.”15 Whereas the imagination was once viewed as a mechanism of fantasy,
escape, contemplation or elite pastime, Appadurai argues that the imagination has transformed
into an organized social practice, which functions as an interchange between individuals in their
11
Kemper, 14
Kemper, 10
13
Kemper, 6
14
Kemper, 6
15
Appadurai, Disjuncture and Difference in the Global Cultural Economy, 5
12
6
local sites of agency and “globally defined fields of possibility”.16 Hence, through the utilization
of the imagination, individuals can connect themselves to this larger world of possibility that is
cosmopolitan in nature and homogenizing in effect, a world which we refer to as „modern‟. Even
the choice of words by San Miguel in their ads such as “imagine”, “reflections” and “dreams”
are indicative of this.
However, while the utilization of the imagination to gain access to the new world of
possibility may seem to deterritorialize the individual by connecting them to a world beyond
their borders, Kemper argues that modern institutions actually reterritorialize the imagination,
creating local tastes, preferences and common identity. Moreover, if we consider classical
theories on nationalism, namely that of Benedict Anderson, Appadurai‟s emphasis on the
imagination creates a very interesting revelation. On the one hand, Appadurai argues that the
imagination is what links individuals in their local sites of agency to global cultural modernity.
Anderson, however, discusses the imagination as a means to achieve nationalism. Taken
together, these theories represent two sides of the coin regarding the imagination and its ability to
connect people through the exchange of symbols. More specifically, Anderson emphasizes print
capitalism as the means by which national consciousness is spread, which in turn leads to the rise
of what he refers to as an “imagined political community”17, which spurred the formation of the
nation-state. Anderson states, “…the convergence of capitalism and print technology on the fatal
diversity of human language created the possibility of a new form of imagined community,
which in its basic morphology set the stage for the modern nation.”18 Yet in this day and age,
capitalism has converged with much more than print technology, encompassing the entire
telecommunications industry via television, movies, music, the media and the internet reaching
16
Appadurai, 5
Benedict Anderson, Imagined Communities, 5-6
18
Anderson, 46
17
7
unprecedented scopes of people at unparalleled speeds. According to scholar E. San Juan Jr.,
certain scholars, namely in the humanities, still perceive consumer goods as “narrowly conceived
material objects being exchanged”, however for scholars with a more postmodernist view, he
argues that “the significant point is the act of exchange and circulation of symbolic goods.”19
Such a of symbolic goods category includes “fast-foods, t-shirts, advertisements, music and other
items encompassed by what is called TRIPS (trade-related intellectual property rights).”20
Research Aims and Methods
The aim of this paper will be to examine how San Miguel reaches the consciousness of
the people through its branding, marketing and campaigning initiatives. I intend to highlight the
ways in which San Miguel produces culture, ideas of modernity and common identity in
Philippine society. Furthermore, aside from the mere production of culture, I also intend to asses
whether San Miguel has been able to reflect back ideas regarding national pride and morality on
the Filipino people.
In order to examine this, a particular mode of qualitative research will be adopted to
analyze San Miguel‟s symbolic commodities. For this, we turn to the field of semiotics, also
known as the science of signs, which provides a set of assumptions and concepts that permit
systematic analysis of the symbols.21 We rely particularly on social semiotics which sees “social
life, group structure, beliefs, practices, and the content of social relations as functionally
analogous to the units that structure language. By extension of this semiotic position, all human
communication is a display of signs, something of a text to be „read‟.”22 A sign is composed first
of an expression such as a word, sound or symbol and then of content, which completes the
19
E. San Juan Jr., 98
E San Juan Jr., 98
21
Norman K. Denzin & Yvonna S. Lincoln, Handbook of Qualitative Research, 466
22
Denzin & Lincoln, 466
20
8
meaning of the expression. The linking or connecting of these two elements, along with the
participation of the observer or interpretant, is what creates meaning. Such meaningful
connections are socially created and maintained; they are “shared and collective, and provide an
important source of ideas, rules, practices, codes and recipe knowledge called „culture‟”.23 It is
this „culture‟ that structurally dictates sign concreteness.24 Commodities are constantly
represented by such signs or symbols. As a result, the commodity becomes a very powerful and
influential item, both in governing social relations and in producing meanings as a symbolic
device, shaping common identity and culture. Hence, as the commodity is something that is
consumed, such ideas, identities and meanings are also themselves consumable.
The research conducted for this paper is thus done in two parts. Part One will explain
how San Miguel was able to rise to its position of economic dominance, an entirely independent
process from its rise to cultural hegemony. It will pay close attention to the ownership structure
in the Philippines, the culture of elitism and the alliance between capitalist families and the
government as factors in San Miguel‟s rise and subsequent expansion into public works. Having
established such factors, Part Two will look at select print advertisements, images, branding,
television commercials, San Miguel Foundation Inc.‟s campaign entitled “Beyond the Bottom
Line” and other means used by San Miguel to foster their cultural hegemony in Filipino society.
Through close analysis of these ads and campaigns using semiotic methods, three very
important things will be discovered. First, San Miguel demonstrates the heavy influence of US
standards in their promotion of high culture and conceptualization of modernity. The US has a
particularly strong influence on social and political values as well as popular culture, which San
Miguel clearly perpetuates and values. Second, class and racial inequities are perpetuated
23
24
Denzin & Lincoln, 466
Denzin & Lincoln, 467
9
through the ads as they clearly promote the values and lifestyles of the upper class. However,
San Miguel constantly promises the normal, everyday Filipino that the culture and lifestyle they
sell is attainable by all. As a result, San Miguel effectively sells the lifestyles of the bourgeois to
the masses. Thirdly, San Miguel masks its otherwise profit-generating motives by aggressively
campaigning its developmental initiatives, strategically avoiding potential criticisms regarding its
monopolistic conduct and anti-competitive practices. Moreover, the school of thought on
corporate social responsibility originated in response to the EDSA or People Power revolution of
1986, which indicates that San Miguel is also reflecting ideas of national morality on the people.
What occurs is the formation of national sentiments of morality and community, connecting the
consumers of the product with larger ideas on the greater good of Filipino society through
development and advancement. Ultimately, this project will reveal the often-overlooked
community-building potential of a consumer culture.
10
Part One: San Miguel’s Rise to Power
Before discussing the influence San Miguel Corporation has had on Filipino national
identity and perception of modernity, its rise to economic and social dominance must first be
established. After all, it is only through achieving this economic dominance that San Miguel has
been able to pervade national consciousness and affect what it means to be a “modern” Filipino.
This part will now proceed to highlight the exact events, circumstances and structures that were
responsible for San Miguel Corporation‟s (SMC) rise in dominance. The most important
question to answer in the subsequent sections is how SMC over all other major corporations was
able to gain the capital to fund and/or political permission to proceed with its immense expansion
and pervasion into public utility projects.
In answering this question, we must first turn our attention to the partnership between
Filipino capitalist families, such as the one that owns and runs San Miguel, and officials in the
Philippine government. The following sections will analyze this partnership in great detail,
revealing the nature of elitism and familial traditions in Philippine society and its relation to the
ownership structure. This is the key to understanding San Miguel‟s most recent expansion into
public utility projects that were originally owned and organized by the government. While this
expansion has been the new engine of San Miguel growth, it has also had major implications for
the market of public services, raising concerns over whether a food and beverage conglomerate
should have so much control over necessary public works in infrastructure, expressway
construction, energy and oil. Moreover, the pervasion of San Miguel‟s influence is complicating
government regulation of such conglomerates as the government itself is entangled in their
capitalist interests.
