Marketers come under fire for exploiting a Singapore swimmer’s Olympic victory

This photo showing the Singapore Airlines congratulating Joseph has been criticized for being self-serving.

Swimmer Joseph Schooling made history by beating Michael Phelps to bring home an Olympic gold medal for Singapore. Marketers took advantage of the moment in record time.

Now they’ve attracted plenty of flak for exploiting his win. The sharpest critic is Lee Kin Mun (who goes by mrbrown), a humorist and rather famous blogger who likes poking fun at current affairs.

He skewered several brands, including Brand’s Essence of Chicken, Grab, 99.co, Pizza Hut, and KFC. The biggest tiff he has with some of these brands is that their attempts to ride on his fame were too blatant.

“I think the emphasis should be on Joseph and not on your product or selling something,” Kin Mun tells Tech in Asia. Grab declined to comment on this story.

Especially egregious was an ad by KFC, which appeared to focus more on the free drumsticks it’s giving out rather than Joseph’s win:

“Wa lao eh, some of the ads, the product is more prominent than the congrats lor,” says Kin Mun, peppering his replies with Singlish.

“People aren’t stupid. They can tell if you’re trying to take advantage. And we are all very protective of Joseph and his family now that we know how much they gave up to win that gold for Singapore,” he adds.

Marketers Tech in Asia spoke to feel that some brands tried too hard to connect Joseph’s win to their brand.

Ads should focus “more on honoring the gold medal that Joseph won, rather than promoting products or services and pushing for more sales,” says Max Lee, a co-founder of Spark Asia, an advertising startup.

“It’s a fine line between honouring and celebrating the win.”

Jonas de los Reyes, founder of social media marketing agency Socialytics, thinks the bigger meaning of the Olympic win – that of winning glory for one’s nation – means that brands should “sincerely celebrate this success with no strings attached.”