Tide Plus Bar (lost audio of Philippine laundry detergent commercial; 1995)

Screenshot of the commercial

Status: Audio: Lost
Video: Found

Tide Plus Bar was aired in 1995 by Procter & Gamble Philippines featuring then-ABS-CBN newscaster Mel Tiangco, who is now currently working for GMA Integrated News. Her appearance in the advertisement led her dismissal from the network.

Description

In the commercial, in 45 seconds long, we see Mel Tiangco holding two socks, one is dirty and the other one is clean, and demonstrates to a professional. Tiangco introduces a product called Tide Plus Bar. A professional soaks a dirty sock to the clean water which removes the stains instantly. We then see a comparison of between new and two used socks; the clean sock was done by Tide Plus Bar while the other one was done by other detergent which had not removed the stain. The commercial concludes with Tiangco giving a statement while the two professionals proposing the use of the product.

Availability and aftermath

The advertisement was aired in 1995 by Procter & Gamble Philippines. It was found in 2019, however it has no audio. Tiangco was suspended by ABS-CBN for three months without pay violating the memorandum that barring the employees and contractual talents like her from appearing in the advertisements. Tiangco had been a prominent in the network since 1986 before transferring to GMA Network in the 2000s. In 1996, Tiangco filed a complaint against ABS-CBN "illegal dismissal, illegal suspension, and various monetary claims." The move was in compliance to an internal company rule which prohibits news personalities from endorsing brands. According to pep.ph, this is universally enforced in all print and broadcast media worldwide and is meant to avoid any suspicions of bias or favoritism.

A year later ABS-CBN filed a lawsuit against Tiangco, Jay Sonza, and GMA Network at Quezon City Regional Trial Court, but on June 26, 1998 the court declared the respondents' cancellation of contracts to their former network as valid and that GMA Network had no hand over their decision to transfer. ABS-CBN brought the case to the Court of Appeals, which upheld the lower court's decision in August 6, 2003. According to GMA Network, the network's act of suspension to Tiangco without solid proof and legal basis is a grave breach of contract, and supports her termination of the contract. ABS-CBN later took it to the Supreme Court, which then junked their appeal in 2011 "for failure to sufficiently show any reversible error in the decision of the Court of Appeals." The Supreme Court decision added: "There was no evidence that GMA had enticed Mel and Jay to break away from ABS-CBN because when the two transferred to GMA, they have already rescinded their agreements with ABS-CBN."

Video

The commercial but no audio