11
A Brief History of San Miguel: 1890-2010
San Miguel‟s history traces as far back as the era of Spanish colonialism. Even its name,
“San Miguel” is of Spanish origin. It was officially founded in 1890 by Don Enrique Ma. Barreto
under a Spanish Royal Charter that officially permitted the brewing of beer in the Philippines. It
was called La Fabrica de Cerveza de San Miguel and started off as a relatively small, humble
brewery operating in Manila. The original city seal of Manila, the escudo, was San Miguel‟s
corporate logo from 1890 to 1975 after which it was replaced by the leaf-droplets design.25 The
escudo possessed historic significance and is still used as a trademark for San Miguel Beer. In
many ways, it still serves as the symbol of the corporation itself. In later years, the company
came to be controlled by a series of powerful and influential Filipino families (namely the
Sorianos and Cojuangcos). This is indicative of its upper class origins as it was a brewery
chartered by the Spanish Crown and then transferred to families who belonged to the
socioeconomic elite. Such families have had control of the corporation, the management albeit
shifting between families, to this very day. It now stands as not only one of the most powerful
domestic conglomerates but also the most popular.
For nearly 100 years, through the period of US colonialism and subsequent
independence, San Miguel sold only the most famous beer, the national beer, San Miguel Beer. It
did not become incorporated until 1913 and it did not call itself the San Miguel Corporation until
the 1960s.26 In 1927, it became the very first foreign bottler of Coca-Cola and then proceeded to
begin a process of backwards vertical integration in which it acquired barley fields and expanded
its operations into other agricultural products. It was not until about the 1980s-1990s that it
began to acquire other industries, namely other food and beverage industries, coming to own
25
26
SMC Website, http://www.sanmiguel.com.ph/, Last Accessed 4/12/10 8:00pm
Rarick & Inge, San Miguel Corporation: Should a Beer Company Be a Public Utility Provider?
12
90% of the beverage industry, 60% of meat production and 40% of poultry production, and came
to dominate the market for packaging goods and services. By the early 2000s, it spun off from its
regular food and beverage market, and bought huge, influential stakes in the industries of
telecommunications, oil, power, energy and infrastructure. It openly invested in several nationwide projects to build inter-region expressways and mobile networks. It had also expanded to
markets outside of the Philippines in the greater region of Southeast Asia, operating over 100
facilities in the Philippines, China, Vietnam, Indonesia and Australia. It generates most of its
revenue, about 63%, in the Philippines alone, 30% in Australia, and the rest scattered throughout
China, Indonesia, Vietnam and other nearby areas.27 Domestically, it has bought a notable
portion of real estate which it now manages and helps to develop, claiming that homes are being
built and offered at affordable prices for the Filipino citizen. It has clearly been posing itself as a
Philippine developmental organization, putting money into developing the nation‟s infrastructure
in addition to selling and marketing the most popular foods and beverages for daily consumption.
It prides itself on this fact, claiming to make “Profit with Honor”.28 In addition to mere
developmental initiatives, San Miguel has marketed itself as the corporation that gives back to
the Filipino community through its philanthropic project entitled the San Miguel Foundation,
Inc. This project devotes resources to social development programs such as those geared towards
improving the system of education and small business entrepreneurship. Moreover, it has
demonstrated its interests in environmental initiatives, indicating to the public that it is an
environmentally-conscious corporation.
Moreover, while San Miguel has come to cross national borders in order to expand
opportunities for profit, which technically classifies it as a transnational corporation (TNC)
27
28
Rarick & Inge
Luz, Corporations, 299
13
carrying with it a negative stigma in Filipino society (as most TNCs are Western-based and nonFilipino), it clearly characterizes itself as a “Filipino” TNC with deep, domestic origins and
loyalties. It highlights this as key, especially as it funds developmental initiatives for the greater
Filipino community rather than exclusively directing its efforts to profit-generation for stakeholders. This has come to have a significant impact on its public image and has contributed to its
popularity in the mainstream media and on a national-level. However, much of the recent capital
San Miguel has accumulated has been through expanding its enterprise abroad, namely in
Australia. As far as gaining domestic dominance, it was able to do so through two specific
means, which will be the focus of the next sections: elitist standing and integration into the
network of capitalist families in Philippine society and establishing collaborative relationships
with the government, especially after the onset of privatization of state-owned enterprises.
The San Miguel Family: Elite Business Networks in the Philippine Economy
The Philippines has always had a strong elitist culture, especially with regard to business
and politics. Several scholars, including Walter Bello, author of Anti-Development State : The
Political Economy of Permanent Crisis in the Philippines, have criticized the pervasive nature of
this elite class in politics. These paternalistic figures represent both the most successful
businessmen and political leaders of the country. He blames the growing wealth disparities in the
region on this lucrative alliance between the government and the business network. He suggests
that the reason such inequalities are left unaddressed is because the very individuals who run the
country also own significant stakes in the industries they intend to regulate. In The Economy of
the Philippines: Elites, Inequalities and Economic Restructuring, scholar Krinks argues
Through the twentieth century, there was a large degree of continuity in the families at the peak
of the pyramid of accumulation. For example, out of twenty-eight families with members of the
Philippines Chamber of Commerce in 1903, at least fourteen are still among the most powerful
14
capitalists. As a result, the wealth gap continues to increase despite the backdrop of otherwise
positive economic growth in recent years.29
Thus, these scholars illustrate the environment in which San Miguel has been able to thrive. The
San Miguel Corporation, like many others in the Philippines, has been controlled over the years
by a group of very powerful, elite families. These families have formed alliances with each other
to bolster the competition. However, before continuing along this point, it is important to
highlight how Philippines came to be structured this way in the first place. It is a process that has
its roots in the country‟s colonial past.
For over 300 years, the Philippines was a colony of the Spanish crown. This is the reason
why Spanish culture has come to pervade the country‟s language, religion and familial traditions.
More importantly, when the Spaniards came over, they also brought with them their culture of
entitlement, hierarchy and racism, subjecting many of the “brown” folk to positions of servitude.
As a result, there had always been this dichotomy of the classes; either one is part of the class of
capitalist owners, who control the means of production, (the burgis (bourgeoisie) or mayayaman
(rich)) who curiously enough possess lighter skin and sharper noses or one is part of the class
that lacks such means and is forced to sell their labor power as members of a rural or urban
proletariat (the masa (masses)), the darker kind of Filipino.30 Through the imposition of
Catholicism, there also came to be a clear difference between those who dwelled in the village
and those who served in the church, who were considered to be higher in status.
Given this, the Spaniards mostly transferred land or property rights to individuals of the
elite class of light-skinned mestizos or members of the religious order. Hence, this system of
land ownership was the source of the transference of both economic and political power to
certain members of the Filipino citizenry, the privileged class. By the end of Spanish rule, there
29
30
Peter Krinks, The Economy of the Philippines, 50
Krinks, 4-5
15
was an entire class of these large landholders who also “monopolized public offices in the
provinces, from the mayoralty through to the police and judicial functions, so that extraeconomic means were available to bolster the power that they exercised through possession of
land.”31 This formed a very wealthy class that came to accumulate much of the land and capital
to reinforce their political positions. Others who did not posses land or lost it were forced to
move to more remote uplands. They eventually became bandits, dependent workers, or tenants.
