Philippines dumps ad agency for using foreign images in tourism campaign
2023.07.03
Manila
Philippine tourism officials announced Monday they were terminating a contract with an ad agency after it used stock images from other countries for a nearly U.S. $1 million campaign to promote the nation to foreign visitors.
Amid protests from Filipinos in the wake of the embarrassing discovery that images from countries as far afield as Brazil, Switzerland and the United Arab Emirates had appeared in the “Love the Philippines” campaign, the Philippine Department of Tourism blamed the controversy on DDB Philippines, an advertising agency.
“Under the terms governing the DOT’s tourism branding campaign contract with DDB Philippines, ‘material/s produced by the winning bidder should be original and aligned with the DOT’s advocacies,’” Tourism Secretary Christina Garcia Frasco said in a statement posted online.
“[T]he DOT hereby exercises its right to proceed with termination proceedings against its contract with DDB.”
Noting that DDB Philippines had apologized and taken responsibility for its use of the non-original material, Frasco called what happened an “abject failure to comply” with the contract and to meet the “objectives for enhanced tourism branding.”
The tourism department said it would continue an investigation after previously stating that no payments had been made to DDB Philippines, the company responsible for the successful 2012 campaign, “It’s more fun in the Philippines.” The latest campaign was estimated to cost 49 million pesos ($887,000).
The embarrassing examples of visual plagiarism in the campaign, which were revealed by Agence France-Presse’s fact-check team and a Filipina blogger, Sass Rogando Sasot, deals a blow to the Philippines, which, like many other Southeast Asian countries, is relying on its tourism sector as its economy tries to recover from the COVID-19 pandemic.
Some of the promotional video included scenes from Thailand and Indonesia as well as famous sand dunes in the UAE and an aircraft landing in Switzerland.
Sasot, the blogger, posted the ad and several images from other countries on her Facebook page.
DDB Philippines apologized for its action.
“While the use of stock footage in mood videos is standard practice in the industry, the use of foreign stock footage was an unfortunate oversight on our agency’s part,” the ad agency said. “The use of foreign stock footage in a campaign promoting the Philippines is highly inappropriate, and contradictory to the DOT’s objectives.
“We sincerely hope this will not diminish the genuine love and appreciation the stakeholders and the public have been showing for the ‘Love the Philippines’ campaign,” it said.
‘Lazy work’
Before the tourism department announced that it was dropping the contract with DBB Philippines, Congressman Joey Salceda questioned why the promotional video did not include footage of the country’s most active volcano, Mayon.
“For something as critical as an entire country’s image, you don’t ‘set the mood’ with plagiarism,” Salceda said, noting that it was next to impossible for anyone to overlook the 2,462-meter (8,077-foot) Mayon in promoting the country’s top tourist destinations.
“Clearly, the exclusion of Mayon and other tourist attractions intrinsic to the Philippine brand was just a symptom of lazy work that is now evident to everyone,” he said.
Meanwhile, House Deputy Minority Leader France Castro criticized the tourism department and urged government agencies to investigate and potentially take legal action.
“The use of deceptive stock footage by the DOT is not only a disservice to Filipinos but also to foreigners who may be misled into believing that these images represent the beauty and attractions of our country,” Castro said.
Castro also pointed out the similarity of the “Love the Philippines” campaign slogan to the 2021 “Love Cyprus” campaign.
On Monday, Sen. Nancy Binay, chairwoman of the Senate Committee on Tourism, said the department must be held accountable for the gaffe, calling the controversy a “major setback.”
“This is not the first time that DOT and its agencies drew flak from netizens because of some creative lapses,” she said in a statement, adding that Tourism Secretary Frasco must explain the embarrassing oversight.
“Aren’t we supposed to show authenticity? These types of promotional anomalies directly affect travelers’ decisions and at the same time portray a negative image of how we promote our destinations,” Binay said.
Gerard Carreon in Manila contributed to this report.