• Supermodel and host Tyra Banks liked a photograph of her and Maymay Entrata.
• It was after a fan edited a photo of her and Entrata doing the same pose and uploaded it on Instagram.

International supermodel Tyra Banks has once again acknowledged Maymay Entrata as she liked an edited photograph of her and the Pinoy Big Brother: Lucky 7 big winner.

A fan made a collage of Banks and Entrata; uploaded it to Instagram under the account of ‘just_love_mayward‘. It showed the two doing the same pose in different scenarios.

https://www.instagram.com/p/BqwfeD-gVNP/

It did not stop there as the supermodel liked another edit of the same account, which included more photographs than the previous one.

View this post on Instagram

Once again THE MOTHER OF ALL AND RUNWAY QUEEN like our RUNWAY PRUNCESS. @maymay @tyrabanks @cntpatricia @josh_yugen #lifesize2 #maymayentrata #mayward

A post shared by "❤MAYWARD_FAMILY❤" (@just_love_mayward) on Dec 1, 2018 at 4:20pm PST

It was not the first time that Banks has acknowledged Entrata on social media as it can be remembered that she also liked photographs of the Kapamilya star from last year’s Star Magic Ball as well as her catwalk from the Bench fashion show, where the Filipino young star walked alongside her tandem Edward Barber.

Entrata recently took part at the 2018 Arab Fashion Week, walking for Filipino designer Furne One‘s collection.

Clothing giant Bench seems to have a knack for coming up with controversial ads.  In February, netizens expressed their sentiments over Bench’s billboard where the clasped hands of a gay couple was blacked out. While some speculated that vandals were to blame, turns out that Bench had taken it upon themselves to black out the hands in anticipation of the ad board’s possible reaction.

Read: Was the Gay Couple Controversy Actually Faked by Bench to Create a Buzz?

This time, Bench faces plagiarism raps after it used the artwork of a third year UP Fine Arts student for its Love Local campaign, which an in-house Bench visual merchandizer claimed to be his original work. Glenford Lumbao complained on Facebook about how he felt he was “robbed” by the big fashion label. He posted his rants over a photo of Bench’s display window which featured his Letras y Figuras: ABaKalsaDa Letters of the Street, his artwork showcasing people forming the letters of the alphabet while clad in local attire with native props. Lumbao actually did the artwork for a project in Visual Design 1 class, and then posted it on Behance, an online platform for artists.  He said he felt violated and disrespected. He captioned the photo he took at a Bench Glorietta window display on June 25, “Bakit A to F Lang? Dapat nilahat niyo na. (Why use A-F only? You should’ve used all of it.)” 

“Bakit A to F Lang? Dapat nilahat niyo na.”

When Bench learned about the post, its Legal team tried to reach Lumbao on June 27, to amicably settle the issue and apologize, reports Coconuts Manila.

“Madalas po silang tumatawag at mag-text. (They call and text me.)  They said sorry about the incident tapos gusto nila makipag-meet to settle things privately.”

Bench PR Jojo Liamzon and Legal Supervisor Rachelle Posadas confirmed with Coconuts Manila that Bench, through Posadas, was trying to reach out to Lumbao. They scheduled a meeting on June 29 but the Fine Arts student was a no-show. Lumbao’s professor advised the latter to seek for advice from a legal counsel before meeting with Bench representatives. He stressed that what the company did was plagiarism.

“Yung illustration na kinuha nila is not for sale. Ibang usapan na yung kasi plagiarism na. (The illustration they used is not for sale.  It’s a different story now because it’s plagiarism.)“

Bench asserted they do not ignore plagiarism. Said Liamzon, “When you hire somebody, an artist or a writer, you expect them to churn in original work, without having to check and recheck.” Posadas emphasized their employees attend seminars and lectures and plagiarism is always part of that, so they expect them to always provide only original work.

Their in-house artist admitted to the misdeed, and has then resigned. Living up to their vision that they do not disregard plagiarism, they accepted his resignation.

Their only concern at the moment is Lumbao, who has remained silent in spite of their efforts to reach out to him.

Reiterating they’ve learned from the billboard incident before, Liamzon said (they) “are willing to compensate and settle the matter fairly.”

