VIRAL: Who the Heck Are Sharmaine, Melanie, and Vanessa?

(SPOT.ph) Your social media feeds might have gotten a sudden wave of posts about oranges named Sharmaine and avocados named Melanie. What gives? It all started when one content creator raised an important question: why was the fruit orange named after its color? Isn't that... a bit lazy? How does orange feel about that?

The saga began on April 8, when BAETT posted a video on TikTok personifying an orange that complains about its rather unoriginal name. “Parang hindi naman ako pinag-isipan... Mango ka diba? Pero dilaw kanaman! Wala na bang ibang pangalan?”

The orange said it wanted to be named Sharmaine instead.

Of course, a name change is not that simple. It apparently requires paperwork, due process, and, naturally, a lawyer. Later on, Sharmaine was joined by an avocado (guess why?) with the same concern. It wanted to be known by another name, too: Melanie.

“Nananahimik ako sa puno tapos inabala niyo ko... Ayoko ng ganitong pangalan, parang hindi pinag-isipan. Katulad niyan, pinagkamalan mo akong abogado, eh avocado naman baga.”

It's not just Sharmaine and Melanie who are experiencing an identity crisis. In another video from BAETT, a fly caught on and also wanted to be renamed Vanessa.

“Gusto ko lang din naman sana ng sariling pangalan... Ang totoo kong pangalan ay ‘fly’, hindi ba napaka-obvious?”

And just like that, the trio was complete.

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Eventually, Sharmaine took over the internet, racking up over 20 million views across TikTok, Instagram, and Facebook.

“Sharmaine na itatawag ko sa orange from now on,” one user commented.

“Sharmaine ang real name ko. Orange ka na lang kaysa makaringing ako ng ‘gusto kong kumain ng Sharmaine’," another user commented.

But the joke was no longer confined to the internet. Local grocery stores have also started replacing their orange listings with “Sharmaine” and their avocado listings with “Melanie.” 

If you're wondering how BAETT, or Jericho Pacinos Asis, even thought of creating something like this, we wondered the same thing, too. We reached out to the content creator himself.

“Intention [ko] po ay makapagpasaya talaga ng tao [and] at the same time makuha rin ‘yung kanilang attention na bigyang-halaga ang pagkain ng prutas. We all know na hindi lahat ay kumakain ng prutas regularly. Reminder na rin siya na mahalaga ang prutas sa buhay natin,” BAETT told SPOT.ph.

Naturally, we support any campaign that gets people emotionally invested in produce.

Prior to his Sharmaine series, BAETT was known for producing entertaining content, such as Taylor Swift impersonations. Now, he has become the unofficial spokesperson for fruits with identity issues.

“Nakakatuwa kasi ngayon ay tinatangkilik na nila yung prutas and na-sosold out sila sa palengke, kaya for me very effective yung content na ginawa ko,” BAETT said.

On oranges being recognized as Sharmaine in supermarkets, the Filipino vlogger joked that there should be a proper legal process before any official rebranding: "Huwag niyong paunahan!"

Jokingly, Senator Risa Hontiveros also recommended that Sharmaine have a late registration of birth under the Philippine Statistics Authority. 

Understanding the gravity of this situation, lawyers have even joined the conversation, providing legal insights on whether the orange’s name can actually be formalized as “Sharmaine.”

According to them, Republic Act No. 9048 or the Clerical Error Law may allow a change of first name if one has been publicly known by another name after "continuous and habitual use." Other grounds also include the fact that the petitioner finds their name tainted with dishonor, or if it causes confusion.

Not everyone is eager for a new identity, though. In BAETT's latest video, the kiat-kiat family pushed back against being lumped in with Sharmaine. They made it clear that if they were getting a new name, they’d rather be called Bernadette. Fair enough—kiat-kiat, or mandarin oranges, are smaller and sweeter than regular oranges, so they deserve their own distinction.

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