This was the start of the gulf- “both economic and cultural”- between village folk and the townbased landlords and priests.32
The Spanish-American war resulted in American possession of the Philippines. It was a
US colony for some time and it was during this period that the Philippines truly came to form
their own political structure, which they copied from US models. After the American conquest of
the country, they wanted to vigorously encourage democracy and did so by holding elections in
1901 for local officials and six years later, in 1907, for a new legislature in Manila. This enabled
the elites of the country, those who already owned a great deal of the land and capital left over
from Spanish colonialism, to entrench themselves in positions of political power. Those who
were the most ambitious gradually came to form a national oligarchy, albeit with an agrarian
base, that was divided by rivalries between families.33 These families then proceeded to form
alliances via marriage and Catholic co-parenthood, forming an elite network of business
families.34 These relationships within families built up models of trust and mutual support and
gave the members a sense of belonging, unity (kapwa, in Tagalog), obligation and community.35
In fact, in Philippine society, an individual‟s sense of self-esteem and personal honor often has to
31
Krinks, 27
Krinks, 27
33
Krinks, 8
34
Krinks, 9
35
Krinks, 6
32
16
do with how they come to belong and fulfill obligations to their group, or in this case their
family, leading to a kind of “centrality of familism”.36
It is important to note that during this time period, even subsequent to Philippine
independence, there existed a lack of effective political and legal infrastructure, which resulted in
a lack of reliable legal protection of shareholders‟ and creditors‟ funds. So part of the motivation
behind the formation of such alliances between these capitalist families was the need to protect
family interests in light of a weak political state that could not be relied on. As a result, families
did not trust anyone who was not a member of the family with the handling of assets. This
formed an ownership structure that was based on a network of collaborative yet exclusive
capitalist families. As these capitalist families proceeded to expand their activities into new
sectors, a high degree of interlocking directorates, or cross-shareholdings formed. According to
Krinks, “This pattern of interlocks produced loose clusters of families, although these clusters
were not mutually exclusive unless political considerations entered.” As a result, a few very
important, well-known, dominant families ended up running the large conglomerate groups, such
as the Sorianos who run the San Miguel Corporation (who are related to the Ayalas, who ran the
food conglomerate PureFoods before SMC acquired it). More importantly, these loose family
clusters almost always included the loyalty of a bank, “which can give favored treatment to
affiliates despite regulations against excessive lending to related companies or individuals.”37
This implies that these loose clusters of families would also never have a problem finding the
capital for their enterprises. As cited in the Krinks‟ work, “Hutchcroft (1991) describes the
Philippines as a neo-patrimonial state. Quoting Weber, he says (pg. 415) that a patrimonial state
is one where „the political administration…is treated as a purely personal affair of the ruler, and
36
37
Krinks, 7
Krinks, 9
17
political power is considered part of his personal property‟.”38 In short, the political system in the
Philippines is one that is dependent on personal connections, favors, promises and privileges,
treating such phenomena as personal property to protect.
Such a political system is most evident if we consider how elites have attempted to avoid
class-based conflicts by promoting vertical ties of reciprocity in patron-client relationships.
These politically active local elite use ties of patronage “to strengthen their particular faction in
elections, so that clients voted for the patron‟s preferred candidate. Factions and alliances thus
seemed to submerge differences between classes.”39 These mutual ties and obligations are further
reinforced through “fictive kinship”, which is produced by co-parenthood (created by
sponsorship) in Roman Catholic traditions of baptism and marriage.40 As a result, these
processes link clients to the familial circles of patrons, producing their own sense of honor,
belonging and obligation, as they promise to politically support their patron. Such processes
exploit the primordial importance of the family in Philippine society and utilize obligation as a
means of control. Ironically enough, as Krinks discovers, “many studies have shown that they
(these vertical ties of reciprocity between clients and patrons) are all-pervasive and frequently
served to mask resentment and inequalities.”41
As for the San Miguel Corporation, it was, for a long time, “the main source of
accumulation by the Soriano family (relatives of the Ayala family), until Marcos crony Eduardo
Cojuangco gained control of the company (Koike 1983)”.42 However, in 1986 after the People‟s
Revolution, also known as the 1986 EDSA revolution, the Sorianos regained control and
expanded the company domestically and abroad. In 2000, SMC bought back Coca-Cola Bottlers
38
Krinks, 8
Krinks, 5
40
Krinks, 5
41
Krinks, 5
42
Krinks, 175
39
18
and also bought Pure Foods (from the Ayalas) and the Australian brewer J. Boag.43 Thus, SMC
is a fascinating example of how a domestic corporation has been able to take advantage of the
global trend of economic liberalization to expand, grow and generate capital for the country as its
enterprises alone account for 4% of the annual GDP.44 However, according to a business study
conducted at Barry University on the San Miguel Corporation, the company “has not been free of
controversy, and there have been questions of conflict of interest, and integrity issues.”45
Evidently, the government owns significant stakes in the company “due to seizure of assets
deemed taken from the people of the Philippines during the Marcos era.”46 More importantly, the
company has been accused before of using unethical practices against its competitors. In an
essay written by scholar Rogers, “Philippine Politics and the Rule of Law”, he argues that there
is an elite that seems to be exempt from the rule of law.47 He argues that “Economic reform
without political reform leaves antireform elites with enough influence and strength to impede
the success of economic liberalization. Reform opponents then blame the resulting unequal
benefit distribution on reform policies, rather than on the forces constraining these policies.”48
As Rogers argues, these elite members not only impede the distribution of wealth that has been
gained through economic liberalization, they have been able to politically maneuver their way
out of accountability, which leads us to our next section.
Friends with the Government: Privatization of SOEs and the San Miguel
Utility Projects
43
Krinks, 175
SMC Website, Last Accessed 4/12/10 8:00pm
45
Rarick & Inge
46
Rarick & Inge
47
Rogers, Philippine Politics and the Rule of Law, 119
48
Rogers, 124
44
19
Easily accessed on San Miguel‟s website, the following describes San Miguel‟s recent
pervasion into public works:
San Miguel has been pursuing ventures outside its established foods and drinks businesses to
fuel future growth. In a bid to diversify its portfolio into high-margin industries, the company
recently invested in Manila Electric Co (Meralco), the largest power distributor in the
Philippines. It has an option to become the owner of 50.1 percent of the country‟s largest oil
refiner, Petron, by buying a stake in another business from the UK‟s Ashmore Group. And it has
acquired 32.7 percent of Liberty Telecommunications Holdings. On top of that, it has submitted
a proposal for the government‟s Laiban Dam project and is in a non-binding agreement to buy a
stake in Private Infrastructure Development Corp, which controls a major toll expressway
project. The company has also won the state auctions of one coal-fired, one diesel-fired and one
hydroelectric power plant, its first power generation assets.49
Additionally, in a recent Manila Times Article released in January of this year, it reported that
the National Economic and Development Authority (NEDA) Board approved the contract of a
consortium led by SMC and Consunji group for the construction of the Tarlac-Pangasinan-La
Union Expressway (TPLEx). The project is supposed to have 8 interchanges, 9 toll plazas, 2
operating buildings, 20 bridges, 2 viaducts, 26 overpasses and 3 farm crossings. It is a project
that will cost about 15 billion pesos, 3.7 billion of which the government would provide. In
addition to this, SMC has publicly stated plans to increase its stake in the Private Infrastructure
Development Corp. (PIDC) to 51%. However, SMC does not stop there as it is also eyeing to
operate the Subic-Clark-Tarlac Expressway (SCTEx), which the government plans to privatize
soon. All of these recent projects and developments have been a product of this long established
relationship between the capitalist owners of these huge conglomerates and the government.
Privatization has come to be another means by which these conglomerates have achieved such
economic power in the Philippine economy.
The privatization of public enterprises was a trend that occurred subsequent to the demise
of the Marcos regime. During the 1970s in the Marcos era, the Philippines employed import49
SMC Website, Last Accessed 4/12/10 8:00pm
20
substitution economic policies. President Marcos was aware of the powerful elite and their
attempts to gain wealth abroad and attempted to assert state power over them. However, instead
of directly battling the elite, he decided it was easier to nominate to office those members who
were willing to collaborate with his dictatorship. He wanted strong, centralized, state-led control
over the economy, such as state-owned monopolies over commodities, protectionism and
increased tariffs and import restriction, which led to detrimental effects on efficiency. Such
effects induced economic decline, which was one of the key reasons for the shrinking economy
in the 1980s.50 After Marcos fell however, there was move towards decentralization, devolution,
and deregulation, perpetuating the rising culture of neo-liberalism, or economic rationalism,
which had spread to the region from more developed nations such as the US. This led to major
structural reforms conducted by the state to make the Philippines more trade-friendly. These
reforms included, the abolition of the monopolies set up by Marcos over commodities, measures
to break down cartels (especially in the telecommunications industry), the sale of state-owned
corporations, the reconstruction of the central bank and reductions in import restrictions and
tariffs. These state-owned enterprises included energy, power, oil and mining industries, many of
which have come under the influence, via purchases of huge stakes (50% and up), by San
Miguel.
