Philippines ends deal with ad agency after tourism video fiasco

THE Philippines’ tourism department on Monday (Jul 3) said it has terminated a contract with an advertising agency for using stock footage from other countries for a new tourism branding campaign.

The Department of Tourism said in a statement that it made the decision after DDB Philippines “publicly apologised, took full responsibility, and admitted in no uncertain terms, that non-original materials were used” in a promotional video meant to boost tourist arrivals.

The South-east Asian nation last week unveiled a new tourism campaign called “Love the Philippines”, which included a video that media company Agence France-Presse confirmed showed places in Brazil, Indonesia, Switzerland and the United Arab Emirates. 

DDB Philippines apologised on Sunday for using “foreign stock footage”, saying in a statement that it “was an unfortunate oversight on our agency’s part”. The tourism department said it has made no payments to DDB under the branding campaign contract.

DDB said it has taken down the video following public backlash since Philippine blogger Sass Sasot first pointed out that it included foreign footage.

Widely known for its white-sand beaches and turquoise waters, the Philippines is aiming for 4.8 million international tourist arrivals this year. So far, total visitors have reached 2.25 million in the five months through May, government data showed. BLOOMBERG