Mentos pushes 'National Night' duty

The highlight of Aug 9 has traditionally been the National Day Parade for most Singaporeans.

But this year, European mints brand Mentos decided to take a tongue-in-cheek approach to the celebrations - by encouraging married couples to make babies tomorrow night.

As part of its advertising campaign called "Mentos National Night" launched last Wednesday, a music-video clip was uploaded on YouTube and on Mentos' Facebook page.

Set to the groove of an R&B track, it includes suggestive lyrics such as the following: "Like a government scholar I wanna cram real hard/And tap you all night like an ez-link card."

The YouTube clip has since garnered over 74,700 views.

The advertising agency behind the campaign, BBH Asia Pacific, told my paper that it was briefed by its client, Mentos, to promote its limited-edition National Day pack of mints.

A BBH Asia Pacific spokesman said in an e-mail response: "We knew we needed something creative to cut through.

"Mentos has always stood for 'fresh thinking', so we decided to apply some to an issue that's very close to home - our declining national birth rate."

BBH Asia Pacific explained that it teamed up with local sound house Fuse, as well as local musicians Rosh G and Michaela Therese de Cruz, to compose the song.

The spokesman stressed that the campaign is completely independent, and "we hope the Government will like it, given the importance of the issue in Singapore".

Flyers and free packs of the brand's sweets have been handed out to patrons at nightspots over the past week.

Mr Willy Tan, 33, director of talent-management agency Aging Youth, said the campaign strikes a chord with its target audience. But he is not sure how serious Mentos is about addressing Singapore's ageing-population issue.

Mr Tan said: "I think it's a bit of a joke.

"They're using a topical subject in the least offensive way to talk about the population problem in Singapore."

Mr Anand Vathiyar, managing director of ad agency UP BrandBuzz, called the song a "nice initiative", but said he did not see the product relevance.

Nonetheless, he thought it brings a light-hearted touch to an issue which has been in the public consciousness of late and does not think people will be shocked by it.

He said jokingly: "After sex, do you pop a Mentos?"

michaela@sph.com.sg

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