The advertising agency handling the “Love the Philippines” tourism campaign has apologized to the Department of Tourism (DOT) for utilizing non-original or stock footages in the audio-visual presentation (AVP) of the agency.
In a statement released by the DDB Philippines on Sunday, July 2, the firm tapped by the DOT took full responsibility for the tourism video blunder. “DDB Philippines profusely apologizes to Tourism Secretary Christina Garcia Frasco, the Department of Tourism (DOT), and the Filipino People for the apparent use of non-original / stock footage in the audiovisual presentation (AVP) shown in the launch event of the Love The Philippines campaign,” it said. “As DOT’s agency on record for the launch of this campaign, we take full responsibility over this matter,” the firm added. The DDB said that the tourism video in question was produced by the advertising agency at their own expense. “No public funds were released, or would be released, to fund the video. This was a DDB initiative to help pitch the slogan,” it noted. “The AVP in question , uploaded by the agency on social media was intended to be a mood video to excite internal stakeholders about the campaign.” According to DDB, the use of stock footages in mood videos is “standard practice” in the advertising industry. The advertising firm, however, said the utilization of foreign stock footages was an “unfortunate oversight” on the DDB’s part. “Proper screening and approval processes should have been strictly followed. The use of foreign stock footage in a campaign promoting the Philippines is highly inappropriate, and contradictory to the DOT’s objectives,” it stressed. It further claimed that the tourism video blunder was “an isolated incident”, noting that the controversial AVP has already been taken down as of writing. “The succeeding ad materials have yet to be produced for this campaign. We are fully cooperating with, and assure our full compliance towards the Department of Tourism’s investigation of this matter,” the DBB said. Earlier, the tourism department launched an investigation into the said tourism video after several netizens alleged that some of the stock footages used in it were shot in other countries. In a Facebook post, blogger Sass Rogando Sasot alleged that at least five of the footages used in the tourism video were taken from different locations such as  Indonesia, Thailand, Switzerland, United Arab Emirates, and another location she said was not taken in the Philippines. She accompanied her post with links of the videos used in the tourism video. All of them can be accessed on the Storyblocks website. One of the apparent stock footages used in the tourism video resembles to the Philippines’ Rice Terraces, but according to Sasot, the footage used was actually taken from a rice farm in Bali, Indonesia. Other netizens also had the same observation as the blogger and posted screenshots and links to prove their point. Frasco has recently bared that the government spent P49 million for the development of the latest tourism campaign of the country—“Love the Philippines.”