Gordon: Fix, don’t dwell on tourism ad fiasco
RICHARD “Dick” Gordon, who served as Tourism Secretary during the Arroyo administration, on Tuesday said that Filipinos deserve more than mere statements about the fiasco involving the use of stock photos in the newly launched “Love the Philippines” tourism campaign.
“We need to fix the problem as a nation. Somebody has to own up in order for us to restart the campaign. That is the only way. DDB Philippines must admit negligence for not checking the photos in the audio visual presentation (AVP) of the Department of Tourism (DOT)] and how they left the country red-faced in the international community,” Gordon, chairman and CEO of the Philippine Red Cross, said.
He said tourism is far too important to dwell on this deception.
“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,” Gordon said.
The controversy, which he described as “toxic but salvageable,” can be restarted with a proper attitude, of owning up to their mistake, showing that we do have competitive tourist destinations.
