A country rebranding effort that was meant to invigorate a post-pandemic tourism industry has gone horribly wrong after its promotional video was discovered to have used stock footage of scenes in other countries that were made to appear they were in the Philippines.
Controversy erupted over the weekend after renowned political social media influencer Sass Rogando Sassot posted on her Facebook page her discovery that stock footage of scenes in Thailand, Indonesia, the UAE, Brazil and even Switzerland were used in the promotional video released by the Department of Tourism for its “Love the Philippines” tourism rebranding campaign.
It was really a monumental blunder and all the more glaring since what we are talking about here is a gross misrepresentation of our very own country.
This is not just a mistake nor a simple oversight. This is a case of trying very hard to impress but losing sight of the purpose and, subsequently, the soul and the character of the subject.
Secretary Christina Frasco of the DoT has already acknowledged the blunder, and pointed to DDB Group Philippines, the agency branding consultant, as the one responsible for making the video.
In turn, DDB has issued its own statement of apology, and asserted that it is taking full responsibility for what it describes as an oversight.
The question now is — is that it?
I really don’t think it ends with that very simplistic statement of attrition and contrition.
Because the fallout from this epic embarrassment will be huge, especially now that it is all over the international media. This is going to be devastating not only to our tourism effort, but this will deliver a very huge blow to our national psyche and reputation.
And the worst is yet to come, given that this rebranding plan is now under heavy scrutiny, and with talk now of influence-peddling and interference by people who were not supposed to be taking charge.
This branding effort will actually cost us taxpayers the staggering amount of P1.27 billion, and the interesting factoid here is that this funding was approved by Congress with a specific line item that said the current tourism slogan — “It’s more fun in the Philippines” — should not be changed.
But it was changed because the President vetoed the same line item under the advisement of the secretary of Tourism.
Because of that veto, the “Love the Philippines” campaign was launched and the controversial promotional video was released by the DoT.
And with that, instead of LOVE, the world is now making fun of the Philippines.
Truly heartbreaking.
Mark my word.