According to company chairman, Eduardo Cojuangco, San Miguel Corporation wants “to
be in industries that have scale and will grow” and claims they are “determined to build
leadership positions in key areas where important trends are driving future growth, not just for
San Miguel but for the Philippines too”. This decision to move into traditional public works is
certainly innovative but much evidence points to the fact that the decision does not necessarily
root from a pure interest to engage in developmental initiatives for the Philippines but rather to
50
Krinks, 1-10
21
diversify its portfolio for greater profits. After all, according to the study conducted by the Barry
University, beer sales at the domestic level are not expected to increase much and so the decision
to spin-off is deeply rooted in the company‟s interest in investing in “more growth-oriented
industries”.51 According to the study, “the spin off of the beer business (the historical core of the
company) will provide capital to invest in new businesses, including the purchase of public
electricity generating assets which are being considered for sale by the government of the
Philippines.”52 The main dilemma that the study at Barry University intended to answer was
whether this form of diversification was a wise, strategic move or not. Moreover, the intent of
the study was to determine whether, in general, privatization of electrical services, or any public
service for that matter, is good for the Philippines. On the one hand, the company can indeed
capitalize on privatization while providing needed power generating facilities in the Philippines,
as the supply in that industry is often undependable. Such rate increases and efficiency moves
have the potential to improve the financial performance of public utility works, ultimately
contributing to quality initiatives that benefit the public. On the other hand, not only is such a
radical change in corporate strategy risky but it poses a challenge to the greater ethical issue that
a company with a questionable past and elitist origins (who tend to live above the law and
politically maneuver their way to impunity) should not be in charge of providing basic public
services.53
Moreover, according to a study by the Philippine Institute of Developmental Studies on
the impact of market reforms, the Philippines has an infamous lack of a culture of competition
that is “characterized by a weak and underdeveloped competition framework.”54 This is not
51
Rarick & Inge
Rarick & Inge
53
Rarick & Inge
54
Impact of Market Reforms, 1
52
22
necessarily because there has never been an attempted regulation of this lack of competition by
the government. Interestingly enough, the country does indeed have antitrust laws forbidding
monopolies and cartels. However, as history shows, this legal system neither prevents nor fights
against illegal activities or violations of the laws. The enforcement mechanism of this sector in
the Philippines is purposefully weak. Evidence of this is established by the curious lack of
litigated cases in Philippine courts against monopolies and cartels though the level of
monopolistic activity is clearly very high in the Philippines55 In fact, domestic firms, like San
Miguel, have become very familiar with such laws on government-sanctioned monopolies and
cartels as well as policies on price controls and government protection. Addressing and
maneuvering through such laws has become part of how business is carried out in the
Philippines. According to the study, these domestic firms, instead of competing with imports and
focusing on efficiency improvements, attempt instead to evade the challenges of market
competition. They do so by orchestrating collusions and intensifying lobbying activities among
their political allies for government protection.”56 This system has come to favor business elites,
revealing serious implications regarding the impact of large firms in the Philippine market as
they undermine competition and have a great deal of influence over prices. Normally, this would
provide the impetus for state intervention, however, as this study suggests, such intervention has
been inadequate to say the least. In fact, it is more than just inadequate, the political leverage
such business elites possess actually makes this system one in which they can guarantee control
and dominance.
55
56
Impact of Market Reforms, 1
Impact of Marrket Reforms, 1
23
Summary
Part One concludes with two very important points regarding San Miguel‟s rise to power
and dominance in the Philippine economy. One, that the San Miguel Corporation is a product of
the long-established network of elite business families, a social stratum which has its origins in
both colonial periods, when the transference of economic and political power was bestowed upon
a certain privileged class, first by the Spaniards and later by the US. This class consisted and still
consists of influential families, who formed alliances with one another in order to protect their
financial interests from a state that could not provide adequate protection. This contributed to the
elitist culture that continues to widen the wealth gap, causing disparities in development despite
recent economic growth through liberalization and privatization. Secondly, these familial
alliances also possess friends in the government, allowing for these huge conglomerates to gain a
great deal of access to the recently privatized public enterprises. As a result, SMC has been able
to buy influential stakes in huge enterprises aimed at providing basic public services to
Philippine society, such as projects in energy, electricity, power, oil, infrastructure and
expressways. While SMC claims it is doing so for the public interest, studies suggest that its
motivations are growth-oriented, investing in diverse industries for profit opportunities.
Additionally, such behavior, while it undermines competition and is monopolistic by nature, is
not punished by the government. Research indicates that elites have been able to maneuver the
law and establish the political ties they need to protect their activities. As a result, San Miguel
was able to attain dominance through its economic initiatives, namely expansion across borders,
monopolistic acquisitions of related industries and eased entrance into the market of public
works due to ties with the government. However, the story of San Miguel goes much further than
that.
24
Part Two: San Miguel Imagined: Shaping Modernity, High Culture and
Nationalism in Philippine Society
“What one consumes is a matter of national identity, or modernity, or decency.”57-Steve Kemper
“This rupture with modernity spells the dissolution of the wall between culture and economy; not
only are economic and cultural spheres interdependent or reciprocally tied together, there is a
subtle elision between them such that cultural forms (from films to television, performances,
literary discourses of all kinds, pedagogy, conversations, political organizations, etc.) have
become commodities, and commodities in turn have become symbols or signs…”58-E San Juan
Jr.
In Part Two, I intend to argue that the values, attitudes and lifestyles of the Filipino
people are being actively shaped by the pervasive nature of this corporation in everyday life and
the media. The people are affected by its presence in almost all aspects of modern life, including
fashion, popular culture, sports, political events, the arts, community outreach and national
developmental initiatives. The San Miguel Corporation is becoming a symbol and trademark of
the Filipino modern life and popular identity, shaping public perceptions of modernity and high
culture, producing access to nationalism through consumerism. Moreover, as the Philippines is
allowing for monopolistic, pervasive conglomerates to take hold and gain widespread cultural
influence in their society, they are transforming themselves into a society that obtains culture
through what they consume. Not only is San Miguel able to shape identity, it also reflects back
on the Filipino people perceptions they have of their own identity. This can be seen through the
campaigning on developmental initiatives and the establishment of the San Miguel Foundation,
Inc. Thus, the San Miguel Corporation, through its effective branding, marketing and
campaigning initiatives, has shaped what it means to be a modern Filipino, manufacturing a
ready-made identity, which is half modern consumer and half responsible Filipino citizen.
57
58
Steve Kemper, Buying and Believing, 1
E. San Juan Jr., English in Cartography of Globalization, 97
25
Western Influences: Language and Standards of Beauty
It was in the Philippines where the U.S. first devised and perfected its neo-colonial methods of
military counter-insurgency and „civic action‟ pacification; of cultural desublimation and
cooptation; and of economic domination by diplomatic and political machinations. 59-E San Juan
“The conventional wisdom is that the source of cultural production is the West, and it is true that
entertainment is the United States‟s second largest export…As commentators have said in a
variety of ways, the West is everywhere. 60-Steve Kemper
The analysis of the ads in this section will reveal the origins of Western influence in
Filipino modern culture. This is significant in that Filipinos model their polity and society after
U.S. structures. To mention a brief history, subsequent to the Spanish-American war, the U.S.
