Unwowed

WEALTH OF wonders. Invoking the Mayon Volcano, Pinatubo, Hundred Islands and the rice terraces. The tarsier and tamaraw too. To cite but a few.
Warm over Winter. Images of splendid Boracay and secluded Caramoan. Of hundreds of beaches, to speak but of two.
Walk our Walls. Of historic Intramuros.
Watch our Whales. In Donsol, Sorsogon where the butanding (whale shark) roams.
All translating to “WOW Philippines.” A catch-phrase that really captured the imagination of the world and brought in hordes of tourists to the country.
Then followed, in quick succession: Amazing Thailand. Incredible India. Malaysia, Truly Asia. Our Singapore.
Great presentations all on global television. Impacting their singular message of enticement to the international audience: Come, indulge the senses, find fulfillment.
And now – gone full circle: Pilipinas, Kay Ganda.
Uninspired, and dispiriting. Insipid, or to take the fire straight from Senator Miriam Defensor-Santiago’s mouth: “Just ignorant, and ignorance is boring.”
Then some more flak: “Let’s think of something else. Let’s start some neurons in our brains working. Their (tourism officials’) neurons are not working. They’re not on full eight cylinders ... only two cylinders.”
Rejoinding, thus: “We have to find our niche because we have many competitors in Southeast Asia. We cannot just have ‘a beautiful country’ because everyone says that.”
Still, to the Department of Tourism – most naturally – Pilipinas, Kay Ganda is most inspiring.
“It raises awareness. It inculcates pride in our identity.” So was one Evelyn Macayayong quoted by the Agence France-Presse. Displaying before the whole world the drought of brain at the DOT.
Madame, branding here targets the international market, therefore language is a premium.
As Senator Juan Miguel Zubiri said: “…let’s come up with a more understandable slogan throughout the world. I have nothing against our Filipino language if the target market is the local market.”
Don’t dare DOT, Sir Migs, its brain(less)trust may just whip up “Philippines, So Beautiful.” Yuck!
Senator Loren Legarda for her part sees politics in this change in brand of the country’s tourism campaign: “We fix what doesn’t need fixing. We always think that what the past administration did was wrong,”
Yeah, so what was wrong with “WOW Philippines”? Just because it was conceived and birthed during the Macapagal-Arroyo administration made it all bad?
Truly unhappiest at the brand change, as Inquirer reported, is the progenitor of “WOW Philippines,” former tourism secretary, former Senator Richard Gordon who deemed Pilipinas, Kay Ganda hard to sell to foreign tourists. Even as it was a good way of luring balikbayans to rediscover the homeland.
“You have to sell the language first, but it takes time and the budget is limited.” So was Gordon quoted as saying. “We have little money and we don’t let our branding grow…I am not saying that ‘WOW Philippines’ is the best because I made it ... but simply because it gained attraction in spite of limited resources.”
While conceding that packaging something with a long name like the Philippines was a challenge, Gordon said “WOW” provided a nickname for the country that helped to communicate the message quickly.
Yes, in whatever language, “Wow!” says it all.
Too bad the cretins at DOT could only understand “Owww?”