A press release in disguise

JEERS TO The Philippine Star for publishing and placing an obvious press release promoting a delivery company in the News section on its June 18 issue.

The article “Kris Aquino becomes first ever LBC brand endorser” was about the event organized by the company to launch its partnership with Aquino. It reported the highlights of the event while using the company’s tagline “padama sa bawat padala” to further endorse LBC Express Inc. as “the market leader in payments and remittance, documents and mail, parcels and boxes and cargo and logistics in the Philippines.”

In the guise of a news report, the press release focused on LBC’s branding as a “global” company alongside Aquino. It even boasted of its reach by enumerating the countries its branches are located in, cleverly weaving those details in to the information about the event itself. It said: “there were treats from countries where  LBC branches are located: fresh  fettuccine tossed in a parmigiano-reggiano wheel from  Italy, Paella Valenciana from Spain, Hong Kong’s star-anise braised pork belly and Japan’s sustainable tuna and salmon sashimi.”

Aquino was even quoted in the article as saying that “LBC simplifies life because there are certain products that I need to purchase that are just available in the United States.”