took possession of the Philippines as a colony unit and as the first quote above suggests,
transferred its system of economic and political structures to the region. Moreover, as Part One
explains, the U.S. prioritized and legitimized a particular class, the socioeconomic elite of the
Christian majority. As a result, economic and political dominance was awarded to them and as
they were backed by U.S. polity models and armed support, the greater population was incapable
of challenging the Christian Filipino symbolic “establishment”.61 Such U.S. polity models and
neo-liberal economic ideals became the bedrock upon which Filipinos, even after gaining
independence, founded their own common national culture and identity. This is supported by
cultural anthropologists who argue that
…elements of colonial culture played an important role in the construction of the new national
culture. This included not only the bureaucratic apparatus of governmental administration
inherited from the colonial past and the new ways of doing business or educating the young
introduced during the colonial period but also the language in which all these activities would
be carried out.62
59
San Juan, E. Crisis in the Philippines: The Making of Revolution, 19
Kemper, 9
61
Federico V. Magdalena, Intergroup Conflict in the Southern Philippines: An Empirical Analysis, 299
62
Lavenda & Schultz, 28
60
26
As a result, popular culture as well as national identity in the Philippines is highly influenced by
such Western models and standards. In fact, Western culture came to be the meaning of high
culture and Western standards act as the yardstick for modernity, uprightness, decency, and even
beauty. In fact, the media constantly perpetuates Western standards of beauty and notions of
what is “sexy” and “cool”. According to Kemper,
To locate its origins in space as well as time, advertising began as a Western practice, and more
narrowly an American one. In its origins it had no connection to colonialism or Western
domination. But wherever advertising has spread- and in the early twenty-first century, few
places on the planet lie beyond its reach- it has carried with it values, assumptions, and
economic interests that are also Western.63
Perhaps the most obvious area of influence the US has had on Filipino culture is the
language. There is a clear pervasion of the English language in everyday life and education. As
scholar E. San Juan Jr. argues in his article entitled “English in the Cartography of
Globalization”, in the Philippines there is a “cultural empire of English-speaking peoples”.64
According to San Juan Jr., “English remains the language of opportunity and aspiration.”65 It
spread rapidly in the Philippines because it was the new language of government, the school
system and of general preferment. It is considered civilized to know English and most higher
education systems for skilled work such as lawyering, nursing and medicine are conducted in
English. Hence, the incentives to learn English are very strong as they entail such things as
getting a high-paid job, community respect and leadership as well as “recruitment into the civil
service, opportunities to study in-and migrate to- the US; and the use of English for business
beyond the islands.”66 If Spanish colonialism can be thought of a Westernizing force on the
Philippines through the spread of Catholicism, then U.S. colonialism superimposes this
63
Kemper, 19
San Juan Jr., 99
65
San Juan Jr., 104
66
San Juan Jr., 103
64
27
Westernization, tapping into the school and political systems paving the way for other
Westernizing agencies.67 According to cultural anthropologists, this is a typical occurrence in
new nation-states that were formerly colonized.68 Such nation-states choose “the language of
their former colonizer as the new national language of government, business, and education.” 69
They argue that it was efficient, allowed continuity in changing circumstances and it also did not
permit the state to favor any particular indigenous language group over others.70
San Juan Jr. further argues that the native languages have been neglected and have
suffered from underdevelopment. As a result, he agues that the pervasion of English has
“retarded the intellectual life of the people” and “has made the Filipino mind most receptive to
the more banal aspects of American culture as transmitted through films, TV and popular reading
matter. Such „cultural‟ fare in turn transmits those consumer tastes and attitudes that U.S.
corporations find it most profitable to implant. 71 However, while San Juan Jr. emphasizes how
U.S. corporations profit from this transmission of consumer tastes and attitudes, I emphasize that
domestic conglomerates, such as the San Miguel Corporation, often employ the same strategies,
localizing taste and forging common identity. Figure 1 shown below is an example of one such
San Miguel ad that features such use of English. In order for a consumer to even understand the
ad for instance, they must know how to speak English. More than that, they also must know the
cultural meanings of “hotness” and “sexy”. The fact that Filipinos use these American words to
communicate their „coolness‟ so to speak says a lot about how they model their own pop culture
after American norms.
67
San Juan Jr., 103
Lavenda & Schultz, 29
69
Lavenda & Schultz, 29
70
Although, ironically for the Philippines, the imposed language on all other indigenous languages is Tagalog.
71
San Juan Jr., 103
68
28
Figure 1 A print advertisement for the promotion of San Mig Coffee demonstrating the pervasion
of the English language in the mainstream media. It also hints at Western standards of beauty.
Aside from social and political values, Western standards also dictate what is considered
beautiful in the mainstream. For example, Figure 1‟s catchphrase is “Be the #1 in hotness” and
features two such individuals who model such “hotness”. Looking at their physical make-up, it is
evident that Western features such as lighter skin, sharper and more distinct noses, bigger eyes,
etc, are considered the yardstick of beauty. The closer one exhibits such features, the more
beautiful they are considered. Individuals with such features are often the ones that appear in ads
and commercials. It is rare to see a San Miguel commercial with a darker-skinned protagonist. In
the greater region of Southeast Asia, even Thailand, Vietnam and Malaysia, there is the
phenomenon of the pan-Asian. They are considered the “yardstick of beauty,”72 because they
lack a definite ethnic look. In fact, models that look solely Caucasian have an even greater
advantage than those who merely exhibit Caucasian features. According to the pan-Asian head
72
Kemper, 55
29
of a casting agency in Malaysia, these pan-Asian men and women are valued for their ability to
represent both native Malaysians and European beauty because their “partially European origins
give them stronger noses and sharper jaw lines than most Southeast Asians.”73 Evidently,
Malaysians find these strong features attractive because the images and people that are featured
on television and in the movies (Sylvester Stalone, Tom Cruise, Cindy Crawford) from the
entertainment industry imported from the U.S. have such features. As a result, these pan-Asian
stars definitely represent the Malaysian people but look like American stars. Businesses hence
exploit their association with Western standards of physical beauty.74 The San Miguel
Corporation applies all of the aforementioned Western influences in their ads and commercials,
advancing the interests of a particular class and race. Consider the portrayals of beauty in the
following ads:
Figure 2 A series of San Miguel print advertisements demonstrating Western standards of
beauty, characterized by lighter skin, bigger eyes, stronger noses and more defined jaw lines.
Certain models exhibit the characteristics of the „Pan Asian‟, lacking a definite ethnic look.
Figure 2 clearly perpetuates such Western standards of beauty, especially as the women are more
light-skinned, have bigger eyes, sharper noses and jaw lines than most Filipinos. They also look
very American in general yet are meant to represent the Filipino population, supporting the
73
74
Kemper, 55
Kemper, 55
30
notion of the desirability of the “Pan-Asian” look. Additionally, the women are wearing very
revealing tops, showing a lot of skin, which indicates the very distinct theme of sexuality that is
very prevalent in the US media, which seems transposed here into the Philippine mainstream,
perpetuating ideas of what is “hot” and “sexy”.
Perhaps the most notorious examples of such Western standards of beauty and lifestyle
are promoted in the San Mig Coffee commercials. Every so often, San Miguel launches the
promotion of a new product. In the month of July, that product was the new line of San Mig
Coffee, which spawned the release of a series of commercials that intended to promote the new
line as a commodity that is both delicious and healthy. This new line has four variants: Probeauty, Pro-Fiber, Pro-Power and Pro-slim. They promote the coffee as “the perfect coffee”
because it is pro-health and challenges the consumer to “drink to perfection”. In one particular
commercial75, San Miguel sells its new Pro-Health coffee and it features a series of models
consuming the product and then proceeding to engage in a series of healthy activities such as
exercising, going to the spa, doing yoga, etc. Aside from the health club music and dazzling
images, the most important thing to note about this commercial is the kind of people that model
in it. They appear to be completely Western. The women in the commercial are light-skinned and
blonde and the men featured are tall, white and athletic. While the main crux of the San Mig
Coffee promotions is to market a product that will make Filipinos both healthy and beautiful, it
continuously utilizes images of the Western man and woman as the mascots of such beauty and
health. Not to mention, this commercial is also entirely in English. This tells Filipinos to
associate beauty, health and popular communication with being light-skinned, westernized and
knowing English.
75
http://www.sanmiguel.com.ph/Articles.aspx?MID=1&ID=5&a_id=791, Last Accessed, 4/12/10 4:55pm
31
Class & Racial Cleavages: San Miguel Reflections
What is powerful and frightening about this transformative process is that advertising- at least in
its exemplary forms- works by indirection and metaphorical association. Rather than focusing on
the commodity itself, it puts the commodity in contexts marked by signs of class, gender, nation
and personhood. The commodity is more accessible; the context more engaging. In that
interaction, the commodity acquires meanings otherwise unearned.76-Steve Kemper
The quote above comments on the idea that commodities can acquire meanings as they
are placed in contexts of class, gender, nation and personhood. To return to Kemper‟s theory on
advertising, he argues that it mediates certain social forms and relationships, such as the nation
and what lies beyond the nation, culture and commerce, producers and consumers, rural and
urban, and citizens and government.77 Because advertising produces culture, rather than just
profits, it links these social forms and reimagines the relationships between them.78 Moreover,
advertising tends to be all-inclusive, catering to any and all who expresses interest in the product.
