The advertising agency that produced the latest tourism campaign for the Philippines has denied its work was a copy of another country’s.
The commercial, Sights, follows an elderly Japanese tourist as he explores the many famous spots in the country. It is only at the end, where he brings out his walking cane, that his blindness is revealed.
McCann Worldgroup Philippines said the campaign was inspired by the touching stories of visiting foreigners, and is not a copy of a 2014 campaign video from South Africa.
That one also featured a blind man experiencing South Africa’s people and places despite his inability to see.
This controversy reminds us of yet another tourism campaign—Pilipinas Kay Ganda from 2010—bearing an uncanny resemblance to the Polska tourism poster from Poland. There were glaring similarities in font, color and even the images used. This short-lived campaign was supposed to replace the Wow Philippines campaign that had attained respectable success since 2002.
On this latest allegation of the Tourism Department’s plagiarism, McCann said it merely highlighted the testimonial of a retiree even as claimed full responsibility for the ideas and storyboards it had conceptualized.
“There has never been any intention to copy others’ creative work,” it said. “We stand by the integrity with which this campaign was developed.”
Strangely, though, we have not heard anything from the Tourism Department itself. If there is an entity that bore greater responsibility for the controversial campaign than the creative agency that did it, it would be the government unit that supposedly commissioned the campaign—and gave final approving authority.
Then again, perhaps the department would be inclined to approve anything given its desperation to sell the Philippines amid the blows we have received in the past few months.
The most recent episode is that of a gambling addict setting ablaze casino tables at Resorts World Manila. But there are many others: Terrorism and banditry, not only in Mindanao but in many parts of the country, the prevalence of drugs and the questionable ways in which the government is addressing the menace, and the lack of infrastructure that fuels sustainable economic activity.
In fact, the Secretary of Tourism was quoted a few months ago warning the media against reporting so harshly on conditions here so as not to scare tourists away. This did not sit well with journalists, of course. “We do our work,” we told her. “As you should do yours.”
Now we don’t only have problems in tourism. We also have problems with the tourism campaign. Pathetic, really, as if we did not have enough trouble to begin with. Tourism officials should strike a balance between extending an invitation and being upfront to potential guests.
Tourists are not blind to what is happening here and elsewhere. Advances in technology make everyone aware of what is going on anywhere at any given time. The trick is to assure them it is still worth visiting despite these risks—real and imagined.
