MANILA, Philippines- Dapat ibalik ang perang ginamit sa promotional advertisement para sa “Love the Philippines,” ayon kay dating senador Richard Gordon nitong Lunes.
Binatikos din ni Gordon, dati ring tourism secretary, ang paggamit ng stock footage para sa advertisement na aniya ay ginawa nang may “very serious negligence.”
“First of all, they should return the money…or at the very least correct the damage already done,” giit ni Gordon sa isang panayam.
“You know, this is not the first time this happened. This is one mistake too many,” dagdag niya.
Inalala ni Gordon na nang likhain niya ang “Wow, Philippines!” slogan noong siya ay nakaupong DOT secretary, hindi umano siya nag-hire ng advertising agency.
“I could not make that same mistake because I was the one who made ‘Wow, Philippines.’ I did not hire any advertising agency,” paglalahad niya.
“But if you do hire the services of an ad agency, you must be careful,” patuloy ni Gordon.
Ayon pa kay Gordon, nang palitan ang slogan ng “It’s More Fun in the Philippines,” “there is already a faux pas.”
“That was copied. If you Google it, you will find that the ad was already done by the Swiss in 1951 and it was adopted here. And we paid for it right? So that means we’re plagiarizing,” aniya.
Aniya, katulad din ito ng pinakabagong promotional video: “We’re plagiarizing to a certain extent. We show a picture that does not belong to us. It shows: wala na ba kayong maipakita na maganda diyan? Sarili niyo bat kayo mangongopya pa??”
“Or at the very least, are you that stupid that you make such egregious error na hindi nyo binabantayan yung nilalagay niyo (that you don’t know what you are putting into it). It shows that we are disrespectful to our profession,” wika pa ni Gordon.
“I suggest that the advertising agency be forthright. When they said they were not paid, I personally I won’t believe that. Certainly they are looking for an excuse.”
“We have enough destinations here that we can love here. We have rice terraces on our own. We can love our beaches, our Boracay and the Secretary of Tourism (Christina Frasco) is correct, on her speech on why we are in Conde Nast magazine for having the best beaches in the world. We have great dives here in the country, so there’s really no reason to copy,” paglalahad niya.
“It was carelessness! Lack of diligence to say the least,” dagdag ng dating mambabatas.
Inihayag din nina Sen. Grace Poe at Senate Minority Leader Aquilino “Koko” Pimentel III ang pagkadismaya sa isyu sa tourism slogan.
“It has been said that there must be truth in advertising.
It’s frustrating to know that even the government can fall victim to blunders in a marketing campaign that supposedly aims to promote the Philippines’ unique character, natural beauty and cultural attractions,” pahayag ni Poe.
“Para tayong na-scam sa advertisement na ito.
We expect the incident will not happen again especially to government agencies like the DOT that our people trust,” dagdag niya.
Sinani naman ni Pimentel na para sa kanya, ito ay “very disappointing due to the very unprofessional work using stock video footages.”
“Love the Philippines is the idea yet we were proudly showing Indonesian Thai Swiss and Emirati tourist attractions,” giit pa ni Pimentel.
“Anyway, we want to be a friend to all nations. Hence maybe that is our expression of our friendliness to all nations. We promote them also in our promotional videos about the Philippines,” dagdag niya. RNT/SA