Advertising executives would not necessarily pin this as a bad thing. In fact, as Kemper points
out, such executives insist that advertising has social benefits because it empowers people to
practice choice and consume. They would argue that the consumer is sovereign and thus
“informs and plays a role in fostering rational choice on the part of individuals…”79 This results
in an increase in sales, which would reduce the cost of products. In developing economies where
there is a large population of people mired in poverty, advertising allegedly creates economic
development by turning peasants and farmers into consumers and citizens.80 Therefore, San
Miguel commodities and advertisements perpetuate class and racial divides in Filipino society
while being inclusive to all Filipinos including people of the lower class in order to compel them
to consume the lifestyle of the rich and „modern‟.
76
Kemper, 21
Kemper, 21
78
Kemper, 21
79
Kemper, 23
80
Kemper, 23
77
32
The recent TV commercial entitled “San Miguel Reflections” illustrates this with
precision. 81 In this commercial, which is very aesthetically-pleasing and flashy, San Miguel
markets its very versatile line of beers to cater to any occasion, any night and any group of
people. Each kind of beer corresponds with a particular style of gathering, such as a night out
with friends, as a couple, at a rock concert, doing business, out at the rice fields, etc. However,
while it seems to cater to all tastes, it is evident that it normalizes certain lifestyles and values,
namely those of the upper class. Most of the people in the commercial are portrayed as living a
very luxurious lifestyle- a life of glamour in an urban environment. This touches on the
association of modernity with urbanization. Moreover, the way the people interact with one
another, what they are wearing and even the way they look spur the public imagination of what it
means to be modern and civilized in Filipino society. It sells an extravagant lifestyle to the
masses, delivering modernity to the people through the consumption of these products. This can
be seen particularly with the bit in which it shows San Miguel beer being enjoyed by two farmers
in the rice fields. This communicates to Filipinos that even the farmers are drinking the product.
San Miguel clearly markets itself as having products which bring the fruits, comforts and joys of
modernity to the ordinary citizen.
As compared with the lifestyles portrayed in the commercial, the life of most Filipinos is
not quite as extravagant. The numbers of those living in poverty have doubled and the wealth
gap itself is increasing.82 In fact, it has been described as “a peculiar aspect” of the Philippine
economy and development that poverty reduction has been the slowest in East Asia and
economic inequality has been persistently high even after increases in GDP and wealth.83 The
distribution of wealth in the Philippines has been consistently unequal. To remedy this, economic
81
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_1veIaBVX4I, Last Accessed, 4/12/10 5:14pm
Krinks, 220
83
Arsenio Baliscan and Hal Hill, The Philippine Economy: Development, Policies and Challenges, 311
82
33
analysts have emphasized that the government ought to prioritize providing good-quality, equityoriented public goods such as education, health services and rural infrastructure. They also point
out that the privileged commercial position of the highly concentrated family conglomerates (the
so-called “oligarchs”, such as the San Miguel family) ought to be subjected to greater
competitive pressure. They point out that one of the more intriguing issues of the Philippine
political economy is how this concentrated commercial power translates into political power.84
However, as Kemper points out, advertising executives will highlight the positive social benefits
of advertising as they turn peasants into consumers, which increases sales and lowers price.
Turning these lower class individuals into consumers also entails awarding them a sense of
citizenship to the world of commodities, which has localized itself to be reimagined as the
Filipino modern world. As a result, San Miguel effectively sells the life of the bourgeois to the
masses as it transforms itself into a symbol of national identity.
Branding in Everyday Life
Perhaps another area in which San Miguel maintains a pervasive influence is through the
constant appearance of its name and logo in all aspects of everyday life. With regard to the
cultural influence and symbolic power of branding, we must turn to scholars Celia Lury and
James Twitchell. Celia Lury, in her book entitled Brands, argues that the brand is a “market
cultural form” that “mediates the supply and demand of products through organization, coordination and integration of the use of information.”85 This use of information is what allows
corporations like San Miguel to manipulate the public imagination. She argues that the brand is
an interface that organizes the exchange of information between producers and consumers,
84
85
Baliscan and Hill, 33
Celia Lury, Brands, 4
34
affecting how they relate to one another.86 Moreover, she alleges that branding involves both
exclusion and inclusion, as it produces both sameness or identity but also “difference, sensation
and intensivity”, making it a market cultural form that is both abstract and concrete.87 Its
symbolic power to create common identity coupled with its incompleteness and openness allows
a variety of consumers to relate to the product or symbol of the product in a plethora of ways,
accommodating multiple perspectives and identities. Lury would argue that this dual function of
the „virtual‟ and the „actual‟ is what makes brands so effective. San Miguel Corporation
maintains such openness in its choice of words and catchphrases in ads. Observe the following
examples of San Miguel branding:
(Ito Ang Beer- This is Beer)
86
87
Lury, 7
Lury, 10
35
36
Figure 3 A series of images that features San Miguel branding and the appearance of the San
Miguel name in aspects of everyday life such as on grocery items (beer, coffee and the corned
beef can), in the sale of real estate, as sports teams (note: Ginebra is also owned by San Miguel),
in backyard gathering, in the production of raw goods and in community development
initiatives88.
88
Image 1: sanmiguelbeer.com/ph, Image 2: sanmiguel.com/ph, Image 3: Filipino-store.com, Image 4:
business.nfo.ph, Image 5:filsg.com, Image 6: store.pba.ph, Image 7: sanmiguelpurefoods.com, Image 8:
greatfoodsolutions.com, Image 9: 4.bp.blogspot.com/.../s400/San-Miguel-beer.jpg, Image 10: sanmiguel.com.ph
37
The images in Figure 3 portray how San Miguel has made itself a name that cannot be escaped in
Philippine society. Moreover, it locates itself in versatile settings, even though its main market is
for food and beverages. For example, there is the portrayal of Filipino soldiers drinking San
Miguel and a San Miguel community clinic. These are symbols that communicate to the people
of the Philippines that anything they could possibly need, want and desire for themselves and for
their nation can come from San Miguel.
James Twitchell also touches upon this issue in his book entitled Branded Nation.
Twitchell defines branding as the commercial process of story-telling and the meaning-making
motor of consumerism.89 Moreover, he suggests that branding could be a means to transmit high
culture. He argues that “the most successful recent branding exercise has to do with how high
culture is currently being created and shared.”90 He alleges that branding concentrates consumer
desires toward manufactured items, functioning in a marketplace of cultural values of beliefs.91
He relates the search for community to the concept of cool and how producers exploit such
concepts to create a sense of unity based on shared use. He argues that achieving cool means the
“certification of membership in a branded community”.92 Twitchell wittingly articulates this
relationship in the following hypothetical scenario:
Mr. and Ms. Product and their kin are not from Utopia but from Adopia, a parallel universe, a
kind of commercialized version of Romantic nature, inhabitants of Brandville. We all know many
of them, often better than we know some of our own family. And we know them because of (1)
storytelling necessity of separating fungible products, (2) the predictable humanizing of the
manufactured world to generate those stories, and (3) our learned and practiced willingness to
move back and forth between the real world and Adopia, suspending judgment in the hope of
building some kind of magical relationship that will generate meaning for what is really just
beer, chocolates, sugar water or a meat patty.93
89
James Twitchell, Branded Nation, 2-3
Twitchell, 3
91
Twitchell, 3
92
Twitchell, 23
93
Twitchell, 25
90
38
I want to emphasize his mention of a kind of “magical relationship” that generates meaning for
consumers regarding ideas over common identity, modernity and high culture. This is in many
ways what is occurring with the San Miguel ads as they pervade all functions of life in the
Philippines. As San Miguel is monopolizing certain industries, its name and brand is found on all
commodities of that industry. As it has expanded to public works, Manila Times articles are
exposing the San Miguel name behind some of the nation‟s biggest developmental projects like
the construction of expressways, mobile networks and energy projects. As a result, it appears that
everyday Filipinos are living in a world that is provided by San Miguel as they sip their drinks,
eat their food, go to events, watch television, package their goods, purchase properties, drive
down expressways, use their electricity, go online and look for jobs.