Feature Image credit: Coconuts Manila

The real-life boyfriends Vince Uy and Nino Gaddi’s blackened embracing hands billboard by Bench got notorious speculations asking who’s the guilty party decided to dim their sweet gestures of holding hands. Making a huge buzz online and helpful citizens exploring arts to bring back where their hands supposed to meet, #PaintTheirHandsBack hashtag campaign dominated the social media.

Nevertheless, Bench felt like to wriggle out the situation and did not give an eye to leave Council out of any charges.

Sneaking suspiciously made by Ad Standard Council, executive director Mila Marquez denied not behind the blurring of the photographs.

In a statement made to Rappler, “This particular series was not blurred by ASC. We were surprised [Bench] blurred it… Possibly because they think they will be given approval if they do that. We had a discussion with [Bench] particularly because they put up the billboards without clearance to display. If at all, they were given approval to produce it.”

It was only on Tuesday did Bench broke its silence about the controversial billboard.  The time only did it admitted it has all the intention of defacing the pro-LGBT billboard.

In a statement sent to Style Bible, Bench cleared that the billboard along EDSA-Guadalupe displaying arm’s guy around his partner was neither defaced, vandalized, as what most people believed.

Bench pressumed that covering the hands of two male lovers would signal the family friendly-Ad Standard Council approval of billboard for installation.

Yet Bench’s distribution – intentionally- of publicity mockup of the EDSA billboard showing the unobscured hands of Uy and Gaddi  widely lead the public to assume the billboard had been defaced.

Was it too late for Bench to clear its name? A clarification sent to Stylebible.ph was made by the lifestyle brand after the ASC statement.

“After having discovered the governing body’s clarified stance recently, where its director was quoted in Rappler to be accepting of Uy and Gaddi’s billboard, Bench would like to propose a replacement of the couple’s current billboard with that of the original image, hands clasped,” said Jojo Liamzon, head of Advertising and Promotions division of Bench.

Bench orchestrated a manipulative control over emotion, turning a petty vandalism into a massive marketing ploy. Allying parties gave in all-out support to Bench not until bitter regrets posts ruled over the social media after knowing no third party involved but it is the business which is to blame. Does it even need a praise for aiming an overwhelming publicity? Neither we consider it an original PR nor creative marketing. It was cheap trick, a cheated play, and worst of all, a dishonest control of emotions.

Bench, considered as one biggest-known clothing line in the country, must not forget to examine the sensitivity of the content. The first sight of its initial image was affirmed by LGBT community through its released of precovered unobscured hands material, however the alterations made the campaign horrendous. Afterall, the brand owner should know better than to get instructions from ad agents.

By now, you have probably have seen all sorts of versions for the viral #PaintTheirHandsBack campaign for the gay couple’s picture of Bench’s “Love All Kinds Of Love”. You have probably said your piece about the issue or even painted the couple’s hands to join the campaign.

But with so much going on in this campaign, some people are questioning whether Bench had just faked the controversy so the ad will create a buzz [and the company will be the talk of town for days, of course].

The Ad

It was deemed perfect for Valentine’s Day. Bench created a compelling ad celebrating all kinds of love. There was the platonic love between a grandmother and her grandson [Gloria Romero and Chris Gutierrez], between a heterosexual couple [Nico Bolzico and Solenn Heussaff], between a lesbian couple [Carla Peña and Ana Paredes], and between a gay couple [Nino Gaddi and Vince Uy].

The move was received with much pleasure by the LGBT community who had always struggled for acceptance in the Philippines.

StyleBible posted a photo of the “undefaced” ad; though blogger FinanceMD claimed this was merely an artist’s concept but was not a real photo of the billboards.

 The Campaign

With the billboards standing several feet tall, it was hard not to miss the blackened hands of the gay couple. Naturally, the ad board was the one who was blamed for the censorship because 1) why would Bench blacken their own ad and 2) the billboards were so high and so huge that even Banksy [a famous graffiti artist] would have a rather difficult time painting on those gigantic hands.

People noticed the blackened hands, of course, but it was art director Rob Cham who sparked the campaign when he drew Mickey Mouse hands over the blackened part of the photo. He hashtagged the angry tweet with ‪#‎PaintTheirHandsBack, something which quickly caught on. Twitter users soon had the hashtag trending. They also posted their own versions of the drawing.

The Fake Controversy?

FinanceMD was not sold to the idea that it was either the ad board or a vandal who painted over the gay ad. He pointed out how the ASC (Ad Standard Council) adamantly maintained they had no hand at censoring the ad.

