The Sharon Cuneta-Gabby Concepcion love team from the ’80s is back in people’s hearts after an online commercial of them has emerged as the most popular YouTube video advertisement in the Philippines for the first half of 2018.
The commercial, released in February 2018 and aptly titled “Kumusta Ka,” has been viewed over four million times as of this writing.
It is the most popular advertisement on YouTube Philippines from January to June 2018, according to a report by Google Philippines.
The video topped other online local advertisements, including those from a rival fast food restaurant.
It was evident that love teams strongly resonate with Filipinos, as reactions to Sharon and Gabby’s video were mostly complimentary.
Sharon and Gabby have a cute Mcdo commercial.
I'm not even friends with my ex HAHA
— Courtney V. (@kkkamunggay) February 13, 2018
Kinikilig talaga ako dito kay Gabby and Sharon. I’m a solid fan ??That McDo commercial is love!
— Dr. Gia Sison (@giasison) February 11, 2018
MOM IS KILIG OVER THE SHARON AND GABBY MCDO COMMERCIAL HAHAHAHAHAHAHAHA
— Carissa (@mspotatopenguin) February 9, 2018
Christina Lao, the fast food chain’s marketing director, explained that they featured the ShaGab love team since it is “one of the most-loved tambalans (of) all time, truly transcending generations.”
In the video, the ex-lovers could be seen “catching up over a meal, stealing glances at each other, sharing smiles, and enjoying the romance in the air,” Google Philippines observed.
Before the video officially came out, the ex-lovers revealed Instagram posts that alluded to each other.
Gabby shared a picture of him with a bouquet and a meaningful caption that featured his secret code with Sharon in the past.
In an interview, Sharon revealed that “10/20” was their code for “I love you” on CB radios.
On the same day, Sharon uploaded a quote and a picture that had a board with the words “babe cave” written on it.
ShaGab fans were quick to connect the dots and determine that the ex-lovers were communicating with each other.
They were not disappointed — five days after, the video that featured the two made the rounds online. Within 24 hours after it was posted, it has already accumulated three million views.
The ShaGab magic
Older generations are more acquainted with the reel-to-real romance of the ’80s couple who portrayed what could be considered a fairytale-like story in the showbiz industry.
Sharon and Gabby first set hearts aflutter when they starred in a movie that had a Romeo and Juliet-like storyline sans tragedy titled “Dear Heart” in 1981.
It immediately became a blockbuster and eventually launched the couple as one of the industry’s most prominent love teams.
They went on to star in several more romantic movies like “P.S. I Love You” (1981), “My Only Love” (1982), “Dapat Ka Bang Mahalin” (1984), “Sa Hirap at Ginhawa” (1984) and “Tayong Dalawa” (1992).
In the midst of their success, the two started an offscreen relationship that made them all the more popular with the romantically-inclined Filipinos.
According to Arnel Ramos of ABS-CBN Push, what set ShaGab apart from other love teams of their generation was their “aspirational” love story.
It was the “the perfect foil to the other leading love team of that era, the comical team-up of Maricel Soriano and William Martinez,” he wrote.
“Where Taray and Kulit’s appeal was inspirational (both came from humble beginnings), Sharon and Gabby’s was aspirational. In kanto terms, the two were amoy-mayaman.”
He further cited that the couple was known for portraying rich young lovers onscreen whose only “real problems were their rich problematic parents and how their young love would conquer all.”
In 1984, ShaGab sealed the deal and secretly married in the backstage of Araneta Coliseum during Sharon’s dress rehearsal for a concert. They later had their first child, KC Concepcion.
Three years after, they separated but that didn’t stop the public from shipping them, especially after their reunion video came out.
As Ramos wrote in his article: “One of the great things to come out of this much ado about Sharon and Gabby is inarguably the chance to let bygones be bygones. Renew ties, sending their only daughter ecstatic. Start over as friends, again.”
“That big screen reunion may or may not see the light of day but Sharon and Gabby, eternal idols both, can take comfort in the knowledge that this one special moment in time will go down in history as monumental poof of the inexplicable nature of magic and charisma.”
“The kind that spells adulation and sparks hope in alarming times like the one we are in. Hope is always a good thing.”
