Erika Danielle D.

Angeles SA 101: Survey of Sociological Theories

124620 Ms. Liza Lim
Section A April 22, 2016

Advertising is very important when you want to sell your products. Advertising conveys a

message that the product or the company would want its consumers to receive in order for them to

know about their product or at least have an initial perception about it. If you would want to sell food,

you showcase the delicious aspects of the food like how it looks like; just a bonus if you could portray

someone enjoying whilst eating the food. If you want to sell cleaning products, you’d create ads that

shows the effectivity of the product. Whether it would be hygiene, comfort, style, or function,

advertisements showcase the desired end-results consumers would want to get from buying their

product. When it comes to clothing and apparel, celebrity endorsements have been an evident selling

point other than the established brand names. Foreign brands like UNIQLO, H&M, Forever 21, use

models that would fit their clothing style well but not much on famous icons and celebrities. Local

brands, however, make use of local celebrities and rising stars as their endorsers. This is the case for

Bench who makes use of local celebrity love teams like Alden Richards and Maine Mendoza

(AlDub), Nadine Lustre and James Ried, and Daniel Padilla and Kathryn Bernardo, and fresh faces

like Kelsey Meritt and Michelle Dee (daughter of Melanie Marquez). This is due to Bench’s

#LoveLocal campaign. In the case of Penshoppe, on the other hand, the brand utilizes international

celebrities to endorse their apparel. They have endorsers like Kendall Jenner, Sean O’Pry, Lucky Blue

Smith, Sandara Park, Mario Maurer, and more as the company moves within its ‘Going Global’

campaign, opening its doors to the international scene.

I chose to observe the Penshoppe branch in the Shangri-la Plaza Mall due to the accessibility

of the area to where I live. What makes this mall different from the others surrounding it is that it

depicts the lifestyle of the upper class but the mall isn’t limited only to one class. There are mall-goers

coming from the middle class as well but the whole facade of the mall caters to the elite class for the

most part. Its stores are more of luxury goods and international brands that usually require credit cards

for purchases because of its outstanding prices. Most of these international brands are located at the

new East Wing of the mall. Penshoppe stands out among the rest because it’s (from what I know) is
the only local apparel brand that is located in the East Wing. Maybe because this is due to how the

store is presented and how its brand is catered towards the international market.

The obvious façade of binary opposites that resonate with the establishment is local vs

international. Penshoppe established itself as a local brand that caters to the style of the youth. But the

youth nowadays are put in awe by the international pop culture that local brands tend to be

overshadowed by the international scene. The style that Penshoppe emanates is adaptive to the

Philippine weather. Most of its advertisements call for clothes that can be worn under the sun. But the

fact that Penshoppe is a local brand, it doesn’t really sell that well to the youth. What Penshoppe does

to entice the local mall goers to actually take interest in their clothing line is to bring in the

international scene to the local establishment. The employment of international brand ambassadors

and endorsers makes Penshoppe a local brand that doesn’t ‘look local’ at all. Their line-up of

endorsers comprise of celebrities that the youth could easily identify. Celebrities like Kendall Jenner,

Sean O’Pry, Lucky Blue Smith, Sandara Park, and Mario Maurer are this generation’s fashion icons

that it’s hard not to copy their style. Good strategy for Penshoppe because their local brand can be

viewed as approved in international standards because of their endorsers. Connecting it to the store’s
location, it’s also a wise choice to display their international brand ambassadors on their windows to

appeal to the mall goers of Shangri-La.

In the Philippines, international brands tend to sell more than local brands. Local brands, for

this generation can’t seem to catch up with the style and ‘sophistication’ that international brands

could offer. It’s rare that you’d see people of our generation go shopping in local brand clothing.

Local brands come off as cheap and second class to some because the international brands seem to be

the measure for what is high quality and in style. Stores like H&M, UNIQLO, and Forever21 offer

that kind of style that our generation actually likes. People line up for the opening of H&M, staying

even days before it opens just to get the first glimpse of what the store could offer them. Cashiers

have long queues with people carrying big bags of what they would want to purchase, enduring the

wait just to get their fashion fix. Nothing really matters as long as they could get their hands on the

new set of clothes these international brands bring to the country. For local retail stores however,

there are barely any queues, nobody lines up for their opening day, and it’s so rare that people

purchase more than one or two articles of clothing that they need shopping bags to hold their picks. It

seems that this was still the case for Penshoppe. Going into their store and looking around their racks

of clothing, most of them (I believe) can be likened to an international brand but at a cheaper price yet
no one really takes enthusiasm to buy their clothes because the store is almost always empty. It’s not

the case for the Shangri-La branch only. I’ve come across a branch in SM Megamall and considering

the amount of people that go in and out of that mall every single day, local brand stores still fare less

compared to international brands. The Penshoppe branch in Megamall has the same layout as Shangri-

La’s Penshoppe and gets a bit more people since SM Megamall appeals more to the masses yet

Penshoppe still doesn’t appeal much to the masses. People still line up and go around and about

buying at UNIQLO and H&M.

Much of my observation depicts this attitude of the Filipinos’ which we call ‘colonial

mentality’. Our appreciation of international brands are far greater than our appreciation for local

brands and that actually creates cultural constructs and class divide. I agree with Levi-Strauss. Binary

opposites make up cultural constructs in society. Looking back at how local brands and international

brands are viewed, choosing either would actually get you labeled in society. Those who incline

towards international brands are considered ‘sosyal’, rich, trendy, fashionista, and ‘in’. For those who

buy from the local brands, however, are considered ‘jej’, ‘baduy’, or cheap. Fashion is an avenue for a

person to establish his/her own identity but if we only look what brands people wear, social constructs

already dictates who we are in society.