Last week, the Philippines Department of Tourism unveiled its latest campaign. While we have ‘Incredible India!,’ Malaysia has ‘Truly Asia’ and Philippines had ‘WOW! Philippines,’ the new campaign is called ‘It’s more fun in the Philippines‘. It may not have sounded great instantly, but I quickly began to like it as I saw more of the campaign’s visuals. It’s a very effective campaign in getting the youth of Philippines to play their part in getting creative with their own submissions and sharing them with their friends. It’s trendy, very current… and absolutely freakin’ perfect as a meme generator!

The brains behind this campaign surely knew people were going to have fun with the tagline and it’s many, many possible variations. Even though the Department of Tourism won’t appreciate the negative variations, being the Philippines, it just can’t be helped. As they say: “There is no such thing as bad publicity”

So here are my creations:

(Above photo was taken on a bus ride from Puerto Princesa to El Nido)

(Photo was clicked while undertaking the arduous trek to Batad village in Banaue)

(The above happened to me in Angeles City)

(The above two photo photographs were from the Good Friday celebrations in Pampanga)

(These kids were having a ball in El Nido)

(This was taken on Seven Commandos beach)

And finally…

Update (10/01/2012):

Update (17/01/2012): Got some more! 🙂

(The tarsiers are famous residents of Bohol)

(Again, another photo I clicked when I toured Bohol)

(Both taken from Bohol’s most famous Chocolate Hills)

—-

Now, if there are any sensitive Filipinos that land up on this page and thinks the above is a mockery of your country by an Indian — please don’t. I’m not insulting the Philippines at all. I’m sure Filipinos can do that way better than I can. In fact, here’s what I think about your country. Trust me, I would love to visit Philippines again! I just did this for fun, like the many who have turned this campaign into an internet meme.

As soon as this new slogan was announced, some Filipinos lambasted it saying it’s a rip-off of a Swiss tourism ad from 1951. Who cares! ‘It’s more fun in the Philippines‘ works better for a country that has a lot more to offer than the snow-capped nation of banks with illicit money. I just hope the campaign is well promoted and sees a return on its investment.

P.S: I’ll update this post with some more pics as and when I come up with new ones 🙂 Oh, and if you want to create your own version using software such as Photoshop (what I used), download the Harabara Bold font from here, the slogan .eps file and you can refer to this website for some tips.