Entrepreneurs VS. YouTuber Doc Adam

 

This is my own opinion of the legal complaints filed against the YouTuber Doc Adam.

But who is Doc Adam?

Doc Adam is a doctor and YouTuber based in Australia. He has been to the Philippines for medical missions and asides from having a Filipina girlfriend, he claims that Filipino’s have a special place in his heart. He expresses this closeness to the Filipinos by speaking Tagalog in his videos

What caused the legal complaints against Doc Adam?

Doc Adam’s YouTube channel is a commentary channel. Commentary channels produce videos that debunk false claims and wrong information to educate viewers on what is wrong and what is correct on the internet.

In one of the videos of Doc Adam, he debunked the claims of edible supplements from Lito Ortiz and the famous Doc Farrah. The debunk focused on the explanation that the products being sold by the two entrepreneurs are not providing correct information to consumers.

Apparently, Farrah and Ortiz did not like the commentary and the review given to them, and it resulted in a legal complaint.

So who is Doc Farrah and Lito Ortiz?

Doc Farrah is an entrepreneur that sells products that suggest to cure cancer. Lito Ortiz is a Filipino entrepreneur that sells a whitening product that has other medical health benefits.

Their entrepreneur profiles are long, but to cut it short, they are selling products that are consumed by many Filipinos. A product that suggests curing cancer and a product that can make a brown skin white.

So what is my opinion? 

My personal opinion will focus on two questions:

1. Why Filipinos love miracle drugs?

2. Why Filipinos want to be white?

Miracle Drugs. There are two facts in the Philippines that support the popularity of a miracle drug. First, faith healers are part of the Filipino culture. Faith healers have been around in the Philippines before it was even named the Philippines. There is no town in the country that does not have a superstar faith healer. Second, quality health services are expensive for Filipinos. The Philippines does not have a good free health service for its people. Quality and free health services are not accessible to many.

These two facts feed the mechanism of miracle drugs in the Philippines. Many Filipinos believe that water with roots from grass can cure infinite illness. Many Filipinos need to take a bus ride for more than an hour to get to a public hospital. Not to mention the fact, that most public hospitals are undermanned, lacks financial support, and staffs are underpaid.

And to create a scenario, you have a serious illness, and for you to reach a medical facility you need to take the bus for more than an hour. And you need to repeat that for months so you can be treated. This is exhausting, right! Then you hear this advertisement on the radio, that there is a miracle drug that mentions one of the symptoms of your illness, and suggests that it can cure your illness. How would you feel about that product? 

In my own opinion, the desperation for a cure and the lack of available free health care are helping these miracle drug companies grow. The desperation of many Filipinos to be cured forces them to buy products that are surely safe to ingest but without assurance of a cure. And the unavailability of a reliable and accessible medical facility forces consumers to buy products with the tagline “no approved therapeutic claim”.

Filipinos want to be white. Many Filipinos are insecure about their skin color. Many Filipinos want to be white. The Philippines is a tropical country, and many Filipinos want to be white. Many Filipinos are in denial that the sun is unavoidable in the country.

But why do Filipinos want to be white?

For almost 400 years, the Philippines was colonized by foreigners. The Spanish left after 333 years, the Japanese after WW- II and the Americans decided to stay.

The Filipinos were colonized by these foreigners with white skin and generated a psychological tsunami across generations suggesting that white skin is a sign of good stature. In the Philippines, white skin is a sign of beauty. White skin is a sign of wealth. White skin is a sign of fame. 

Some Filipinos are insecure about their natural black and brown skin. Some Filipinos cannot accept the true colors of their ethnicity.

And this insecurity created a demand for whitening products. Simply because some Filipinos cannot accept their original skin color.

What is my conclusion?

Doc Adam will have a long battle ahead. But I am confident that he will win and hope he continues to educate more Filipinos.

To the miracle drug,  let us continue to share correct and accurate information about health. Let us seek medical advice from doctors if we are sick. And let us vote for leaders that have cared for healthcare.

And finally to the Filipino skin color, let us accept our skin color. If you are born black or brown, there is nothing wrong with you. You are not a lesser human being compared to others because you have dark skin.

And skin color will not make anyone beautiful. And instead of spending money on whitening products, be genuinely kind to all, because kindness is a source of sustainable beauty.