Senator Richard Gordon on Tuesday questioned the Department of Tourism’s “unnecessary” decision “to keep changing tourism slogans.”
Gordon made the comment in the wake of the controversial “Sights” campaign by the DoT, which drew flak from netizens and advertising industry stakeholders and forced the agency to cut short the campaign.
Gordon instead urged the DoT to revive the “Wow Philippines” slogan that was introduced during his term as Tourism secretary.
“Bakit ba tayo palit nang palit? Amazing Thailand has been there for a long time, Malaysia Truly Asia [also]. Sinabi ko na sa kanila ‘yan, hindi naman nakikinig. Ano naman gagawin ko?” Gordon, who was DoT secretary during the Arroyo administration, told reporters. “Pwede ibalik na lang Wow Philippines. Wala namang masama doon eh. Dito kumi-click yun, dahil per region, may sariling ‘wow’,” he said.Wow, for instance, in Manila, could stand for “Walk Our Walls;” “Watch Our Whales” for Sorsogon, and “Warm Over Winter” for Boracay, he said.
Gordon said he did not spend a single centavo for the “Wow Philippines” slogan.
“Huwag naman tayo ma-ngopya. Magaling naman tayong mga Pilipino eh. Actually, pwede na pero hindi maganda pakinggan na ginagastusan ng pera, ang laki ng pera. Ako ang ginastos ko sa advertising nung panahon ko, wala, wala akong ginastos,” Gordon said. (Let’s not copy from others. We Filipinos are just as creative. It’s also not good to hear that we spend a lot of money for the campaign, because in my time, I did not spend a single centavo on advertising).
Last week, the DoT announced that it had canceled its P650-million contract with McCann Worldgroup Philippines following the controversy over the Experience the Philippines tourism campaign.
The DoT admitted that they saw very glaring similarities between “Sights,” which was produced by McCann, and the advertisement released for South Africa in 2014.
