Metro Manila (CNN Philippines) — With the advent of gadgets with cameras and accessible social media, a new way of political campaigning was born — using selfies.
Several potential presidential candidates have joined the bandwagon and have taken advantage of this trend, but will it translate to votes come May 2016?
Politicians do the selfie
Supporters nowadays rarely ask for an autograph or even a handshake, instead they take out their camera phones or even tablets, and pose for a selfie with politicians.
When Vice President Jejomar Binay does his town visits, he plunges into the crowd to pose for selfies and pictures with the people.
Like the vice president, Sen. Grace Poe also spends a significant amount of time taking selfies — even “groufies” or group selfies — on her out-of-town visits.
The same is true with Department of Interior and Local Government Secretary Mar Roxas, who gamely poses with his supporters wherever he goes.
Sen. Bongbong Marcos, in a YouTube video he posted on August 7, can be seen dancing and holding a camera phone while taking groufies with his supporters — not just one groufie, but eight groufies in a span of a 1:41 video.
Experts weigh in on the power of selfies
Campaign strategist Malou Tiquia explained taking selfies is the newest thing introduced to Philippine politics.
“It shows endearment. In a way, it is a good thing to promote the candidate. It is also good for propaganda purposes,” she said.
Tiquia said that politicians clicking the shutter button and taking selfies is adding a positive dimension to a candidate. It makes them look approachable, and to some extent, give off a cool and hip vibe.
She, however, said that not every selfie will translate to a vote for a candidate.
“It depends. [Kung ang selfie] nakaakbay… humahalik, those are endearing poses that can translate to votes. Kung ang selfie medyo formal, you can see the body language,” Tiquia said.
Philippine studies Professor Jimmuel Naval explained Filipinos, by nature, like taking photos with celebrities and politicians.
Naval, like Tiquia, believes that for photos to translate into votes, politicians have to talk and genuinely interact with people.
“Hindi lang parang plastikan, click-click pero parang nandidiri sila. Bagamat still ang larawan, dapat may intimacy, close na close yung taong gustong magpapicture with him or her,” he said.
Naval and Tiquia reminded voters to look beyond the behavior of candidates on these encounters.
There is nothing wrong with taking selfies with politicians — whether for bragging rights or simply to serve as a remembrance. But the experts stressed that the Filipino voters should vote based on what really matters: Platform, credentials, character, and most of all, sincerity.
CNN Philippines’ Joyce Ilas contributed to this report.
