Former senator and Tourism secretary Richard Gordon. PRIB file photo / Bibo Nueva Espana
MANILA, Philippines — Former Tourism Secretary Richard Gordon on Tuesday said the Department of Tourism (DOT) should “mitigate the damage” caused by the controversial tourism promotion video for the Philippines, which used stock footage from other countries.
Gordon said also described the blunder as “toxic but salvageable.”
“Tourism is far too important to dwell on this deception. We must rise and correct the mistake right away,” Gordon, who served as Tourism secretary from 2001 to 2004, said in a statement. “Let us mitigate the damage that the sentinels in the DOT and the ad agency overlooked.”
DOT’s first “Love the Philippines” tourism promotion video received flak from locals who pointed out that it contained clips not from Philippines tourism sites but in Thailand, Indonesia, and United Arab Emirates.
After the flak, the DOT has since terminated its contract with its partner advertising firm DDB Philippines, which claimed that the promotion video the DOT uploaded was merely a “mood video” meant “to excite internal stakeholders.”
“The damage is gargantuan and this fiasco over the use of photos of Thailand, Indonesia and Dubai in the AVP astounded the world. Filipinos must exact accountability.
“An agency as big as DDB cannot overlook a mistake that big. It is their duty to review and have everything checked or the mistake will bite you. More importantly it will rabidly hurt the Philippines.
“There has to be recalibration because how can people love the Philippines if we are not showing the truth?” Gordon went on. —Kirsten Segui, INQUIRER.net trainee