This is the statement of ASC executive director Mila Marquez:

We are always adhering to prevailing moral and social standards of the country. We believe advertisements should not be offensive, derogatory nor should [they] alienate certain sectors of the community.

This particular series was not blurred by ASC. We were surprised they blurred it… Possibly because they think they will be given approval if they do that.

We had discussion with them particularly because they put up the billboards without clearance to display. If at all, they were given approval to produce it. If ever there is violation, the violation is more procedural than conceptual.

The ASC is not a censorship body. What we’re promoting is self-regulation, meaning clients and ad agency are the ones who should also regulate themselves.

Even ASC’s director believes it was Bench who painted over the hands of the gay couple. After all, just as FinanceMD had pointed out, the ad was too high and too large that it would take special equipment and a “truckload of paint” for a vandal to do the job. Would an ordinary vandal have the means to do that? And it’s not as if the ad was shocking and very offensive.

So, was it really Bench who faked the controversy to create a buzz? Unless someone would admit to defacing that ad and then tell us how he did it without getting noticed, then this question would always be stuck in our minds.

Last Saturday’s “The Naked Truth” denim and underwear fashion event by Bench drew much controversy that kept the web abuzz for days. The celebrities who participated in the fashion event flaunted their beautiful bodies while wearing the best creations from the homegrown clothing line.

SEE: Hottest Male and Female Celebrities with Loudest Cheers at the Bench/ ‘The Naked Truth’

Why has it become Controversial?

First off, there were a number of stars who made provocative gestures while walking the runway. There’s Tom Rodriguez who pulled down his briefs, leaving just enough material to cover his manhood. He and Dennis Trillo also figured in a scene where they watched two beautiful ladies make out right before their eyes.

There was also Martin del Rosario who passed his right arm inside his briefs, reaching his left upper thighs.

Of course, who would ever forget Jake Cuenca’s bare-bottom underwear? Only he could pull that one off; despite criticism over his ‘bulging fats’, it could not be denied that he was among the sexiest and most confident of the men who walked Bench’s runway that night.

Degrading Portrayal of Women

The woman-to-woman action on the catwalk elicited cheers and claps from the audience, especially because Dennis and Tom were there, watching the ladies make out.

SEE: 7 Most Daring (and risque!) Celebrities on Bench/ ‘The Naked Truth’

Several blogs, however, feel that this was already quite degrading, especially because the men seemed to enjoy it – yet didn’t lock lips with each other. Hmmm now, that would look weird, right? According to the blog writers, that’s the culture we live in, wherein most of us feel like it was alright for women to display sexual acts such kissing each other in front of a large audience, yet we would bash those who portray some man-to-man action.

There was also that moment wherein Sarah Lahbati and Richard Gutierrez kissed each other passionately on the catwalk. C’mon, guys, get a room!

The real-life sweethearts’ actions also drew cheers and screams from the crowd but it was too bad that it made some people uncomfortable, especially because it had seemed like Sarah loves to initiate passion. I don’t think there’s something wrong with a woman initiating lovemaking, but doing so in front of such a large audience? Ugh…some things are really just meant to stay in private, right?

There was no match, however, to Coco Martin’s number. Wearing a red jacket and a pair of long pants, he was among the very few fully clothed men at the fashion event. He wouldn’t even pass our notice, perhaps, if not for the fact that he was holding a woman on a leash. This woman crawled on all fours across the catwalk, in a sensual manner, of course.

Many sectors cried foul over this demeaning portrayal of a woman as a dog, a sexy slave.

Bench Issues Apology

After public outcry over the “degrading and demeaning” show, Bench had to issue a public apology.

Was There a Need for a Public Apology?

Netizens are torn as to whether the clothing line had to issue an apology over the issue. After all, it was an underwear fashion event – there’s bound to be some raunchy sexual behavior to be expected, right?

Those who attended the event knew they would be watching men and women who would walk down that runway while wearing just a few small clothing articles. With so many of those people parading across the catwalk, the event’s atmosphere would surely be sexually charged.

So, was there a need for a public apology? Well, as a respectable clothing line, they really should. Still, many netizens believe that we, Filipinos, should stop being too prude and star having an open mind about things issues such as this one.

How about you? What are your thoughts about Bench’s show?