STB admits vilified video could have been done better

SINGAPORE — Intended to woo Filipino tourists to Singapore’s shores, a Singapore Tourism Board (STB) promotional video — which has been ridiculed by viewers here — has been removed from the government agency’s YouTube channel because it “was not resonating well with audiences”.

Responding to the wave of mockery heaped upon the video, the STB’s Executive Director for Communications and Industry Marketing Oliver Chong acknowledged “some aspects of it could have been done better”.

The video, titled See Where The World Is Heading, was produced by Philippine network ABS-CBN as part of the STB’s efforts to customise content for different markets.

It came under the spotlight here on Monday when news website Mothership.sg shared it under the headline “This STB video is so bad it will go viral”. The video shows a couple sightseeing around Singapore as part of their wedding anniversary. Near the end of the video, the husband gave his wife a necklace as a gift, and was reciprocated with the “surprise” of a positive pregnancy test kit.

Hours after netizens left scathing comments, particularly about the bizarre plot twist, the STB removed the video from its YouTube channel and later, its Your Singapore Philippines webpage. However, the video continued to be posted elsewhere on the Internet and shared.

Mr Chong said the STB often shares its marketing videos on the agency’s YouTube channel.

When the video was first shared on the STB’s Facebook page for the Philippines, it gathered more than 3,400 likes in the first week and about 900 “largely positive” comments.

“At the end of its TV run in the Philippines, we decided to also share this particular video on YouTube,” said Mr Chong in response to media queries.

He did not respond to queries on whether it was the first time that a video has been taken down. The STB also said it could not reveal its production budgets.

The STB has produced customised content for countries such as Thailand, China and Australia.

Last year, a marketing video centred around the use of the Singlish expression “shiok” drew mixed response over its execution, but has been viewed more than a million times since.

Popular blogger Lee Kin Mun (Mr Brown) described the Philippine video as “three minutes of your life you won’t get back”, while fellow blogger Benjamin Lee (Mr Miyagi) tweeted “NO! NO! NO! THIS IS NOT MYSINGAPORE!”.

Spoofs of the video have also been created and posted on the Facebook page of parody site SGAG, to which Mr Chong responded: “We have found some of the responses and spoofs that have been shared online to be creative and clever.”

The public can send suggestions and ideas to STB_Comms [at] stb.gov.sg, he added.