The Aquino government (no, not that, the recent one) is yet again facing criticism for its newest tourism campaign.  The new administration appears to be itching to replace everything the Arroyo administration cooked up during its reign.  So from this:

To this:

Really?  Are you kidding me?  “Ang ganda”?  That’s the best your hand-picked crew can come up with?

According to PNoy’s crew, this will still be up for discussion and focus group testing before its public release in January.

I mean, I get that it’s aiming to highlight the goodness of Filipinos.  I get that the administration wants to make the Filipinos known for their good values.  I get all that shit.

But do they also get the similarity between “Pilipinas” and “Filipinas”, the latter usually mistaken for mail-order brides?  Don’t they fear that the country will be known for pretty ladies instead of pretty people?

It’s just so open and raw and so vulnerable to be easily lost in translation.  It’s almost not okay.

And I have this feeling that the current administration  just wants nothing to do with the previous one.  It seems to be desperate to erase every single trace that the Arroyo administration “was here.”  But whether they like it or not, that administration’s tourism slogan leaves no room for misinterpretation.

And it certainly did not and will not potentially upset the Polish government.

Let’s see how PNoy can turn this around.  He may be a flop when it comes to first impressions, but he tends to be quite graceful at recovery.