A social listening report from Capstone-Intel revealed that roughly 94 percent of Filipinos have expressed their negative outlook on the controversial “EDSA-pwera” advertisement which has made rounds online since its airing.
Capstone-Intel Corporation is a high-impact research company that uses innovative research technologies, tools, and methods to convert data and information into breakthrough insights and actionable intelligence outputs. It is committed to helping its clients solve problems, find solutions, grow markets and constituencies, build reputations, navigate risks, manage crises, and be the country’s leading private research and intelligence agency.
Background
The “EDSA-pwera” ad was faced with various criticisms following its public airing on various television networks at the height of Traslacion 2024 newscasts.
According to reports, “EDSA-pwera,” the advertisement in question addressed the purported apparent “failures” of the 1987 Constitution. The campaign also provided justification for the need to change the Philippine Constitution.
Records show that the People’s Initiative for Reform Modernization and Action (Pirma), a legal organization well-known for promoting constitutional amendment through people’s initiative under the Ramos administration, was the client of the law firm Gana Atienza Avisado, which provided funding for the advertisement.
Methodology
Capstone-Intel Corp. examined the online presence of “EDSA-Pwera” in the country as a topic of discussion over the month, from January 9 to January 15, 2024, by utilizing all publicly accessible posts from social and non-social media platforms in order to gather the sentiments of the public about the controversial advertisement.
Facebook Performance
Capstone-Intel found that “EDSA-pwera” garnered a 1,664.7 engagement score for its 83 total post count, which yielded over 4,601 total reaction count. When broken down, “Facebook like” accounts for 70.3 percent of the total reactions, with 4,601. Followed by “Facebook love” with 787 reactions (17.1 percent), “Facebook haha” with 508 (11 percent), “Facebook angry” with 51 (1.1 percent), “Facebook sad” with 12 (0.3 percent), and “Facebook wow” with 7 reactions (0.2 percent).
Upon looking at the data, the majority of “Facebook like” and “Facebook love” reactions are not attributed to public support for the commercial as the top posts these reactions came from are from critics slamming the airing of the commercial.
It can also be noted that for the past week, a number of posts have surfaced discussing the implications of the “EDSA-pwera” commercial to the Filipino public.
Online mentions
Capstone-Intel likewise revealed that the “EDSA-pwera” commercial received 94.8 percent negative mentions, and the remaining 5.2 percent were positive mentions. This means that the article mentions about “EDSA-pwera” campaign was mostly angled negatively, and that forums had a variety of discussions hitting the commercial.
According to data, Twitter holds the platform with the most number of negative discussions about the “EDSA-pwera” advertisement, with 52.6 percent of negative mentions. This was followed by the news, with 20.4 percent, and Facebook with 9.9 percent.
It is also worth noting that the “EDSA-pwera” ad received 4,525,780 social media reach, while its non-social media reach yielded over 508,820 non-social media reach.
Interpreting the data gathered by the Capstone-Intel, it was seen that the majority of the mentions, regardless if its public forum or the news, were mostly negative, emphasizing the failure of the campaign to persuade people why there is a need to amend the 1987 Philippine Constitution.
‘EDSA-pwera’ ad reaching abroad
Aside from the Philippines, Capstone-Intel also found out that the “EDSA-pwera” ad, whose messaging became controversial, has already reached other countries. Among the countries the EDSA-pwera reached are the following:
- France – 153,745 online reach
- United States – 143,702 online reach
- United Arab Emirates – 4,900 online reach
- United Kingdom – 2,118 online reach
- Canada – 2,070 online reach
- Germany – 1,682 online reach
- Sri Lanka – 1,400 online reach
- Australia – 1,223 online reach
Top posts
In terms of top posts, the top posts for the “EDSA-pwera” ad were social media posts from critics.
The number one most engaging story about the topic was a Facebook post from Leila De Lima, releasing a press statement about the “EDSA-pwera” ad, which received a 518.5 engagement score.
This was followed by another press release from Liberal Party, slamming the controversial commercial. This post yielded a total of 363.2 engagement score.
The third most engaging post for the “EDSA-pwera” ad was a statement from the Act-Teachers Partylist, regarding the need to investigate the embattled commercial, yielding a total engagement score of 146.5.
While the data regarding the top posts may seem lower than what is expected to be recorded due to the number of clashes it has received over the past week, the top posts indicate that still, more Filipinos are not receptive to the idea of changing the current constitution, with other social media users called on the government to first resolve the economic woes faced by the country in order to uplift the lives of the Filipino people.
