Opinion

The week in review: Philippines says ‘thank you’ (but not to China), Stomp to ridicule young Facebookers, row in India over ‘shocking anomalies’ in newspaper readership survey, ‘glee’ over Facebook’s decline

Mumbrella Asia logoDid you have a good break? Short, wasn’t it? This is the forth in our series of round ups of the best stuff we’ve spotted – the good, the bad and the peculiar – in media and marketing in Asia Pacific over the past week.

The past few days has seen a row in India over a “shocking anomalies” in a newspaper readership survey, Singapore Press Holdings gossip site Snoop – sorry, Stomp – stoops to a new low, telco licences finally get the greenlight in Myanmar and Facebook turned 10. Oh, and Mumbrella is launching its first event outside of Australia – the Mumbrella Content Marketing Academy comes to Singapore in March.

Story of the week

Stomp's Don't be a Facebook Idiot campaignThe most disturbing story was the move made by gossip site Stomp, published by Singapore’s fading national broadsheet the Straits Times, which started a column devoted to publically humiliating Singaporean kids for “inappropriate” behaviour on Facebook. Such misdemeanours include making racist comments, which Stomp has always been a willing platform for, or posing for photos “in a state of undress”.

But, in our view, the big story came from the “last frontier” of Asian advertising, Myanmar. After months of legal wranglings, the government finally gave the go ahead to two telco providers to bring national mobile coverage to the country of 53 million people, which has huge implications for a country with only 2 per cent internet penetration and soaring mobile phone ownership. But word has it that one of the telco brands, Ooredoo, is at a disadvantage because it hails from a Muslim country amid ongoing ethnic conflict.

Quotes of the week

One of the many extraordinary comments on Twitter made in response to a Coke Super Bowl in which ‘Beautiful America’ was sung in languages other than English, such as Tagalog and Hindi.

I am no longer drinking Coke because they used terrorists in their commercials.

Twitter Sochi picOne of the complaints on Twitter made by journalists preparing to report on the Winter Olympics:

The reception of our hotel in has no floor. But it does have this welcoming picture.

Singapore-based writer Rob O’Brien’s blog post about the ‘decline’ of Facebook as it turns 10 years old, headlined: ‘Excellent. Facebook is getting old, just like the rest of us’:

There is a kind of glee about the conversation around Facebook’s mortality, which seems ridiculously premature, witnessed around its faltering initial public offering (IPO), its various privacy whoopsies, and now this — its runaway teens. People want it to fail. Why? Because it’s like watching a supermodel age or Manchester United lose…

…[Facebook] could be the first and last social media behemoth; the one that pushed us beyond reasonable limits of social interaction online and tried to connect everyone. Just before intimacy became vogue again.

Comment about Stomp’s ‘Don’t be a Facebook Idiot’ campaign:

Stomp exemplifies everything that is wrong with Singapore and the repulsive nature of “citizen policing” is frighteningly similar to Nazi Germany. Look how that worked out.

Philosopher Alain de Botton on Twitter:

The purpose of news isn’t just to monitor power, it’s to produce information necessary to help a nation to flourish.

Best ads

The Philippines says ‘thank you’ to the world for coming to its aid in the wake of the Typhoon Haiyan (but curiously the above-the-line campaign is not running in China or Hong Kong. Politically motivated?).

'thank you'

Apple. It’s the Mac-maker’s 30th birthday. And they celebrated it with this ad. Would Steve Jobs be proud? We think so.

The Sunday Times. Scenes from art, music and film re-enacted in a single take.

Coke. America is beautiful – sung in the Filipino national language of Tagalog

South Australian Tourism. A worthy attempt to make Adelaide seem exciting.

PETA. The animal rights charity might not have had the budget to run a Super Bowl ad, but they did a pretty good job of using Twitter to get their point across.

PETA Super Bowl tweet

Worst ad

A comical over-claim by Myanmar’s Best-T toothpaste.

Best-T toothpaste truck ad

Best-read story on Mumbrella:

Stomp launches campaign to ridicule young Singaporeans for ‘inappropriate behaviour’ on Facebook

Best news headlines

Most inane Stomp posts

Good week for…

Asian agencies in the Cannes Chimera competition. Take a bow DraftFCB Philippines, Australia’s Naked and Y&R Singapore, who will receive $100,000 of funding to implement their ideas to alleviate extreme poverty.

And Media agency UM, which retained Telekom Malaysia.

Bad week for…

Brand Russia, as journalists tweet about shoddy hotels in Sochi and brands are pressured into making statements over Russian’s anti-gay stance.

Prediction for next week

Could Grant Watts, who left SingTel where he was head of global advertising last year after a digital marketing shake-up, be joining Microsoft?

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