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Submitted by: Jerlyn A. Quilantang
11-STEM A1

Submitted to: Mr. Carl Martin Alcantara

The gist: Just after its launch in January 2012, the Department of Tourism’s (DOT) “It’s more fun in
the Philippines” slogan was criticized for allegedly being a copycat of a 1951 Swiss tourism slogan
that read “It’s more fun in Switzerland.”

What DOT did: Tourism Secretary Mon Jimenez took to Twitter to react on the issue, saying that
the similarity is just a coincidence.

What happened next: The plagiarism issue eventually died down, especially after Swiss
Ambassador to Manila Ivo Sieber expressed his support for the “It’s more fun in the Philippines”
campaign.

DOT stands by 'Sights' ad despite plagiarism

Sofia Tomacruz
Published 8:20 PM, June 13, 2017

Updated 8:20 AM, June 14, 2017

'NO PLAGIARISM.' The Department of Tourism and McCann Worldgroup Philippines maintain that the
'Sights' ad was not plagiarized despite its similarities to a South African tourism ad.

MANILA, Philippines – Despite backlash on social media over alleged plagiarism, the
Department of Tourism (DOT) said it stands by its new commercial, "Sights."

There are accusations that the DOT's latest ad, created by McCann Worldgroup
Philippines, copied an ad of the South Africa Tourism Agency.

"We stand by McCann; we stand by the creative execution. We know for a fact that the
Philippines is a choice destination and is also a choice place to stay for retirees. It's all
part of the choice series of ads to show the spirit of the Filipino," said Frederick Alegre,
DOT Assistant Secretary for the Office of Public Affairs, Communications, and Special
Projects.

The commercial, released on Monday, June 12, drew criticism as social media users
pointed out its similarities in narrative and style to South Africa's tourism campaign
called "Reconsider South Africa." In both videos, a blind man explores beautiful
destinations. For the DOT, it was a Japanese retiree who chose to live in the
Philippines.

According to the DOT, its ad mainly targets retirees from all over the world. The
commercial will be aired in countries with aging populations such as Japan and South
Korea over the next 3 to 4 months.

'Due diligence'

McCann also reiterated that they conceptualized the commercial based on a true story.
(READ: McCann responds to plagiarism accusations vs DOT ad)

"All our concepts were original. It was brainstormed and based on the truth that we
found. There was no plan to pick up pieces from other ads. That's not the direction and
that's not the way it works," Niña Terol, McCann assistant vice president for corporate
affairs, told Rappler.

"Due diligence is part of our review and we can categorically say that there was no
copying and no intention to copy. We've been an agency that has operated for over a
century around the world and we're not going to compromise our integrity for any reason
whatsoever," she also said.

Terol could not immediately confirm whether McCann was aware of the South African
ad even before the controversy broke out.

But she said there was constant communication between the DOT and the ad agency
throughout the creative process.

"At every stage there really has to be client approval. The team works together and
there is client approval befoe anything is released," said Terol.

Alegre noted that while the two ads have similarities, they have unique propositions. In
the case of the DOT ad, this was its targeted approach to retirees.

"I've been in the media and advertisement industry for a long time and there are really
creative executions to similarly situated stories but have unique propositions. It can be
about anything under the sun – [for example] the experience. But we can use it in a
different angle and that's accepted. It's something that's accepted in the advertising
industry," said Alegre.
Not the first time

This is not the first time the DOT has been criticized for lack of originality. The previous
slogan, "It's more fun in the Philippines," was quickly compared to a vintage 1951 ad
used by Switzerland.

Moving forward, Alegre told Rappler that the DOT will continue to respond to Filipinos
giving feedback on the country's tourism campaign.

"I think it's important that we are able to react to them (netizens). We're happy to be
able to engage because when it is discussed people will understand it better. In that
sense, it's the essence of social media so it's fair game," Alegre said.

"We have a 24/7 social media team that does nothing but react to them (netizens)
based on our campaign," he added.

Alegre also said the DOT is reviewing the processes in place to ensure originality in its
promotional materials. – Rappler.com
Quilantang, Jerlyn A. 12-02-19

11-STEM A1 Mr. Carl Martin Alcantara

“It’s more fun’ in Philippines and Switzerland”

Plagiarism has been traditionally defined as the taking words, images, ideas,
phrases, such as kidnapping of words kidnapping of ideas, fraud, and literary theft. In
this case it says that DOT who make the tourist slogan for the Philippines which is ”It’s
more fun in the Philippines” last 2014 slogan was criticized for allegedly being a copycat
of a 1951 Swiss tourism slogan that read “It’s more fun in Switzerland.” It’s very similar
as you can see and the problem is why DOT makes that kind of slogan.

DOT stands by 'Sights' ad despite plagiarism accusations. They said that it was a
coincidence that the slogan that they released last 2014 is purely originated by them.
They say that they are not have an intension to copy and to plagiarize the Switzerlands
slogan. Also, they said from the video that I’ve watched on YT, before they conduct that
kind of slogan they watch and search about the slogans of other countries to avoid
plagiarism and copyright therefore they sure that they agree to the accusation that
giving to them.

For me, I felt sad when I was reading and watching the videos about this issue
because our very own country involved to this kind of large issue that may affect to our
country. Although it was my country, I’m just a little bit confused if they are saying the
truth. Yes, we can say that this is a coincidence but as a producer or conductor you
must be responsible and need to be careful if there are already existing thing about your
idea you need to search for the possible outcome that makes your work similar to them
because it affects a lot by your surroundings especially you are rising the whole country.
Actually this is not the first time the DOT has been criticized for lack of originality. The
tourist attraction video that they conduct has a similarity to the video of South Africa
where the videos represents the same idea, thoughts and meanings so that it also
makes a big issue about Plagiarism.

The plagiarism issue eventually died down, especially after Swiss Ambassador to
Manila Ivo Sieber expressed his support for the “It’s more fun in the Philippines”
campaign. Therefore, they not removed and actually until now we are using this slogan
“It’s more fun in the Philippines”. The main reason why they are many foreigners visit to
our country because it’s literally beautiful. That’s why we must raise our flag and say
that “It’s more fun in the Philippines.”