The document discusses the Juan Tamad NOT iOS game app, which aims to challenge the negative stereotype of Filipinos being lazy. It does this by gamifying the story of Juan Tamad, turning the character from lazy to industrious through puzzle-solving. The game seeks to show Filipinos as creative, fun-loving and hard-working people. It hopes to help both Filipinos and global audiences develop a better understanding of Filipino culture and beliefs. The app has received positive reviews and downloads not just in the Philippines but from countries around the world, showing how a local story can reach a global audience.

1. Juan Tamad NOT
iOS App
28 November 2012

2. The tale of Juan Tamad has become part and parcel of Filipino
folklore and comedy, so deeply seated in the nation’s cultural
unconscious, that older Filipinos barely blink at its mention.
Juan Tamad (or Lazy John) is originally a young man infamous for his indolence. So lazy is he that he’d
rather wait for fruits to fall to the ground instead of climbing up to pick them, or letting crabs he’s bought
from the market find their way to his home because he’d rather be playing. He first appeared in a 1919
poem called “The Life lived by Juan Tamad, son of Fabio and Sofia, in the Kingdom of Portugal.”
But before this popular folktale became a source of comic entertainment, it had its roots in racial
stereotypes. The Philippines was colonized by the Spanish from 1565 to 1898. This laziness was seen and
reported by many Spanish reports as an endemic quality of the Filipinos.

3. Philippine national hero Jose Rizal, is quick to defend Filipinos in a series of essays published in 1890 called La
Indolencia de los Filipinos or The Indolence of the Filipinos, though he admits that such an indolence does
exist. Rizal wants to challenge Filipinos to realize what is questionable about their own behavior. However, he
also believes that this laziness is due to many other factors, including colonial inferiority, and that Filipinos are
not indolent by nature. Only by allowing Filipinos then to be educated, united, and liberated can this problem can
be properly addressed.
While these essays were written over a hundred years ago, the stereotype still persists. It has found its way to
popular literature, cinema, music, and other forms of expression. Over the years, it is a characteristic that
Filipinos have learned to believe about themselves, and worse, accept with little question.
It's an oppressive belief when wielded by an outsider looking
in, but when it is believed by someone from within the
society, it can be devastating and defeatist.

4. What can a simple
game app do?
First, it has the power to change popular perspective. It can deliver a strong message subtly and gradually.
By choosing light and audience-friendly situations, a casual game app can avoid the preachy pulpit while
getting its point across.
Next, it can start young. It can talk to a young audience, both local and abroad, in a language that they can
understand. A game app utilizes technology and social media to address this targeted audience.
Finally, it can offer solutions. An app that knows how to challenge its audience, one that understands the
need for creative solutions and thinking outside the box, can help develop visual logic skills that will prove
beneficial outside the game.

5. Juan Tamad NOT iOS App

6. This is what Juan Tamad NOT
sets out to accomplish.
Last October 2012, TOOCH, Inc launched a free iOS game app called Juan Tamad NOT, available for iOS
devices. Ideal for players aged 5 and up, Juan Tamad NOT aims to challenge the player to improve their visual
logic and spatial intelligence by solving a series of puzzles that help turn a little boy from lazy to industrious.
The game works by allowing the player to build a bridge from provided blocks, essentially helping Juan to reach
his goal. Three different stories about Juan, each told in limerick form, create storybook moments interspersed
between its twenty-four unique puzzles. An additional twenty-four puzzles are available via in-app purchase.
The game also features original Filipino-inspired art and sound created specifically for the app. It draws very
strongly from cultural elements, presenting a rich visual tapestry that sets it apart from other puzzle apps in the
market.

7. Here is a game app that attempts to correct a
biased understanding of the Filipino culture.
Filipinos are known to become very vocal and emotional when they are incorrectly portrayed in popular media.
Many stereotypes of the lazy Filipino has been perpetuated over the years, and while the outrage is present,
there remains very little done to address the situation.
The game understands that this is not an easy task.
But what it constantly proclaims is that laziness is not permanent.
What Juan Tamad NOT seeks is to be a proper representative of the Filipino. It proudly shows a different
Filipino everyman to the world: a creative thinker, fun-loving and industrious--not someone who is lazy or leaves
it all up to fate. Through its engaging gameplay, it attempts to give the world a better understanding of the
Filipino psyche.

8. The Filipino has the potential
to work hard and succeed.
The nation’s economy has been at a high in the past few months.
The second strongest performing economy in Asia... -- Deutsche Bank AG
The Philippine stock market is the 2nd best performing market in the world.... -- Deutsche Bank AG
The Philippine stock market has had 31 record breaking closing for the year 2012.
The Philippines could become the 16th largest economy in the world by the year 2050. -- 2012 Wealth Report
HSBC
This is why we want to do away with the ‘lazy’ stereotype
that has plagued us all these years.

9. Most of all
we want Filipinos to believe
that we can do it.
That we are a nation of achievers...

10. featured on Rappler.com

11. featured on BestAppsForKids.com

12. featured on TV5’s Reaksyon

13. featured on FirstPost

14. featured on GameSpotAsia.com

15. featured on AppClimb.com

16. Tweet from DOT Sec. Ramon Jimenez

17. No. 1 Educational Free iPad App – 2 days after launch

18. No. 2 OverAll Top Free iPad App – 4 days after launch

19. “What’s New-What’s Hot – iPad Educational App
– 4 days after launch

20. “What’s New-What’s Hot – iPad Puzzle App
– 4 days after launch

21. The challenges are plenty.
But technology allows us to approach these from many ways.
The game talks to two audiences. The first are those who may not be familiar with the Juan Tamad folktale,
whether they’re from a global audience or a younger local one who has not yet been exposed to the story. To
them, the game becomes an introduction. As the game prods them towards the importance of diligence and
effort, then their first glimpse of the character is immediately a positive one.
The second audience are those who already have a negative connotation in mind when they hear Juan Tamad.
What the game does is to immediately subvert the story’s stereotypes, as it gives players a way to spur the
character into action.

22. A local story can have
a global audience.
Juan Tamad NOT has built its online presence on both Facebook and Twitter. Aside from news and updates on
the app itself, these avenues allow the developers to facilitate discussion and encourage followers towards a
more industrious outlook.
While Juan Tamad NOT's instructions are in English, the folktales included before each of the three game
chapters are translated into English and Filipino. This enables a wider range of users to understand the positive
values that the game wishes to impart.
Its initial download figures have been very positive. Downloads were not only registered from the Philippines and
surrounding regions, but even as far as Senegal. This proves that a game has the potential to reach a wider
audience than one can imagine.

47. Thank you very much…