The Philippines’ tourism campaign received widespread ridicule due to a video that included footage from other countries.
The ad agency responsible for the video had their contract terminated after it was discovered that stock imagery from Brazil, Switzerland, Indonesia, and the United Arab Emirates had been used.
The Philippine Department of Tourism, who paid $900,000 for the campaign, was forced to remove the video from its social media platforms due to these mistakes.
DDB Philippines, the agency behind the video, issued an apology and attributed the fiasco to a failure in quality control.
They admitted that proper screening and approval processes had not been strictly followed, acknowledging that the use of foreign stock footage in a campaign promoting the Philippines was inappropriate and contradictory to the objectives of the Department of Tourism.
A Filipino blogger named Sass Rogando Sasot was among the first to notice that certain parts of the video featured images from countries other than the Philippines.
Examples of the mishap included pictures of rice terraces in Bali, Indonesia, sand dunes in the United Arab Emirates, an airport runway in Switzerland, and a fisherman from Thailand.
The Love the Philippines campaign was initially launched with a lavish event attended by high-level officials. However, the campaign quickly fell apart once news of the video spread.
The tourism ministry revealed that it had constantly sought confirmation from DDB regarding the originality and ownership of all materials used in the video presentations. Despite these inquiries, DDB repeatedly assured the Department of Tourism that everything was in order.
Tourism is a crucial industry for the Philippines, known for its stunning beaches and nature parks. However, the country struggles in comparison to neighboring destinations like Indonesia and Vietnam due to its poor infrastructure and high expenses.
According to The Guardian, the number of visitors to the Philippines dropped by 68 percent compared to pre-pandemic levels in 2019, with only 2.7 million people visiting the archipelago last year.