MANILA – The Philippines’ Tourism Ministry has terminated a contract with an advertising agency after the latter used stock footage from other countries for a new tourism branding campaign.
The ministry said in a statement on Monday that it made the decision after DDB Philippines “publicly apologised, taken full responsibility, and admitted in no uncertain terms, that non-original materials were used” in a promotional video meant to boost tourist arrivals.
The Philippines last week unveiled a new tourism campaign called “Love the Philippines” that 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”.
“Proper screening and approval processes should have been strictly followed,” DDB said. “The use of foreign stock footage in a campaign promoting the Philippines is highly inappropriate, and contradictory to the (Tourism Ministry’s) objectives.”
The video was produced at its own expense, it said.
The Tourism Ministry said it made no payments to DDB under the branding campaign contract.
Tourism Minister Christina Frasco said last week the new branding campaign cost 49 million pesos (S$1.2 million).
DDB said it has taken down the video following public backlash since Philippine blogger Sass Sasot first pointed out that it included foreign footage.
The Tourism Ministry said in its statement it “repeatedly sought confirmation from DDB on the originality and ownership of all materials contained in the AVPs (audio-visual presentations) and key visuals presented to the Department”.
“In ALL these occasions, DDB repeatedly assured the DOT that the originality and ownership of all materials are in order,” the ministry said.
Some of the images used in the promotional video can be found on the websites of stock footage providers. For example, footage of rice terraces is on Pond5, which identified the location as Ubud on the Indonesian tourist island of Bali.
Videvo has the same aerial shot of sand dunes as the one used in the Philippine ad but says the location was Cumbuco in north-eastern Brazil.
Other footage shows a fisherman casting a net while wearing a hat that is not typically worn in the Philippines, and a person driving a buggy over sand dunes in the United Arab Emirates.
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, REUTERS
