The Belo Medical Group received criticisms on Tuesday, August 10 after uploading a video ad portraying a woman who "let herself go" during the pandemic.

In the minute-and-a-half long video, a woman is seen turning on the TV and watching tons of bad news. As she does so, her appearance changes – the skin under her eyes darkens, she gets acne, grows facial and body hair, and gains weight.

She then goes on a video call, and the person on the other end of the line asks her “anong nangyari?”

The ad ends with a tagline that reads “tough times call for beautiful measures” and a call to book a consultation with Belo.

By late night of August 10, the video had been taken down from Belo's official social media accounts after receiving negative comments from the internet users.

The ad is part of a campaign of the hashtag #PandemicEffect, which includes social media posts from several celebrities in the likes of Gabbi Garcia, Claudia Barretto, and Saab Magalona.

The material was created with ad agency Gigil, which said in a release statement that the ad meant to portray something many people experienced in the pandemic.

“Being in lockdown gave us less reasons to care about how we look, since we’re all stuck at home. Much of our time is also spent hearing stressful news. And we absorb this negative energy that manifests itself in our appearance, without us even realizing it. (That is, until we look in the mirror.)”

Belo Medical Group explained the ad was 'just a reminder... that if you’re ready to make the decision to take care of yourself again, we are here to help'