Fooling Her

Kung pwede lang sana, huwag na akong magsulat ng tungkol dito. Sabi nga, "bury the hatchet" na lang. Para wala ng damdamin ang masaktan pa.

But we feel the need to throw some light on the issue of the Miss Photogenic selection.

Naalala ko last year, may ingay sa isang special award, sa Miss Congeniality. The criteria is 50% for the votes among the candidates, 50% sa ticket sales. A candidate came up with the most numbers of tickets sold, but unfortunately only one of her fellow candidates found her congenial. The recipient of the award got 4 votes (rank 1) and ranked second on ticket sales. It just so happened that the Miss Congeniality special award recipient is cousin to one of the Aroroy Tourism officer. So there was some bitching about it later. We endured the sour grapes for some time, then the issue died a natural death.

This year, isang special award na naman ang naging "tinik sa lalamunan". Nakakawendang kasi ano bang meron itong mga special awards na to at ini-eksenahan pa ang major titles!

Bakit "Fooling Her" ang title ng post? Kasi, I remember this text joke about Pacman's commercial on Head & Shoulders. "To stop fooling her, use hidden soldiers!" And the issue on the Miss Photogenic was all about "fooling" some persons into believing they hold the power to decide the winner, and so they thought.

The popular definition of "photogenic" is someone who "looks attractive in photographs". At sa pagpili ng Miss Photogenic, ang pipiliin dapat yung pinaka-attractive sa lahat.

"Vote for Miss Photogenic 2010", ang title ng Facebook album. One click of the "Like" link below the candidates photo is equivalent to 1 vote. The determining factor is the total number of votes in two albums posted - The Glam Looks album and The Sweet Looks album. Supposedly, there will be a third album but since one candidate had already an overwhelming "support", the FB admin predicted the final outcome would still be the same because this particular group of supporters seemed to never letup. (Which was a little bit scary, it felt like a storm is brewing in the horizon, and we were right about it all along.)

Comments started to pour in on the issue of "voting" through "Likes". (they are still posted in our FB page and discussion boards). The object is to vote for the most photogenic. The trend became voting with "friendship" and "kinship" factors.

On the final Briefing and Orientation of the PAs and candidates by the ATC officers and organizers, this issue was throroughly discussed. They were reminded that the criteria for the selection would be 50% - Facebook voting and 50% Sponsor's choice. Good thing the Sponsor was amenable to share half of the decision to Facebook voting outcome. Ranking system po yung ginagamit namin to calibrate ratings and scores since 2008 sa lahat ng mga competitions - major, minor and special. With this assurance, other candidates with "Facebook disadvantages" (walang FB account, hindi marunong mag sign-up, meron nga piro hindi na ma open, inactive na) - ay na appease namin. These people were assured na may pag-asa pa ding makuha ang Miss Photogenic dahil hindi naman 100% iba-base sa Facebook voting. Ang kaganapang ito ay 4 days bago ang pageant night at announcement ng winners. All 18 candidates were in attendance.

(next: The Fury of the Lost Likes)