WATCH: Side by side comparison of DOT, South Africa tourism ads

MANILA, Philippines — Despite a denial from the Department of Tourism that the newly released tourism campaign video is a rip-off of on by the South African tourism brand video, netizens still pointed out several similarities between the two promotional videos.

The DOT’s new tourism campaign video, “Sights”, which uses the tagline “Experience the Philippines” drew flak hours after it was released to the public on Monday.

Netizens noticed that DOT’s video based on the life of blind Japanese retiree M. Uchimura was similar to the South African tourism brand video called “Meet New South Africa,” which also featured a blind British traveller named James O’Driscoll’s experiences in South Africa.

DOT’s video was a minute long while South Africa’s video lasts for two minutes and 15 seconds.

Tourism Assistant Secretary Frederick Alegre on Tuesday morning defended DOT’s advertisement video saying it is “not a rip-off” and is “definitely experiential.” He said that the video is different from South Africa’s because M. Uchimura is an actual retiree who decided to reside in the Philippines unlike O’Driscoll, whom Alegre said was probably just visiting South Africa.

"Our ad that was released yesterday was beautifully executed. While it has similarity with the ads of South Africa, the biggest difference really is that is a true story. The Japanese retiree is an actual retiree residing in the Philippines,” Alegre said in an interview with ANC’s Early Edition.

‘Scene by scene similarities apparent’

Despite this statement, netizen Raphael Phoebus Ubales made a side-by-side video noting the similarities in the two tourism ads. Ubales lamented the scene-by-scene resemblance of the two tourism videos.

“I find it tacky that they even had to copy the ad SCENE BY SCENE! The opening sea shot, the sand close up, the dancing with indigenous people, really? And please don't get me started with the Igorots wearing boxers shorts...Watch and decide for yourself,” he wrote in a Facebook post.

In Ubales’ comparison video, it can be noted that among the striking similarities include the beginning of the video, where the setting is an island, the feature of dancing tribes, extreme sports and mingling with locals and the revelation that the tourist was blind.

For the DOT video, it featured riding ATVs as an extreme sport while surfing was featured in the South African video.

Both videos however ended with the revelation that the tourist was blind as both use a walking stick.

Ubales said DOT’s video was handled by advertising firm McCann Worldgroup. He added that the tourism agency “has a P650-million budget for its ad campaign this year.”

Watch Ubales' side-by-side comparison video here:

DOT also criticized for other campaigns

This is not the first time that the DOT earned criticisms for its advertisement campaigns.

In 2010, the DOT was criticized for the "Pilipinas Kay Ganda" logo, which was allegedly lifted from Poland's own tourism campaign, Polska. The logo has similar colors and use of tree icon.

DOT also drew flak in 2012 when it launched its “It’s more fun in the Philippines" campaign, which was allegedly copied from Switzerland’s “It’s more fun in Switzerland" campaign.

Alegre however said it is also the reason why they chose to launch their advertisement based on experience. 

The newest campaign is the second in a series of advertisements that DOT will release in the coming months