Too much fuss over slogans

The slogan "It's More Fun In The Philippines" that many feel had been quite successful has been changed into "Love The Philippines" that the same number of people feel will not meet quite the same success. The rest of us, and I think we are “manier”, do not quite give a damn whether a slogan stays or goes. Especially where tourism is concerned.

 Maybe it is time we owned up to certain truths, especially in tourism where numbers, which do not necessarily reflect satisfaction, can often be misleading. I am of the mind that arrival numbers do not truly measure tourism success but that departing numbers of satisfied tourists do. And nowhere in that equation do I see the relevance of slogans.

Tourist arrivals are often the resulting composite picture of a number of factors such as, but not limited to, low airfares, ease in bookings, fairly robust global economies, security at destinations, uniqueness of tourism offerings, and a general sense of good expectations from the experience. These are top of mind for any tourist, not what a slogan says.

Slogans are always with us, often as catchy one-liners that, for such grand purposes as a tourism campaign or product endorsement, can be very costly to develop and produce. Or in the lowest scales of human enterprise, can cost nothing more than sheer glibness of tongue, as when a mango vendor always swears to the sweetness of the fruit.

To me, the best, most effective and compelling come-on is always the word-of-mouth testimonial from a satisfied visitor or customer. Nothing comes truer than that from the depths of the soul which no superficial sloganeering can ever hope to penetrate and influence. Testimonials are unadulterated empirical data. Slogans are but window dressing.

Hence I cannot understand why the fuss over the replacement of one tourism slogan with another. If I understand slogans at all, they are to be changed from time to time. They are subject to the changing moods and circumstances in which tourism either thrives or fails. Even advertising experts will probably insist no slogan is ever etched in stone.

I think much of the fuss, therefore, is being generated as a result of politics being injected into the picture. The latest tourism slogan change comes under the watch of new Tourism secretary Christina Garcia Codilla Frasco. Her appointment comes with presidential confidence, allowing her to do a job as she sees fit. If that involves slogan change, so be it.

It is not the slogan that will eventually measure the success or failure of Frasco. And even if, for the sake of the argument, a slogan does have an impact in the success of a tourism campaign, it still is too early to say the new slogan is a failure. Again, I think it is politics that wants this Marcos government to fail, in whole or any of its parts.

One company that many identify as having very successful slogans is Jollibee. But do you really think the slogans alone suffice? I think Jollibee is a huge success because its products give substance to its slogans. Its slogans do not ring hollow. Even if it does away with the slogan, the "Crispylicious, Juicylicious" can still be found in its chicken.

Years ago, those of us who love to eat "kinawboy" would flock to a carenderia beside "A-One" plywood and lawanit store for "tinola and mais kan-on”. The eatery attracted both the tsinilas crowd and the long-sleeved types. No slogans, the carenderia did not even have a name. But when the urge hits, you just say "A-One ta" and off you and your buddies went.