Goh Chin Lian, Straits Times 28 Feb 10;
Chinese and Indian foreign workers are the focus of a series of TV commercials aimed at licking the habit of littering and spitting.
And to bridge the cultural gap, the ads take a leaf from Stephen Chow gongfu movies and Kollywood-styled comedies made popular by the Tamil movie industry.
The ads, commissioned by the National Environment Agency (NEA), were first aired in November last year and most recently over the Chinese New Year holidays.
NEA figures show that Singaporeans still make up the larger proportion of litterbugs caught, rising from 62 per cent in 2008 to 71 per cent last year. The share of foreigners has fallen correspondingly from 38 per cent to 29 per cent over the same period.
But the number of litterbugs is still large for both groups. Of those caught last year, 27,572 were Singaporeans and 11,059 were foreigners.
The NEA videos have even made their way to YouTube.
Though they differ in style, they target the pockets of foreign workers. They list the fines for first-time offenders, which are $300 for littering and $150 for spitting. And they tag on this pragmatic message: Is being fined the way to waste your hard-earned money?
The NEA told The Sunday Times: 'Survey findings show that most foreign workers are not aware of the fines.
'As the fine will constitute a large proportion of their salary, it serves as a huge deterrent and thus a motivating factor for not littering or spitting.'
The commercials are part of a comprehensive outreach and education programme to cover both Singaporeans and foreign workers, it added.
Conscious that people may resist a hard sell, the NEA said it chose a 'non-authoritarian' approach for its campaign.
The gongfu-styled ad is set in a back alley in Geylang, featuring a Chinese national who coughs and spits on the ground. His girlfriend wipes her mouth with a tissue and throws it away.
A local man lunges forward and catches the spit with his newspaper, while a local woman launches herself off a wall into the air and catches the tissue with two fingers.
The same message is conveyed in Tamil in a Kollywood-inspired ad, where an Indian man is chased by three other Indian men for tossing a water bottle on the ground.
Mr John Gee, president of Transient Workers Count Too, an advocacy group for migrant workers, does not think the targeted approach is offensive.
Littering has been recognised as a problem among foreign workers, he said.
Smokers, youth and mums too
Straits Times 28 Feb 10;
A new anti-littering campaign is being planned for the middle of this year.
It will target smokers, youth and mothers, the National Environment Agency (NEA) said.
It wants mums to set a good example for their children by placing litter into a bin, according to NEA tender documents obtained by The Sunday Times.
Youths below 35 years old are also a focus because they are prone to littering, based on the NEA's surveys of littering behaviour and enforcement statistics.
Previous studies also show that one in five of Singapore's population litters.
While people are aware that they should not do so, they are unaware of the harmful effects, the NEA said.
It indicated that the campaign should adopt a creative strategy 'that is less authoritarian and top-down' to motivate the target groups.
The campaign dovetails with existing efforts to take the anti-littering message to schoolchildren and the community, including recruiting youths as ambassadors.
The NEA also engages organisers of public events such as marathons, the River Hongbao celebrations and the National Day Parade to keep them litter-free.
Its efforts are bearing fruit.
The average number of plastic bags left behind on each 40-seater bench at the National Day Parade fell from five to eight in 2005, to one to two last year.
