Tea Spilled and Truths Revealed as ADPROS Conduct Forum Against Disinformation

Written by: Mikael R. Mijeno

The fight against disinformation in a post-truth world continues as the Polytechnic University of the Philippines’ (PUP) Advertising and Public Relations Organization of Students (ADPROS) concluded their hybrid forum last April 14, 2023.

Entitled “Spill the Tea: Establishing Connections through Critical Conversations,” the forum was made possible by ADPROS, Evident Integrated Marketing and PR—the leading agency in purpose marketing, and Fusion: The Philippine Music Festival. Sponsored by RED Images, _baked.manila, Ready Set Glow, and Motivo with media partners Philippine Star, Now You Know, Dyaryo Milenyo, Edge TV Philippines, SparkUp, and The Communicator, the tea was brewed, and the battle against disinformation continues.

The forum was the first face-to-face event organized by ADPROS since the pandemic started. It’s the peak of the second part of ADPROS’ three-phase advocacy plan in the fight against disinformation—entitled “Between the Li(n)es: Critical ADPR in a Post-Truth World,” it aims to highlight the responsibility and role of the Advertising and Public Relations (ADPR) community in the fight against disinformation.

With tea-spillers from Evident Communications, Ms. Mef Marzan—the Associate Director of Advocacy Communication, and Ms. Dove Subingsubing—Director of Advocacy Communications, spearheading the conversation, guests joining the discourse were delighted with “tea” about approaching disinformation. In her segment of the conversation, Ms. Marzan said that,

“Having access to information does not mean we know what to do with it.”

As we enter the age of social media, information gets delivered faster than before, making it harder for people to be consistently critical of the information they are presented with. Ms. Subingsubing mentioned that it is important to remember that a cause of the propagation of misinformation is the overwhelming amount of information available, at a pace that won’t allow viewers to discern them.

Discoursers were treated with practical and strategic solutions in approaching the battle against fake news—from offering them SMART goals to providing them smart tools. The tea-spillers also emphasized the importance of fighting disinformation within the ADPR community—with the industry being at the forefront of disseminating both information and disinformation.

In battles like this, proactivity is our best bet, Ms. Subingsubing emphasizes. Organizations and individuals both need to learn how to approach disinformation and fake news in a proactive way rather than a reactive one.

As the event wrapped up, Mr. Christian O. Bohol, head of the three-phase project and Executive President of ADPROS, thoroughly reminded the discoursers of the role of the ADPR community in the war against disinformation. The end of the forum also marked the start of the third and final phase of the advocacy project. Photographs taken throughout the event can be found here.