Singapore, Feb 14: Battered by the relentless media blitz charging over their economic slip-ups, some countries in Southeast Asia are fighting back. An avalanche of images is being unleashed through the audio-visual and print media to persuade foreign investors that the slide is not unstoppable.``We're bullish about bouncing back'', screams an arresting ad campaign put together by the Malaysian government lately.
And it is not all hot air although images of the haze do herald the 40-second prime time slot currently being beamed through ABN-CNBC. Through the collage of news clips, ranging from the IMF's disclosure that Malaysia does not need a rescue package, to Standard & Poor's certificate, the message rings clear -- ``We have weathered the haze and now we are in the process of working our way through the financial downturn, armed with a sure-fire strategy to plug the loopholes and strengthen our still robust economic fundamentals.''
Gone are the days when prime minister Mahathir would fulminate, tothe delight of news-hungry scribes, against the western conspiracy to topple him.
Realising that such upfront attacks do not work, Mahathir has apparently decided to resort to a more subtle form of persuasion.
Each 40-second capsule, aired several times a day, is estimated to cost a whopping $600-$700. But the Malaysian government obviously feels it is money well spent, if the confidence of Asian and Western investors can be won back.
The Thai government had put out a similar campaign months ago in "Time" to correct public perception about its economic fundamentals. This was when the baht had nosedived below 40 per cent and rumours were ruling the roost about the bottomless pit that the Thai economy had turned into. But the Malaysian campaign is unique as this is possibly the first time that an international audience is being addressed directly through TV by a government.
``The Indian government had indulged in a similar morale-boosting exercise titled `Mera Bharat Mahaan', but this wasaimed at Indians, not at the global fraternity,'' points out Ram Bhagat Kapur, Creative group head with Euro RSCG, Singapore. But do such marketing strategies work when public confidence is at an abysmally low ebb? Kapur feels they do. ``The Malaysian campaign is credible enough, because it is selling a reality, not a faulty product.
It is beyond doubt that currencies and stocks in countries like Malaysia are now grossly undervalued,'' he maintains. So any effort to correct the excessively negative image the world has about its economic fundamentals is bound to succeed, he argues. Indeed, some advertising industry analysts in Singapore argue that the city state too should undertake such an image-correction exercise. Of course, the state-controlled media has lately been more open in their admission of chinks in the system than they have been in the past. But industry sources say that this is far from enough, as domestic morale is not the only one that needs a booster. ``There's too much complacency in theair.
The Singapore government appears to believe that it is still being perceived as a safe haven, insulated from the currents sweeping the rest of Southeast Asia. But this perception is not necessarily shared by all. And it is better to become aware of this early on, than wait till the damage is done,'' says one analyst. Of course, Singapore is an old hand at public service advertising. Realising that this form of soft sell is vastly more effective than plainspeak by political leaders way back in 1984, the defence ministry turned to the medium of advertising to sell its concept of `Total Defence'.
Today, there is a whole gamut of slick ads to promote campaigns ranging from the recruitment of soldiers, enlisting of teachers, the encouragement of Mandarin, or the no-no to smoking. No wonder government agencies and programmes appear regularly on lists of the top 50 advertisers in Singapore.
According to Survey Research Singapore, a year ago the Central Provident Fund, SAF and the Family Life EducationProgramme all made it into the list. Each having spent more than S$2 million (Rs 5 crore) on ads.
Copyright © 1998 Indian Express Newspapers (Bombay) Ltd.
