Jollibee Foods Corporation suspends Mang Inasal ads on Willing Willie; Oishi calls Jan-Jan incident "regretful"

(SPOT.ph) Jollibee Foods Corporation (JFC) has suspended Mang Inasal’s ad placements on TV5’s Willing Willie following the child abuse controversy involving a six-year old boy who was asked to dance on the show, reports Inquirer.net.

JFC’s Corporate Media team announced the decision on its Facebook page on Saturday, April 2, 2011: "Mang Inasal will be holding off their ad placements from Willing Willie this week. We will continue to monitor the issue and await the results of the investigation. The whole JFC group, will remain committed to upholding the welfare of children. - JFC Corporate Media."

According to Inquirer.net, JFC’s media representative Pauline Lao sent a letter to Froilan Grate who started the Facebook group Para Kay Jan-jan (Shame on you Willie Revillame) saying the company is "aware of the issues and the various sentiments raised" following the March 12 episode where six-year old contestant Jan-Jan Estrada was egged on to dance, simulating a striptease,  in exchange for P10,000 in prize money.

"We are monitoring this closely and we are awaiting the results of the network's investigation. Rest assured that the JFC group remains committed to upholding the welfare of children. We trust that the appropriate and expert institutions will also respond and look into this matter with urgency," Lao told Grate. Lao also clarified that JFC’s other fastfood chains such as Jollibee, Chowking, Greenwich and Red Ribbon, do not have ad placements on the show.

John Silva, arts and heritage advocate and writer, also sent a letter to Mr. Tan-Caktiong of JFC, following the company’s move to suspend Mang Inasal’s ads on the game show. Silva said, "I want to thank you for the very quick decision and response that your company made.  Other companies are still holding off until the result of an internal Channel 5 investigation.  It says to me that on the strength of the video segment alone, your company has acknowledged its deleterious effects on both viewers, consumers, and your own corporate credo.

Your actions, being a major conglomerate, will have serious ripple effects on the other advertisers and on TV stations too. This may actually be the dawn of better TV programming, thanks to your decision."

Activist lawyer Ipat Luna has also called on other advertisers to pull out of Revillame’s show. Luna’s letter was also sent to Oishi, Yakult, Unilever, Bench, Camella-A Vista Land Company, CDO Karne Norte, Belo Medical Group, and Cebuana Lhuillier.

Oishi has responded to the letter and said, "While we, as advertisers, do not control the actual execution and their artists during the show, we also want to do our part to avoid these unfortunate incidents." They also described the incident as "regretful" and is reviewing possible actions which can yield positive results.

Willing Willie business unit head Jay Montelibano has confirmed that JFC has suspended their ads, according to PEP.ph. "The other sponsors like Unilever, CDO, Cebuana [Lhuillier], they’re still intact, and they’ve given us their support. So, nagpapasalamat kami sa kanila," Montelibano told PEP.ph

The Movie and Television Review and Classification Board’s (MTRCB) hearing has been scheduled to review the episode for appropriate action. Froilan Grate of the Facebook group Para Kay Jan-jan (Shame on you Willie Revillame), has also posted the names and contact details of the company heads of the advertisers on Willing Willie to urge the public to let them know of their sentiments against the show.

For more on this story, log on to Inquirer.net and PEP.ph.