MANILA, Philippines — The Department of Tourism’s (DOT) is probing the alleged use stock footage taken from other countries in its “Love the Philippines” promotion video.
The clips from the said video, which supposedly aims to showcase the Philippines’ tourist attractions, were purportedly stock footage from Thailand, Indonesia, United Arab Emirates accessible in Storyblocks, a rapid video creation platform, according to various users online.
In response, the DOT said on Saturday that it started conducting an investigation “to determine the veracity of, and to gather the full faculty of facts on, these allegations.”
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=WC43d1iJO_4
It added that DDB Philippines, the agency that prepared and published the audio-visual presentation, has repeatedly confirmed the originality and ownership of all materials in the video.
“During the various meetings and consultations held relative to the tourism brand enhancement, the DOT, for its part, repeatedly sought confirmation from DDB on the originality and ownership of all materials contained in the AVPs and key visuals presented to the Department,” the DOT said in a statement.
“In all these occasions, DDB repeatedly assured the DOT that the originality and ownership of all materials are in order,” it added.
The tourism department likewise clarified that the video under the newly-launched campaign, which costs P49 million as revealed by Tourism Secretary Christina Frasco in an interview over CNN Philippines’ “The Source,” did not use public funds.
“While no public funds have been paid for the AVP in question as this particular component of the launch was released on the account of DDB, the DOT holds the responsibility of promoting the country to the highest standard,” it said.
“Therefore, it will not hesitate to exact accountability and take the necessary action to protect the interest of the country even as it continues to exhaust all efforts to develop and promote the Philippine tourism industry,” it added.
Use of stock footage
DDB Philippines, on the other hand, issued an apology to DOT and the public, as it admitted using non-original or stock footage for the Love the Philippines campaign video.
It likewise highlighted that the video was produced “at its own expense, and no public funds were released or would be released, to fund the video,” adding that the “use of stock footage in mood videos is a standard practice in the industry.
“[T]he use of foreign stock footage was an unfortunate oversight on our agency’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,” DDB said.
“This is an isolated incident and the AVP has already been taken down as of this time. The succeeding ad materials have yet to be produced for this campaign,” it added.
DDB further revealed that it is already cooperating with the DOT’s investigation.
“We sincerely hope this will not diminish the genuine love and appreciation the stakeholders and the public have been showing for the Love The Philippines campaign,” it said.