With her celebrity status as actress and real-life role as housewife, Marian Rivera makes an ideal ambassador for 555 Tuna, the mass-market brand of Century Pacific Food Inc.
Unlike its upscale counterpart, Century Tuna, whose brand image focuses on a fit body and active lifestyle, 555 Tuna is promoted as inexpensive but still packed with protein, vitamins and minerals. It’s made even more nutritious with variants of adobo, mechado and afritada, replete with chopped vegetables and potatoes. The food company sources from General Santos City, dubbed the tuna capital of the Philippines.
“The message about six-pack abs or having a beach body won’t resonate with the masa. They are more concerned about day-to-day living. They want ulam that is healthy, affordable and varied, so we prepared familiar dishes,” says Greg Banzon, general manager of Century Pacific.
Since Marian is a low-maintenance beauty, the mass market can relate to her. She told Inquirer Lifestyle that she was never into any fitness regimen, although she’s done some Zumba.
Now on her first trimester of pregnancy, Marian said she has to refrain from intense workouts.
Her OB/Gyn’s advice is that she can eat anything as long as it’s in moderation.
As a cook, Marian prepares Filipino dishes. Whenever the actress preparessinigang, she asks her grandmother to brin
g her tamarind, and ginger lily or kamias from Cavite.
Convenience
She then made her pitch about the convenience of eating 555 Tuna during taping. Mixed with rice or bread from the 7-Eleven store, it’s a meal. With her pregnancy, she gets hungry every three hours. The tuna adobo, mechado and afritada satisfy her cravings.
“Growing up in Cavite, I still prefer the lutong bahay (home-cooked) style of meals. I eat everything, so nothing is wasted,” she said in Tagalog.
Research shows that seafoods are rich in B vitamins, iodine, selenium and omega-3 fatty acid, which is said to be important for a baby’s brain development.
In the New York Times article “Should Pregnant Women Eat More Tuna?” writer Tara Parker Pope quoted a report from the Dietary Guidelines Advisory Committee saying that the albacore tuna, which is generally used for imported canned tuna, provides benefits for brain development of fetuses and infants, as well as for cardiovascular health.
It also cites a Harvard study on the benefits of more fish intake during pregnancy. The babies who got the highest scores in memory tests came from mothers who ate more than two servings of fish a week.
Asked during the media launch if she was ready to gain more weight, Marian replied that as a married woman, having a life in her womb is a blessing.
