of every singaporean son publicity stunt at raffles place

A promotional event for a documentary about the Singapore army that took place on Friday afternoon has drawn some flak. The event was to promote the second season of Every Singaporean Son, which will be shown on the National Geographic Channel.


Photo Source: National Geographic Channel Singapore

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Photo Source: Yahoo! Singapore Newsroom

Following the response from the public, National Geographic Channel Singapore issued the following statement on its Facebook page.

Hi everyone. This stunt was conceptualised to let normal Singaporeans understand how an army officer’s job is really difficult. In context, we felt that even the simple task of giving a command to a platoon was not an easy one, as anyone who has been in that position can testify. The series, Every Singaporean Son, celebrates the sacrifice that all Singaporean males go through to defend their nation, and this season, the focus was on officers and what their training and life is like. We had wanted to bring the spirit of the documentary across with a hands-on experience, and we had not realised that so many of you would be offended by this. We are really sorry about that. Upon hearing your feedback, we realise that it can come across as an insult by letting ordinary citizens try their hand at commanding a platoon. We certainly didn’t mean it that way. We promise we will do better next time.