If brands possess symbolic power, San Miguel utilizes this process to advance its cultural
influence by putting its name purposefully on the food brands it has acquired, such as Filipino
favorites like Purefoods, which appear in general stores and supermarkets. The name San Miguel
is thus a constant presence even on regular grocery store goods, finding its way into kitchens
nationwide. The effect is psychological as people constantly see the name San Miguel on their
most beloved items to consume. A trust is established then between the people and the label and
the brand San Miguel comes to symbolize happiness and joy, which is what people feel and they
eat their favorite foods and drink their favorite beverages. Especially if we are to consider the
fact that San Miguel‟s very motto is “Making life a celebration”, it is clear that San Miguel
considers itself the brand that brings greater joy to an otherwise difficult life in the Third World.
Such marketing tactics are comparable with that of Coca-Cola, one of the most successful
marketing corporations in the world.
39
San Miguel on Corporate Social Responsibility and Governance
Ideas on corporate governance and corporate social responsibility have become a
growing trend for modern corporations. According to Lodge & Wilson in their book entitled
Corporate Solution to Global Poverty, there has been a decline in the legitimacy due to large
scale abuses in corporate governance. While in the past corporations derived their legitimacy
from maximizing profits and shareholder value and satisfying consumer desires, now they are
being expected to address community needs. Such a role was normally assumed by the
governmental bodies. However, now that poverty reduction is a part of the agenda, many
governments are ill-equipped to make an impact on such an issue. Not to mention, many
governments would be reluctant to pressure corporations to address such concerns. As a result,
there is a growing trend that the social responsibility should be embedded in the corporate
structure and agenda. Moreover, in order for corporate managers to regain their legitimacy, they
must respond to the demands increasingly being made on their firms to “do more to alleviate the
poverty that plagues most of the world.”94
With regard to the San Miguel case, it is through this medium that we see how San
Miguel has reflected the growing concerns of Filipinos themselves regarding the nature of
corporations, namely transnational corporations, which have been identified as imposing neoliberal conditions on the country inducing unfavorable growth in wealth disparities. In 1986, the
EDSA revolution, also known as the People Power revolution, indicated the onset of negative
feelings towards the establishment, which included members of the elite in positions of both
economic and political power. A single school of thought on community relations originated in
the San Miguel Corporation Agribusiness Division after the outset of the revolution and the
94
Lodge & Wilson, Corporate Solution to Global Poverty, 2
40
return of the Sorianos to the corporation.95 It was then that San Miguel began putting together a
firm-wide corporate social responsibility policy, which would later be translated in a five-year
community relations program.96 Launching this program was San Miguel‟s attempt to publicly
proclaim that they recognized their role in the social and economic development of the country.
They adopted a new corporate philosophy, „Profit with Honor‟, which they attempted to integrate
into the culture of the firm, affecting its operation as a business corporation, employer, user of
stockholder and financial funds and corporate citizen.97 This included improving worker
conditions and providing employment enhancement/livelihood opportunities for worker
dependents. There was a big emphasis put on community education and the formation of values
within these communities.98 Hence, in addition to already having popularity in the mainstream
media, San Miguel also portrays itself as the corporation that gives back, the corporation that can
do no wrong, which it makes a point to campaign.
While this may all seem like good news, there is much to be said about novel ideas
regarding social responsibility that evolve from an entity with this degree of cultural hegemony.
In a way, by evolving a single school of thought on this issue as far back as 1986 when notions
of freedom from the Marcos era were fresh, San Miguel was able to be the first on the scene in
addressing these issues, essentially controlling the discourse on the matter. Moreover, as it was
discovered in Part One, their monopolistic and anti-competitive practices suggest that at the heart
of their actions is the profit-generating motive. Furthermore, the funding poured into public
works seems to emanate more from a desire to diversify their portfolio rather than from notions
of social responsibility. In fact, as this section will prove, addressing these issues of corporate
95
Luz, 299
Luz, 299
97
Luz, 299
98
Luz, 299
96
41
governance and social responsibility, while they are reflective of growing Filipino consciousness
about the environment, economic development and the promotion of education, may just be
another means of control and cultural dominance. David Henderson in his book entitled
Misguided Virtue, False Notions of CSR heavily criticizes supporters of corporate social
responsibility and argues that the progressive widening of competition and economic freedom,
which would allow businesses to function better and create opportunities, ultimately working
towards poverty reduction is not a part of their thinking. He argues that they instead advocate for
a radical program of change based on environmental norms, „social justice‟, and bringing in
stakeholders.99 As a result, the preoccupation is with making businesses more popular and more
respected through making a genuine commitment to corporate social responsibility. However,
what is not considered is how such a response may affect competition and economic freedom.
Henderson states, “It may indeed be true, or eventually become true, that a general adoption of
CSR would promote the objective of making MNEs better liked and appreciated, and thus help to
keep them alive and profitable in an unfriendly world. But this would come at the cost of
accepting false beliefs, yielding to unjustified attacks, and impairing the functioning of the
market economy.”100
Hence, the San Miguel Corporation utilizes its campaigns on corporate social
responsibility to be more respected and popular, especially among the proletariat who are most
concerned with issues of development, the environment, literacy and education programs, quality
working conditions and support for small entrepreneurship. It comforts the lower class Filipino
that San Miguel the giant is taking care of him or her. However, as Henderson warns, such
policies and promotions of values around this issue of corporate social responsibility do not
99
David Henderson, Misguided Virtue, 141
Henderson, 142
100
42
actually take into account the effects it may have on economic freedom and competition. Having
codes of corporate social conduct does not necessarily undo the negative effects of monopolistic
or anti-competitive business practices, though it may be enough to appease potential criticisms of
NGOs, the public or academics. However, the more interesting thing to analyze is that what San
Miguel is doing with these campaigns is more than just portraying themselves as the do-good
corporation, but they are also selling ideas of national morality to complement their cultural
dominance over national modern identity. Now, not only is it nationalistic, classy, „cool‟ and
modern to consume San Miguel products but through supporting the San Miguel business, it also
means that you care about your fellow Filipinos, as San Miguel is very active in funding
developmental initiatives for the country. As a result, San Miguel masks the maintenance of its
monopolistic activities through campaigning developmental initiatives and promoting positive
ideals regarding national morality and decency. After all, San Miguel helps bring books to
schools, helps restore rivers and clean up the environment, assists small businesses in launching
themselves and restores hope in the country and the people.
Symbolic Power: The San Miguel Foundation, Inc.
We believe social responsibility and corporate citizenship are integral parts of our business. We
are committed to improving lives of people in the communities in which we live and work.
