Manila [Philippines], July 4: The Philippines' Department of Tourism (DOT) said on Monday that it was terminating a contract with a local ad agency after it used stock footage from other countries in a promotional video for its new tourism campaign.
The more than 90-second video was launched together with a new tourism slogan - "Love The Philippines" - last week.While there was initial excitement over the new logo and video, people on the internet started pointing out that some scenes were footage from other countries.
The stock footage included rice terraces in Indonesia, a silhouette figure of fisherman in Thailand, an airport runway in Switzerland, jumping dolphins from an unspecified location, and sand dunes in the United Arab Emirates.
In a statement, the tourism office said it "is in solidarity with our fellow Filipinos in expressing our outrage and extreme disappointment at the use of non-original/stock footage purporting to be scenes from the Philippines."
The department cancelled its contract with DDB Philippines, the local company behind the ad, saying the firm's "abject failure to comply with their obligation/s under the contract" was behind the cancellation.
Source: Qatar Tribune