Scariest commercials ever aired on Philippine television

 1. Caritas Manila (1994-2002)

Caritas Manila is a non-profit organization that provides help for the people who suffered poverty and hunger. Caritas Manila, however, produced a series of advertisements that contains distressing themes accompanied by an ominous background music that startled the viewers in the mid-90s to early 2000s.

Among these commercials features the young boy lays down beside the steel cup for alms, but the eerie part is when the camera pans across the boy (who appears to be died) and zooms into the cup before the ad ends with "Aanhin pa ang damo, kung patay na ang kabayo."

The second one features the feral child wandering on street.

However, the last two ads featuring the boy in a black background whose stomach is burning, suggesting that the boy is suffering from famine, and the stained glass artworks that features deep voice are nowhere to be found on the Internet.

All of the ads ended with the byline text saying "Give to Catholic Charities" along with the logo of Caritas Manila (pictured). This was aired mostly at daytime.

The recreation of known byline and the Caritas logo shown at the end of the commercial in what would have been in HD version.

Since 2003, Caritas Manila produced another advertisements that, unlike the previous ad, contains joyful and informative themes.

2. Couples for Christ "Abortion" PSA (1999)

Don't watch if you are alone at night. This Couples for Christ anti-abortion commercial shows a manger being zoomed in while the child singing "Do You Hear What I Hear?" in the background. After that, we see the blood dripping into the manger followed by the tong being tossed into and finally the unborn fetus. The advertisement ends with the text "For Christ Sake, Forget Abortion".

Many viewers had sought this commercial for a long time until it was uploaded on YouTube on 2020. Upon viewing, they find it abhorrent and disturbing, with some viewers considering it scariest alongside with Encarnacion Bechaves.

3. Encarnacion Bechaves (c. 90s-2002)

Encarnacion Bechaves is a Filipino flower shop located in Manila. In the 90s, Encarnacion Bechaves aired commercials that distressed the viewers where it features a woman in a red dress (other claims that she is wearing black or white). The commercial appears to be interesting at first but the ending deems to be unsettling. Many viewers considered this commercial the creepiest advertisement ever aired on TV. The woman was said to be portrayed by Cita Astals but the viewers denied it.

The archive copy of this commercial was nowhere to be found on the Internet but the audio recreation of this was uploaded on YouTube (watch here).

4. Nestlé Cream - "Cemetery" (2008)

Unlike any other Nestlé Cream commercials, this one contains ominous content where a woman visits her deceased husband at the cemetery and offers him a fruit salad but when she returns home, she is shocked to find that the fruit salad she brought earlier has returned to the table (presumably by the husband's ghost). The ad ends with tense eerie music playing while displaying the onscreen text saying "Dapat Nestlé Cream ang ginamit mo" before fading into its product.

5. Bong Revilla's Anti-Piracy Ad (2002)

The ad features by actor Bong Revilla, campaigning against the piracy. The ad also features German Moreno as a moviegoer. It then shows the "NOW SHOWING" label where the letter W falls from the display, making the words read as "NO SHOWING".

6. DOH Iwas Paputok Advertisements

Every December, the Department of Health would produced the advertisements advocating the zero use of firecrackers with every advertisements showing the users (and/or nearby bystanders) get badly injured - with finger severed, one side of the eye blinded, one side of the face bleeding - after having blown up by the firecrackers (usually pla-pla, triangle or other illegal firecrackers). (You can watch these examples: watch here, watch here, watch here).

One creepiest DOH commercial, aired on December 2002, showing the pistol in a black background being raised upwards followed by the sound of the gunshot while accompanied by the voice of a disturbed young girl. However, this ad is nowhere to be found on the Internet.

7. Bantay Bata 163

At late 90s, ABS-CBN's Bantay Bata advocated against child abuse and neglect. They produced the series of advertisements that accompanies eerie background music.

 

One example, titled "Music Box", an animated advertisement, accompanied by the sound of a music box but also playing suspenseful music and does not feature a voiceover, showing the girl sitting at the table while biting her index finger. A man then approaches a girl and then drags her into the room. It is followed by the sound of an object being smashed, implying that the girl is being abused. The advertisement also overlays the clips of a ballet figure at the top of the music box spinning and a doll. The ad ends with the logo of Bantay Bata 163 followed by a broken pieces of an object being zoomed in.

 

There is another creepy ads, aired sometime in 2006 (or later), where one shows the eyes of child glaring through the rectangular peep (indicating that the child is being locked up inside the room) and another one shows the fork spinning (in clockwise direction) - all in the black background and it accompanies eerie background music (sharp kalimba note). It was aired after the end of Goin' Bulilit or before the start of Rated K. This was voiced by Peter Musngi, in deep voice.

 

8. Please Pray the Rosary on ABC-5 (1996-2003)

 

This commercial was aired on ABC-5 (now known as TV5) between 1996 to 2003. In this commercial, several viewers were spooked over the close up image of Mama Mary and the loud choir. It then accompanies by the voice over of a woman saying "I ask every family, please pray the rosary" followed by the male voice over reading the text on the screen saying "The family that prays together, stays together", a phrase coined by Irish Catholic priest Patrick Peyton. Another version of this commercial showing the close up of Mama Mary, this time the screen color turns from blue to orange.

 

9. "Sarsi Angat Sa Iba" 

 

 

The song composed by Ryan Cayabyab is beautiful, especially with its message about not being afraid to stand out. The music is deemed to be beautiful and meaningful but the painted faces floating in a black background is somewhat creepy. Nevertheless, the ad is found to be nostalgic.

10. PSA commercials

The PSA have produced a series of commercials that disturbed viewers in the late 90s to early 2000s.

Among them, titled "Ripped Doll" where it shows the doll in a black background being grabbed by the hand and squeezes it as the doll starts to cry. The ad ends with the handed figure blocks the screen. The ad was available on YouTube but it was removed in 2016 for its violent nature, making it completely lost. The commercial was said to be produced by Council of Welfare and Children.

 

The second one, titled "Shabu", where the commercial starts off with a black background and a Styrofoam-like human-shaped figure and it slowly dissolves from a liquid dropping from above, supposedly an acid. After it dissolved, the word SHABU was shown above it. There is said to be no voiceover and only eerie background music. The commercial is nowhere to be on the Internet and it is said to be aired only on IBC-13.

 

Another advertisement, titled "STD" (sexually transmitted diseases), where it shows the lady dress levitating and then shows the stain at the central part of the dress. The dress is violently blown and rips apart. Another variant shows the tube (representing the male penis) slowly decaying and eventually give away. It was produced by Department of Health (DOH), Philippine Information Agency (PIA) and Kapisanan ng mga Brodkaster ng Pilipinas (KBP).

11. Mild & Wild

Another advertisement produced by a beverage company shows a creepy but suggestive commercial. It shows the window slides shut by itself and the music box with a ballet dancer starts playing by itself. This was shot by stop-motion where the music transforms into ethereal background music and the ballet dancer starts to dance suggestively. Kind of creepy though.

 

 

References

• Encarnacion Bechaves (lost commercial for Filipino florist; 1990s). Archived. Lost Media Wiki.
• 5 (TV5) Please Pray the Rosary
• https://lostmediawiki.com/OPS-PIA_Ripped_Doll_(lost_Filipino_child_abuse_PSA;_1998-2001)
• https://lostmediawiki.com/%22SHABU%22_(lost_Filipino_anti-drug_PSA;_1990s)
• https://web.archive.org/web/20211121020500/http://isamunangpatalastas.blogspot.com/2016/06/63-creative-guilds-1989-tv-ad-of-year.html