All sinkies gotcha - Singapore may have wild boar and monkey but no way there is bear in this country.
One look at the video, you should smell a rat..
One look at the video, you should smell a rat..
'Bear sighting' publicity stunt now a public nuisance case
SINGAPORE : Worried residents, searches by animal interest and wildlife groups, even police officers having to cordon off the area - all because of a purported "bear" sighting along Ulu Pandan Road which has turned out to be a publicity stunt by a company to market shavers.
The blurry video clip of a purported "bear" rummaging through a dustbin at a bus stop had been making the rounds on the Internet. It was also reported on television and in newspapers such as Lianhe Wanbao, Shin Min Daily and The New Paper.
In a statement on Wednesday, through public relations agency Fleishman-Hillard, Philips Electronics Singapore clarified that the bear was a mascot for a guerilla marketing campaign for a shaver undertaken by social media agency, The Secret Little Agency.
"We acknowledge that the resemblance of the mascot to a live bear has caused some public concern in the neighbourhood where the mascot was sighted. We had anticipated the attention that the bear will draw but have no intention to cause any alarm. We would like to apologise for any concern caused," the electronics giant said.
But the police, as well as tens of men and women from Animal Concerns Research and Education Society (Acres) and Wildlife Reserves Singapore who scoured the area for hours on Wednesday, were not amused.
On Wednesday night, a police spokesman said: "In response to media queries on the sighting of a 'bear' in Ulu Pandan, Police confirm that we're investigating an offence of Public Nuisance under Section 268 of the Penal Code."
On Monday, the video clip was sent to several news outlets by a person claiming to be a civil engineer named "Wilson Tay", who claimed his teenaged son shot the clip while he was driving on the road.
TODAY newspaper decided against running the story on Wednesday until proper checks could be done, including finding out the full particulars of the so called witness and having this reporter meet him face-to-face to ascertain the authenticity of the "bear sighting" claims he had made online.
This reporter had sent an email to the informant, asking him to call her – which he did. But when this reporter then tried to contact Mr Tay on the mobile number he provided, the person who answered denied he was Mr Tay and said she was not the first one to call that number looking for the informant.
When contacted, The Secret Little Agency said the aim was to get the public to blog and talk about the sighting on social media.
Creative partner Nicholas Ye said they called up to enquire with the Police if a licence was needed on Sunday before heading down to film the video on Monday at about 2am.
"This is irresponsible and it is a waste of resources ... publicity by all means, but this has gone way too far," said Acres founder and executive director Louis Ng, whose group also conducted an hour long search on Tuesday.
Singaporeans whom MediaCorp spoke to had mixed reactions to the news.
"It is hilarious that this bear mascot got on the news ... but imagine the stress and work they have caused the police and zoo over this silly mistaken identity," said a nurse Lee Xiu Hua, 24.
The latest publicity gimmick brings to mind SingPost’s postbox graffiti stunt in January this year - the last time resources were invested when SingPost employed an agency to spray graffiti on its postboxes in the lead-up to the Youth Olympic Games.
Members of the public were startled when they spotted a vandal at work, and called the police. The police said then that they would take up the matter with SingPost.
