Singapore shiok, or just silly?

SINGAPORE – First, Singapore was marketed as uniquely itself as a tourist destination. Then, it became yours. Now, it is “shiok” too.

The Singapore Tourism Board’s (STB) latest marketing video on YouTube revolves around the Singlish expression – derived from the Malay word “syok”, which means nice – for extreme pleasure. Cold ice kacang on a hot day? Shiok. The adrenaline rush of sky-diving? Shiok! Being massaged at a posh spa? Shhh…iok.

These are some of the scenes in the 21/2-minute video, produced in collaboration with British creative agency Bartle Bogle Hegarty (BBH) and uploaded last month on STB’s Your Singapore channel on the video- sharing website. At last count, the video at www.youtube.com/user/YourSingapore?feature=watch has attracted more than a million views.

While some are hailing the clip as a breath of colloquial fresh air, others are not exactly quivering with sheer bliss over it.

Branding expert Tim Clark, a Briton in his 60s, thinks “using the local language to help visitors to connect with a country is a good thing”.

He adds: “I can remember when Singlish was banned from both advertising and programming on TV here. But like it or not, Singlish is a quaint reality which cannot be eradicated or ignored. It’s part of Singapore’s charm and appeal. Since you can’t make it disappear, you may as well make the most of it.”

The senior lecturer with Nanyang Technological University’s (NTU) Wee Kim Wee School of Communications, Division of Public and Promotional Communication, adds that he has seen the tactic used to market other destinations such as France and Australia. For example, in 2006, Australia used the phrase “So where the bloody hell are you?” in a tourism campaign which drew more brickbats than bouquets.

In the Singapore video, a Caucasian man struggling to pronounce “shiok” – defined helpfully on screen as “a Singaporean expression denoting extreme pleasure or the highest quality” – opens the clip. When he finally succeeds, his Singaporean friends applaud him.

Professor Gemma Calvert, a British professor at NTU’s Institute for Asian Consumer Studies, agrees with Mr Clark that the video makes the featured foreigner struggling to pronounce “shiok” look “a bit of a shmuck”.

She says: “The phrase isn’t particularly difficult to pronounce and therefore may come across as slightly patronising to outsiders. As a Caucasian myself, I admit I cringed to some extent at the representation portrayed by this particular individual.”

Singapore shiok, or just silly?