Netizens: DOT's ad agency plagiarized logos

Pinoy Netizens have accused Campaigns and Grey, the advertising agency behind the Department of Tourism's (DOT's) beleaguered "Pilipinas Kay Ganda!" campaign, of plagiarism in the wake of the ad agency's official statement on the issue. In its statement, Campaigns and Grey said that it had warned the government against publicizing what was originally intended to be just a "branding exercise". "Campaigns & Grey was called by DOT for a new branding exercise... From the beginning, it was clear that the actual campaign would be bidded out and that our work was merely to establish preliminary strategic directions," the agency said in an official statement released yesterday, November 19. Also according to the agency, "Pilipinas Kay Ganda!" was just one of five concepts meant for market testing. Campaigns and Grey said that it was directed to use the Polish Tourist Organization's "Polska" logo as an "inspiration" for its own concepts, which were also supposed to undergo further market research. Campaigns and Grey said that it was "shocked" that the DOT decided to go public in spite of the PR agency having allegedly expressed misgivings against doing so. "We repeatedly warned the client that it was premature to launch, or even preview the study, but apparently, preparations for the tour operator event were already underway," Campaigns and Grey said. Nevertheless, this has not prevented online observers from criticizing Campaigns and Grey for its actions: "(The 'Pilipinas Kay Ganda!' logo) was not just an inspiration. It's a copy with a few revisions," said blogger Ellen Tordesillas. "There is no justification for their mistake. They should just bite the bullet. Admit they f*****-up and move on to truer things," added "Isagani" on Tordesillas' blog. "Without the two logos side by side, the copy may pass as an original. Well, was there an instance a plagiarist voluntarily or instantly cited his reference?" enjoined "baycas2". "Why bother to copy someone else's work even if it was just a study? Does anyone submit something if it's not meant to be used precisely because it is a copy? Also, the act of copying itself doesn't look good at times no matter the intention of the copier," wrote Facebook user Norman Konrad Sison on a re-post of the agency's statement on the social networking site. "The Pilipinas and Polska logos are just too close for comfort; beyond inspiration. A client is a client but any advertising firm with self-pride would never allow a client to wrest control of a process —especially when it is definitely preliminary," wrote Inday Espina-Varona on her Facebook Wall. "If (Campaigns and Grey) were really unhappy about the whole thing, they could have disowned the project as soon as this flap erupted," responded Carlos H. Conde. As of posting time, neither the DOT nor Campaigns and Grey have issued any official follow-up statements concerning the "Pilipinas Kay Ganda!" campaign. - DM, GMANews.TV