Netizens call out DoT’s ‘Experience the Philippines’ ad and its similarity to South Africa’s ‘Meet South Africa’

Just when the Department of Tourism thought it could enjoy the seemingly smooth, generally uneventful release of its new "Experience the Philippines" ad, netizens took to reddit to compare the too many similarities with the Meet South Africa commercial from last year.

Both featured a tourist, revealed to be blind at the very end of the spot.

“The Philippines’ new tourism video is a copycat of South Africa’s from last year,” reddit user rubyanjel said, when he posted the South Africa ad and jumpstarted a discussion.

It quickly garnered 96 comments, some of which dragged McCann Ericksonn, the advertising agency supposedly behind Experience the Philippines ad.

Of course, one-worded smart-alecky comments were not missing from the discussion that 12 hours on, is still rather dynamic. “#Symbolism,” one commenter said, while “naSotto” wrote another.

There were those who said Secretary Teo should resign, while there were also those who defended the Philippines’ ad saying it was just a similar concept.

In an interview with GMA News TV, Department of Tourism Assistant Secretary Ricky Alegre made the distinction between the two ads.

While he did note the similar ending, he said that "the South Africa ad was about the tourist. Ours is about someone who is already residing in the Philippines, a retiree."

He emphasized that the "Experience the Philippines" ad, which is one of the four releases slated for the year, went through numerous processes and procedures to make sure the retirement slant is highlighted.

"It's safe to say that it is presented in a different manner," Alegre said.

The Department of Tourism will be releasing a joint statement with the advertising agency within the day, he said. —LA, GMA News