Truly a fun place!

Good publicity, bad publicity, is still publicity. This is what the new slogan of the Department of Tourism has enjoyed these past weeks after its conception and eventual release to the public. Accused once again of plagiarism, the new slogan has found itself being the talk of the internet, which has proven in every way, good or bad, to be good! It is indeed more fun, to make fun of the Philippines! And the netizens have once again shown their humoristic creativity in coming up with a myriad ways to have “fun” in the Philippines!

I remember during the presidential campaign of Joseph Estrada. The cellular airwaves were abuzz with Erap’s so-called famous quotes. So popular were the quote-jokes, that a book was created containing every conceivable quote attributed to the eventual President of the Philippines. As to whether he actually said them or not did not matter. They made him the talk of the town. And although it may not be statistically proven that these “Eraptions” helped him win the highest office in the land, I tend to believe they did!

But one cannot blame the faultfinders when the fun slogan first came out. Copying another country’s slogan is not exactly new to the Department of Tourism. Remember the Polish slogan that was exactly like what the DOT first came out with after “Wow Philippines”? Even the colors and the font type were suspiciously similar. It was eventually scrapped, with the DOT wishing they were ostriches so they could hide their heads in shame. Then comes another one, which is apparently what Switzerland used along time ago. But then who cares? No one can really own the word fun, can they? But still the faultfinders pressed on.

Then came the netizens, who chose to ride on the slogan and create different hilarious scenarios based on local culture and idiosyncrasies! From crowd-surfing during the Black Nazarene procession, to showing an opened balut showing the actual contents. Something westerners fear eating, down to their bones! The more adventurous tourist will might actually be intrigued by what the photos show, and find out for himself if they are true or not. That’s half the battle won already!

I firmly believe this campaign, if done properly, will work. Coupled with the filming of “The Bourne Legacy” in Manila, the country should very well be in the tourist map destination of many. We have lagged behind our Southeast Asian neighbors, as usual, in terms of tourism and exposure. Why that is, is something I have always asked myself. I have been around the country and it is such a wonderful place. We just need a little attitude adjustments here and there, along with some infrastructure improvements to make them world-class.

Let’s make this work, so we can finally get more people to really have fun in the Philippines!