I am saddened by what one story suggested as the “commercialization” of Charice Pempengco, the prodigiously talented Filipino singer who wowed Oprah, Ellen and pretty much everyone else with her powerful vocals.
Only 18, Charice underwent Botox treatment and a procedure called Thermage that tightens the skin. There’s been a lot of reaction to Charice’s decision to undergo these procedures, often negative. One is that she, or whoever made her do it, is sending the wrong message to young people.
As this blogger notes:
There is only one message this sends to impressionable young people, to a whole generation that is already overwhelmingly ethnic, of mixed heritages too like black and white, white and hispanic, black and asian and an endless combination from there: Ethnic Is Ugly. Nothing could be further from the truth, yet here we have the most transparent example of it.
But I am more inclined to believe that Charice is a victim here. Did the producers of “Glee,” the hit US TV show where she has been cast as a foreign student, demand these changes in her appearance?
Then there’s the Belo Medical Group. After the procedures, the company spread on the Internet photos of Charice being administered a Botox shot and the Thermage treatment by Vicki Belo, who is known for her self-promoting ways that often feature movie stars and celebrities.
The release of the pictures was clearly meant to promote the Belo Medical Group, nothing else. Pictures of other celebrities being “belofied” are also posted publicly on the company’s Facebook account.
Take this comment from a blog:
A lot of Filipino stars have contracts with cosmetic doctors to promote their clinics There were 2 major clinics competing there, one was Dr. Belo’s, the doctor who injected the Botox. I suspect that Dr. Belo, wishing to reach a wider, global clientele, entered a contract with Charice, just like other Filipino stars. A lot of Filipino stars get cosmetic treatments all the time and considered “a given”. Charice will be paid or at least get a discount for the services. It was done with her and mom’s consent, otherwise, why were the cameras allowed? In their naivette, Charice and mom probably thought it was just one of those promotions. However, the people’s reactions were unexpected, and it became a publicity nightmare. I lay a lot of the blame on the doctor, because the she is the one who recommends what treatments are good for Charice, and they are really not very sophisticated to know that these Botox treatments although widely used are still done in secret by even the most popular stars. The doctor should be bound by ethical considerations, which in this case I believe she crossed. She swore to an oath, “First, do no harm.” Injecting Botox to a perfectly normal young girl is wrong. First, she would hace to tell Charice that there was something wrong with her face (there is none) and that she needs Botox (when she doesn’t). Patients usually just follow what their doctor recommends, and in this case, Charice naively went by what the doctor recommended. What did Charice know? She may have traveled the world, but she is not worldly. Someone took advantage of her just so her clinic will be promoted.
Another comment makes a good point:
Unfortunately, Charice comes from a country that values beauty or fair skin tone over talent. At a very early age, she was made to feel inadequate and was told time and time again that, although she had a killer voice, she did not possess the looks to make it as a “star.” I can’t even begin to imagine what that did to this child’s self-esteem. Meanwhile, Filipino ‘celebrities’ who are fair-skinned are being treated like gods and goddesses , even if they possess zero talent. When Ellen DeGeneres, Oprah Winfrey and David Foster took notice of her, you would have thought that the country as a whole will celebrate and be glad that one of their own made it. Not so fast. This poor child was labeled ‘unworthy, ugly, too short, had a face that looked like a plate, not good enough to represent her country because she had a thick English accent’, and many other horrible names I can’t mention. She persisted, however, and was able to weather that storm as evidenced by successful release of her US CD. She again proved that talent overrides everything else when she was picked to join the 2nd season of Glee. That’s when the hatred and vitriol from her own people started all over again.
The irony here, as has been pointed out, is that “Glee” is about believing in yourself, warts and all.
