The Department of Tourism recently unveiled its Love the Philippines campaign with an aim of boosting the tourism industry in the country. And while things seemed colorful and great at first, the government agency has hit a snag early on, as it faces criticism from netizens for allegedly using material that was actually shot from other countries for its local campaign.
DOT’s Love the Philippines Video Allegedly Used Stock Footage that Were not Shot in the Philippines
Facebook posts have surfaced, comparing parts of the DOT’s video to stock clips on Storyblocks that you can buy, some with captions stating where the videos were taken.
Rice Terraces
This clip of a rice terraces, which is being sold on Storyblocks, was shot in Bali, based on the description.
Fisherman
While the description did not mention where it was taken, this clip of a fisherman was shot by a studio from Thailand.
ATV
This clip shows someone riding an offroad vehicle. According to the video’s description, it’s somewhere near Dubai.
As this article is being written, evidence of more instances of stock clips being used have surfaced.
In response, the Department of Tourism has launched an investigation on the matter. The department has also issued a statement, which was posted on Secretary Christina Garcia Frasco’s official Facebook page.
It mentions that the DDB Philippines, the agency which was in charge of the ad, repeatedly assured the DOT on the originality of the content, and that no public funds have been paid for it.
DDB Philippines has issued a statement on the matter, stating that the material uploaded on social media was only meant to be used as a mood video to excite internal stakeholders.
They also added that the use of foreign stock footage was indeed an oversight and was inappropriate. The DOT also reaffirmed that there was no expense from the part of the government, and there won’t be.
However, another post claims insider information that there was indeed a schedule to shoot at least one of the videos in Boracay, however, the shoot was allegedly cancelled a day before the trip.
Emman has been writing technical and feature articles since 2010. Prior to this, he became one of the instructors at Asia Pacific College in 2008, and eventually landed a job as Business Analyst and Technical Writer at Integrated Open Source Solutions for almost 3 years.
