Ads highlight key issues to target groups

• TODAY (03 December 2013) : Ads highlight key issues to target groups
• TODAY (28 November 2013) : Government ads should focus on initiatives that affect general public

1. We refer to Ms Jenny Ng’s letter (“Government ads should focus on initiatives that affect general public”, 28 November).
2. The Ministry of Manpower and our agencies selectively put out advertisements on a mix of mass and social media channels, to better reach out to various groups of stakeholders.
3. These campaigns target both the general public as well as specific groups. For example, the Workplace Safety and Health (WSH) Council advertises on mass media to highlight the importance of WSH issues as they have an impact not only on employers and workers but their family members as well. Similarly, the Singapore Workforce Development Agency (WDA) taps on cost-efficient social media platforms to encourage our increasingly internet-savvy workforce to embrace Continuing Education and Training.
4. We assure Ms Ng that such campaigns have fixed durations and are prudently managed. We will continue to ensure that these campaigns are relevant to their intended audience.

Government ads should focus on initiatives that affect general public
- TODAY, 28 November 2013

Recently, I have seen many advertisements by government agencies on television and especially on social media platforms. I can understand if the messages are meant to inform the general public of new initiatives that benefit or affect us. But many of these ads only profile the work of the agencies and have no wide impact.

For example, the Workforce Development Agency (WDA) had advertised an event recognising companies for training their workers. But would this event not have been already reported in the news?

The WDA seems to also be advertising aggressively on social media. Perhaps it should justify the cost and effectiveness of its marketing expenditure, as external agencies would have been appointed to manage and run these ads.

Likewise, the Workplace Safety and Health Council and the Manpower Ministry have advertised about workplace safety. They should, however, be targeting employers and workers.

I can understand if the National Environment Agency, for example, needs to advertise about dengue fever, as that concerns all households here, or if the Health Ministry needs to inform the public of changes in, say, Medisave, or encourage Singaporeans to go for health checks.

Could the relevant agencies explain why taxpayers’ monies are spent on such ads?