2014 MMFF Made P854M: Why Filipinos Actually Have Lots of Money to Spare

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It's incredible. In just 11 days, the 2014 Metro Manila Film Fest made a whopping P854 M, just like that. And before that, the 2013 MMFF made no less than P934 M in 12 days! If 10 movie companies participated and had equal portions of the pie, that's P93, 400,000 each! Well, it took months to shoot the movies, of course, but we all know what qualities most of them have (most, not all). They never change. All they come up with is trash. But they make hundreds of millions, nonetheless.

The point is, Filipinos have money and they buy even trash with their hard-earned cash. Let's help them use money more wisely by providing them quality. This should signal health supplement marketers (those with quality products) to re-educate Pinoys on how to spend money on the right products--what they really need. They can do without trash movies but not without good health.

Pinoys are also not into investments. They do not know that even ordinary folks can now invest on the stock market. Or else, get a pension, life, educational, or retirement plan. Sun Life and Manulife are good ways to invest hard-earned cash instead of seeing nonsense movies.

Can you imagine the cost of being a showbiz fan? Aside from watching their movies during MMFF (these fans often watch 5 or all movies during an MMFF. If the cheapest is P250 and you watched 5 movies, that's an easy P1,250 down the drain!), you buy pictures of your movie idols--which is also so costly--plus give gifts to them during their birthdays. Then you attend their weekly TV programs and spend on that, too! And then you buy the regular issues of magazines about them.

And all the movie idols earn millions from that to build their mansions with and spend on their caprices and escapades--all from the heard-earned money of low-salaried ordinary people who later end up penniless if not wallowing in poverty. You think their showbiz idols would care one bit?

Filipinos actually have lots of money. In a sense we're poor, but not because we lack money but because we don't know what to do with it when we have it. Lack of wisdom, foresight and education--plus desperation and hopelessness--make us turn to the world of fantasy instead and see the fulfillment of our dreams in the roles and lives of our favorite movie idols.

Movie fans celebrate the successes of their movie idols but in the end they suffer the reality of bankruptcy alone. But that shouldn't be the case if only they put their money in the right places.

Marketers should realize their roles in re-educating the masses about where to put their money, especially those in the health, insurance, education, investment, and real estate businesses. By the way, if you're a marketer like I am, do you realize your first duty is to help your clients, not just make money from them?

Just imagine--with quality product and successful re-education of the masses, you help them realize their dreams and earn quite a bit, too, in the process. I believe re-educational products are the best products to sell them, second to health products. Short instructional books and e-books help, especially those who missed getting a college degree. They learn new things from a different approach and get a chance to succeed in life and pursue their dreams.

If you're desperate and have been frustrated in life a lot of times, movies can do you good, but make sure you put most of your money on an investment that can change your life.