Advertising agency DDB Philippines produced a video promoting the country as a vacation destination and using footage from other countries. Part of a government campaign to promote the country as a tourist destination, the video was released on June 27 and cost €824,445.00.
The agency apologized for the “highly inappropriate” images, including rice fields in Indonesia and sand dunes in Brazil.
The Tourism Ministry announced late on Saturday that it was investigating allegations that DDB’s video contained “non-original photos”. The video was later removed from the agency’s Facebook page.
Filipino blogger Sass Rogando Sasot denounced on Facebook that several images in the campaign video came from other countries.
AFP confirmed that the video shows locations in Brazil, Indonesia, Switzerland and the United Arab Emirates.
DDB apologized on Sunday for using “foreign imagery” and described it as an “unfortunate mistake on the part of the agency”.
“Proper screening and approval processes should have been strictly followed,” DDB said in a statement.
Tourists want ‘authentic interactions’
The tourism ministry said in a statement that it had “repeatedly requested DDB to confirm the originality and ownership of all materials in the AVPs (audiovisual presentations)”.
“On ALL these occasions, DDB has repeatedly ensured that the originality and appropriateness of all materials were in order,” the ministry said.
Some of the footage used in the promotional video can be found on the archival footage websites.
For example, images of rice fields come from Ubud on the tourist island of Bali.
Other images show a fisherman casting a net wearing a hat not normally worn in the Philippines, and a person driving a buggy over sand dunes in the United Arab Emirates.
A tourism ministry spokeswoman did not respond to AFP requests for comment.
Tourism Minister Christina Frasco told local media last week that the new brand campaign has cost €824,445.
Frasco said the ministry conducted an investigation and found that tourists want “authentic interactions with communities” in the post-pandemic era.
Source: DN