–San Miguel Website101
101
SMC Website, Last Accessed 4/15/10 6:17pm
43
Figure 4 Images associated with the San Miguel Foundation, Inc. highlighting its educational
initiatives such as the national book drive.102
The San Miguel Foundation, Inc. has a very powerful, symbolic meaning for the Filipino
people. The campaign itself produces ideas about what it means to help and give back to the
Filipino community. On the San Miguel Website, it states its vision as the following: “To take
the lead in realizing San Miguel Corporation‟s commitment to social development in the
Company‟s effort to contribute towards the improvement of life in the communities in which it
operates and the public it serves.” It does so in the following ways:
Promote education to youth from low income families through scholarships, literacy classes and
support programs like supplemental feeding, book donations, etc. Strengthen communities
through capability building activities and the provision of basic social services; Support local
enterprises that bring livelihood opportunities to community groups, dependents, San Miguel
retirees and other stakeholders; Provide assistance to disaster-stricken communities through
relief and rehabilitation programs; and protect, preserve and regenerate the environment.103
It is important to note that, when thinking about these initiatives, whether or not they are
actually successful has little to no significance. What is more significant is the symbolic power
of the campaigns. With regard to this phenomenon, we must turn to the social semiotic analysis
of McDonald‟s advertisements, especially focusing on how it promotes its environmental
programs. It was discovered that while many people have negative or ambivalent associations
with McDonald‟s, “the corporation, through charitable activities and gaudy, enthusiastic, loud,
family-focused ads, simulates happiness, togetherness and „giving Mom a break‟.”104 This
represents a systematic attempt “to replace or displace attention from the potentially ambivalent
or negative significance of a McDonald‟s trip.”105 By marketing the “positive experience of
going to McDonald‟s, such as „happy‟ meals, clowns, playgrounds, golden arches-reminiscent of
102
All images taken from SMC website
SMC website, last accessed, 4/12/10 6:20pm
104
Denzin & Lincoln, 471
105
Denzin & Lincoln, 472
103
44
rainbows and heaven,” the symbolization defers focus from possible negative implications of the
visit.106 More importantly, “environmentally friendly” pamphlets written in 1990 were meant to
indicate recycling initiatives were underway, which “function ritually” to demonstrate that the
organization is addressing concerns for health and the environment.107
The San Miguel Foundation, Inc, functions in a very similar way. It addresses the main
concerns of the Filipino people, including poverty, environmental degradation, illiteracy, poor
working conditions, lack of small entrepreneurship and disaster relief. By campaigning
initiatives that remedy these concerns and devoting an entire foundation to funding and
executing projects in response to those concerns, it convinces the modern Filipino consumer that
by supporting and consuming San Miguel products, one is helping to generate profits for the
greater good of Filipino society. Such campaigns have two very important effects; they allow
San Miguel to maintain its image as the do-good corporation which defers focus from the
possible negative associations with its anti-competitive and monopolistic practices, constituting
the main focus of this section, yet more importantly, they also produce notions of national
morality, generating an “imagined community” so to speak that is accessed through
consumerism. It is this second effect that is the focus of the next section.
National Morality: Beyond the Bottom Line
Perhaps the best manner in which to demonstrate how the concept of national morality
has been advertised by San Miguel is through the semiotic analysis of its corporate video
“Beyond the Bottom Line”. 108 In this video, with heart-warming music, San Miguel
communicates that it has “a passion for life…life that flows in abundance…abundance that leads
106
Denzin & Lincoln, 472
Denzin & Lincoln, 472
108
http://www.sanmiguel.com.ph/Content.aspx?MID=0&coid=1&navID=10, Last Accessed, 4/12/10 8:00pm
107
45
to sustainable growth…growth that uplifts the quality of life.” It then proceeds with symbolic
representations of four elements of nature; fire, water, earth and wind, indicating a return to the
values of nature. It proceeds to highlight environmental programs, including cleaning up rivers,
reducing gas emissions, etc. Most of the people shown in the video reside in local communities
and there is a constant usage of nostalgic images of islands, palm trees, which are symbolic of
native, uncorrupted land. The use of children indicates their emphasis on the concern for future
generations and also serves to arouse feelings of family, kinship and community. Moreover, it is
clear that through this campaign, San Miguel has been able to perpetuate a sense of national
pride and morality because of these developmental initiatives. It is both reflecting and shaping
how Filipinos are conceptualizing national morality. Although such a campaign may have been
meant to mask monopolistic practices as mentioned in the section before, it is important to point
out their nationalistic potential in that they provide a way in which Filipino citizens can begin to
take pride in paying attention to their domestic problems.
Summary
Part Two concludes with the fundamental argument of this thesis: San Miguel
Corporation is a powerful commercial engine of cultural production, catering to both
individualistic, consumer desires and national sentiments. Through its marketing tactics, which
include its advertisements, television commercials, branding strategies and campaigns on
developmental initiatives, it has not only shaped what it means to be modern, cool, classy,
beautiful, healthy, civilized and have high culture in Filipino society but it has also become a
medium through which the Filipino people can establish a sense of nationalism. However, while
nationalism was once an idea attached to the territorial nation-state which was accessed through
citizenship, the form of nationalism discussed here is one that is accessed through consumerism.
46
Such a phenomenon has implications regarding the nature of society in the capitalist mode of
production in a postmodern world; that is, that the line between citizenship and consumerism is
becoming more blurred.
47
Conclusion
Figure 5 San Miguel recent advertisements featuring national icon Manny Pacquiao109
After boxing his way to become the current WBO World welterweight champion, Manny
Pacquiao has become more than just an idol in the international sport of boxing, he has become a
Filipino national icon and hero. As a pioneer of Filipino representation in global athletics, he has
become an inspirational public figure in Philippine society. Idolized and adored, Pacquiao has
become a symbol of national pride, strength and ambition as people take pride in his
accomplishments as if they were their own. His story parallels with the story of San Miguel, as
San Miguel Beer is a pioneer of Filipino representation in global beer, earning a spot amongst
the top ten global beer brands. San Miguel‟s success as a transnational business that does not
forget its Filipino roots is a point of pride for the Philippine people. It is only natural then that
these two stories merge, as San Miguel features Manny Pacquiao frequently in its recent ads and
commercials. San Miguel utilizes the face of this national hero as its own face, conjuring up
109
All images taken from SMC website
48
national sentiments that in turn attach to its commodities and products. Now, as a Filipino, you
can drink, eat, live in, package with as well as develop, build a community, clean the rivers and
help children with San Miguel products because after all, it is what Manny Pacquiao, the national
hero, would do.
These Manny Pacquiao ads illustrate quite effectively the fundamental discovery of this
thesis; that is, in post-colonial nation-states, the tools of the post-modern capitalist order, those
being commoditization, advertising, branding, marketing and campaigning, can be used to
produce or provide access to nationalism. Returning to Anderson‟s classic theories on this issue,
he emphasizes print capitalism as the means by which national consciousness is spread, which in
turn leads to the evolution of an “imagined political community” that spurs the formation of the
nation-state. However, as this case study with San Miguel suggests, there evolves a new kind of
print capitalism that manifests itself in the form of visuals ads, labels, commercials, television,
movies, music, and the internet. This new kind of print capitalism moves rapidly, reaching
unprecedented scopes of people at unparalleled speeds, and uses symbols, colors, music and
signs to communicate with its viewers. However, this “imagined community” is not one
sustained by anti-colonial sentiment or the desire for horizontality. Rather, it is sustained by both
the societal need to attain high culture and modernity and the desire to forge a sense of national
identity and morality through the shared use of commodities. As a result, San Miguel has been
instrumental in the process of transforming Philippine society into one that exists in a postcolonial nationalist framework into one that functions within a post-modern capitalist order that
provides access to nationalism through shared consumption of commodities.
49
Such a phenomenon has both negative and positive implications. The negative
implication is that in such a capitalist order, corporations, like San Miguel, do not just possess
the ability to monopolize in an economic sense but also in a cultural and nationalistic sense. San
Miguel, especially as its name is inescapable in Philippine society, is not just able to establish
cultural hegemony but also a monopoly over the most popular values, lifestyles and ideas on
modernity in Philippine society. However, from a more utilitarian perspective, one positive
implication of the dominance of such corporations is their ability to reach the national
consciousness with great effectiveness and speed. If nationalism can be accessed through
consumerism, then that entails a social unification of peoples through the shared use of
commodities.
50
Author’s Note
This research was mainly conducted through applying relevant theories on the production
of culture through commodities and advertising to the case of San Miguel. Most of the analysis
comes from readily available media, such as its website, print ads, television commercials and
campaigns. While this research makes very clear how San Miguel portrays itself, what it lacks is
a more in-depth understanding of how the Filipino people themselves respond and react to San
Miguel. It is clear that San Miguel is a huge influence in popular culture but perhaps more
interviews with people on the ground could provide a more nuanced perspective of how they
shape the meaning of San Miguel in their lives. After all, the nature of a corporation is to respond
to consumers, thus consumers can shape corporations themselves. Hence, these mega-companies
entail a new way in which citizens can project their identities amongst each other, holding
together their own imagined community. The community-building potential of such shared
consumption is yet a topic for further research.
51
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