A pop culture and literature professor at the University of the Philippines-Diliman, on Friday Feb. 16, explained why the trending duck clip became popular in the Philippines.
"We (Filipino) have a phenomenon called ‘bandwagon syndrome’ (copycat, all the way) to describe the tendency of joining trends just to be part of it," Dr. Jimmuel Naval, Dean of the UP College of Arts and Letters, said in a mix of English and Filipino in a TeleRadyo Serbisyo interview.
"Whatever is trendy, we imitate," he added, explaining that the duck clip is just one of the trends from the past.
"We have been doing this for a long time, not just with head decorations but also with food," he said.
To solidify the point, Naval cited the coffee and milk tea trend as an example.
"In the past, we didn't drink coffee. Now, there's Starbucks. We didn't drink tea with milk back then, but now there's milk tea," he explained.
However, Naval expressed hope that the hype of this trend will not end, as many people are earning money from it.
'It won’t hurt the class'
Meanwhile, Department of Education (DepEd) Assistant Secretary Francis Bringas saw no harm in the classroom.
"It's just a fad. It's a hair accessory, maybe it won't affect the class if there's an extra accessory on the head. I don't think it will be bothersome for many," Bringas said in an interview.
Thus, he saw no problem with the trend and noted that it is no different from a regular ribbon clip.
"It's just a simple hair accessory. Usually, if you're going to use a ribbon, it's okay to wear a ribbon," the assistant secretary said.
"Our hair accessories that are not distracting to classroom instruction are okay; we have no problem with that," he added.