Embarrassing faux pas in the Philippines: In a video, the island state’s Ministry of Tourism advertised vacationers with footage from other states. According to the ministry, a local PR agency is responsible for the mishap. The authority said on Monday that it was “outraged and deeply disappointed”. The contract with the agency had been terminated.
The approximately one and a half minute long video, which was published last week, had the slogan “Love the Philippines”. At first there was great joy about the successful commercial, but then Internet users pointed out that some of the material used did not show the Philippines at all. The clip is no longer used by the ministry.
Archival footage in the clip includes rice terraces in Indonesia, a silhouette of a fisherman in Thailand, an airport runway in Switzerland and sand dunes in the United Arab Emirates. The company “blatantly failed to meet the obligations under the contract,” the ministry wrote. However, the PR company apologized and openly admitted to having installed foreign material.
The agency admitted it took full responsibility for the botched clip: “The use of foreign footage in an advertising campaign for the Philippines is highly inappropriate and contrary to the goals of the ministry,” it said.
The Philippines consists of around 7600 islands. The Southeast Asian country is known for its dream beaches. Inland, national parks, jungles, waterfalls and mountain landscapes lure visitors.
