SINGAPORE — Aspects of a promotional video which went viral online and provoked strong reactions “could have been done better”, said the Singapore Tourism Board (STB) in a statement today (April 8).

The video — produced for the Philippines by Philippine network ABS-CBN in an effort to customise content for this audience — features a couple visiting various landmarks and tourist sites in Singapore. It was taken offline less than two weeks after it was posted online, but not before social media websites had replicated it and shared it on the Internet, with many posting remarks making fun of it.

Mr Oliver Chong, Executive Director, Communications & Industry Marketing, Singapore Tourism Board said: “We often share our marketing videos on the STB YouTube channel. At the end of its TV run in the Philippines, we decided to also share this particular video on YouTube. We subsequently removed it as it was not resonating well with audiences.”

He noted that the video, when posted on the STB’s Facebook page for the Philippines, had attracted over 3,400 likes in the first week and garnered some 900 “largely positive” comments.

“In the meantime, we have found some of the responses and spoofs that have been shared online to be creative and clever. We once again invite the public to share their ideas with us at STB_Comms [at] stb.gov.sg,” he said.

The tourism board thanked members of the public for their feedback on the video.