By Judith Juntilla
Poor hygiene caused the takedown of a song that has gone viral for all the wrong reasons. A rap song by an artist going by the name of Fred D’Germ caused an uproar for its wrong take on handwashing, prompting health advocates and soap brand Safeguard to remind people of proper handwashing.
Fred D’Germ, who appears in the song’s music video as an animated creature in the shape of a green blob wearing a red and white cap, released the song over radio and social media recently, and in it demonstrated improper ways of washing hands. Its popularity quickly spread online, and with it misinformation about handwashing practices.
The Fred D’Germ song features characters with nicknames of typical mistakes in handwashing. They include simply wetting the hands with water (Wisik-wisik Man), wiping dry hands over clothing (Punas-punas Gang), wiping dry hands with rolls of tissue paper (Mister Tissue Boy), and washing with soap and water and drying the hands without spending the prescribed 20 seconds of doing so (Miss Hugas-Bilis).
Fred D’Germwent one grimy step further by trollingpopular celebrities’ social media accounts. Followers of celebrity plantitaJolinaMagdangal’s Instagram account (@mariajolina_ig) got more dirt than expected when the green glob appeared on the account and said, “Plant, plant, plant then pagpag. No hugasneeded! Pwedenayan!”
Reality TV couple Jason Francisco and MelaiCantiveros’sIG account @mrandmrsfrancisco was also targeted. Fred D’Germ trolled a post of Jason and their two daughters and told them to play dirty. “Dirty hands, that’s how we like ‘em. Punaspunas lang, pwedenayan!” Even the pambansangmomshie wasn’t spared. The unsavory character invaded @karlaestrada1121 and wrote, “Lutoluto, no hugashugas, pwedenayan. Mas masarap!”
Fred D’Germ even went and trolled Safeguard’s social media accounts.
The misinformation and dirty tactics prompted Safeguard to come out and remind people about #SAFEwash.
Safe Wash involves handwashing habits using the following steps: First, wet hands with clean, running water and apply soap. Lather the hands and rub them together with soap by cleaning thoroughly from the back of the hands, the palm, between the fingers, under the nails. Scrub the hands for not less than 20 seconds. Then rinse the hands under clean and running water and finally dry the hands using a clean towel.
Moreover, Safeguard called on the public to fight the misinformation spread by Fred D’Germ’s video, reminding them that this “pwedena” mentality in improper handwashing can be very dangerous, not just to one’s health, but also to the health of loved ones.
The battle between the two camps is expected to escalate with the runup to Global Handwashing Day on October 15, when a full-on rap battle will pit good versus evil, clean against dirty, and soap versus Fred D’Germ.