Unfair Portrayal: the Controversial BIR Print Ad

            On March 2, 2014, a foul tax campaign advertisement by the Bureau of Internal Revenue appeared in a newspaper.

            In the half-paged print ad, it can be seen that a female doctor is riding piggyback on a female teacher. The ad also shows the income of the said doctor and teacher. The doctor named Marjorie Villena, earned P1, 075,080.52 and paid only P7, 424 in taxes while the teacher named Carina Santos, who earned P852, 169.48, paid P221, 694.23 in taxes. At the bottom of the ad is a message saying: "When you don’t pay your taxes, you’re a burden to those who do. Do your share. knowyourtaxes.ph."

            First, the print ad violated the Ads Standard Council Code of Ethics, Article 2 section 1 (b) where it stated that “advertisements should not be deceptive or mislead the public”. The said ad is misleading to the people who might see it because it will lead them to the conclusion that all doctors are tax cheats. “Let's say for example that there might be some truth to it, the presentation of the doctor is still unfair for it generalizes the whole population of doctors in our country.

           The ad created a negative image and employed stereotyping and shaming which is an ethical violation in advertising. If the BIR wanted to collect taxes, shaming and stereotyping is not the right way to do it especially that it is a government agency and it represents the Filipino people. It is ironic how something that should represent the Filipino people undermines its countrymen. The Bureau of Internal Revenue should have been more mindful on what they are trying to say rather than just creating a "publicity gimmick" for people to pay their taxes.

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(Editor’s note: If the figures in the print ad were annual incomes, then doing some simple calculations will lead us to the assumed monthly income of Carina Santos, the school teacher,  at around P65,000 a month [annual income divided by 12+1 months]. Perhaps, BIR (or at least the creative geniuses behind this print ad) should also earn the ire of school teachers for misrepresenting a very basic fact about them.)