Fun

I’m not particularly bothered that the Department of Tourism’s new slogan, “It’s more fun in the Philippines” has an apparent antecedent in Switzerland that dates back to 1951. Tourism Secretary Ramon Jimenez has a point when he says: “No one can own the expression ‘it’s more fun.’ But it’s very true for the Philippines so it becomes ours. The line isn’t manufactured. It’s simply the truth about our country.”

It’s certainly not as arguable a case of plagiarism as that ill-fated logo, “Pilipinas Kay Ganda,” produced by Jimenez’s predecessor, Alberto Lim, which strongly resembled Poland’s down to font and design. True enough, no one has a franchise on “it’s more fun.”

The new logo has its merits. I can imagine how New Yorkers will react when a huge billboard proclaiming, “Parking… It’s more fun in the Philippines,” greets them with a picture of bancas huddled along the shores of Puerto Galera, which is one of the signs the tourism department means to put up. Nothing like the sight of white beaches and swaying palms to gladden the hearts of urban dwellers caught in snowbound roads. I remember Jamie Foxx’s taxi-driver character in “Collateral” looking every so often at a postcard of Maldives tucked in his visor to keep him going. Something to hope for, something to dream about.

Maldives might as well be the Philippines. (And “Collateral” came out shortly before Maldives was nearly erased from the map by the Indian Ocean earthquake and tsunami.) In the grayness of winter, while driving through rows of dull tenement houses, the apparition of sun and sand can be absolutely thrilling.

But I’m not entirely sold on it either. My misgivings owe to several things.

One, the logo can be easily made fun of. We’re not exactly Mexico, where a logo proclaiming “It’s more fun in Mexico” can attain sublime satirical irony in light of bullets flying even in malls from the drug wars. But we do have our own share of problems with law and order, problems that have claimed foreign nationals as victims. Specifically kidnapping which has become as much a cottage industry in the South as it has in Mexico City. Someone is apt to put up a sign that says, “It’s more fun in Basilan.”

Not quite incidentally, Hong Kong’s residents are apt to find whole new meanings in the new logo. I doubt very much if they will be singing, “O what fun it is to ride . . . a bus in the Luneta.”

Two, fun has a way of conjuring night life, of rum and Coke in beaches and what follows afterward. Which has a way of conjuring a not particularly savory past in Philippine tourism, which had its heyday during Marcos’ time. That was the sex tours, a thing that drove foreigners in droves to these shores, offering as we did, well, the total package, with a round or two of golf in cheap greens thrown in. The signs that show how much more fun it is in the Philippines might feature the Rice Terraces of the Cordilleras and Chocolate Hills of Bohol but their audiences by the subliminal tease in the line might have other shapes and other kinds of fun in mind. Tease works, but not where it finds its mark in pedophiles.

Three, Jimenez himself says that the new pitch will draw attention to the people. It will show that “It’s the Filipinos that make the difference. Come to the Philippines because we are more fun. We are a place to reconnect with your humanity, with family, laughter and basically with yourself.” But that is trying to squeeze more from the line than it can possibly yield.

I have always thought that any touristic pitch should highlight the virtues of the people. That is our strongest suit, our laughter and hospitality. I remember again someone from the World Bank telling me once that the one thing he found endearing in this country was the genuine friendliness of the people. In the United States, he said, people tell you, “Have a good day,” but their eyes do not light up with a smile. Here, they do. Even those of the waiters in restaurants. Of course, he said, the friendliness can also go overboard, as when people ask you, “Are you married?” or “How old are you?” But that’s another story.

“It’s more fun” doesn’t quite capture that. “PAL smiles” and “the friendly skies” do that better. “It’s more fun” is fairly abstract, suggesting everything and nothing at the same time. It seems more suited to soft drinks, or hamburgers. Certainly, the notion that it invites visitors to reconnect with themselves is pushing it a little too far.

Four, between “It’s more fun in the Philippines” and “Wow Philippines,” I’ll take the second hands down. And I’ve always wondered why we keep trying to reinvent the wheel. I like “Wow Philippines” because of what it conveys, which is a sense of discovery, a sense of wonder.

That is important in one respect: Tourism isn’t just external, it is also internal. Or more precisely, it isn’t just about Americans and Japanese visiting the country, it is about Filipinos visiting the country. We may be a little hard up of late, but many of us would like nothing better than to visit other parts of the country and need only a bit of coaxing to do it. Talk of reconnecting, we ourselves are visitors in this country and could do very well with discovering it.

Other countries not quite incidentally anchor their tourism on their rich histories and traditions. Many countries of Western Europe do. I don’t see why the tourism department can’t partner with the National Historical Commission to promote something along those lines. It shouldn’t just help foreign tourists know and appreciate the country, it should help us, who know so little of our local histories (quite apart from our national one) and traditions, do so. Beholding the country, and ourselves, with the shock of recognition:

Now wouldn’t that be fun?