Usually, child-friendly marketing stunts wouldn’t involve clowns.
Or to be specific, creepy-looking clowns that look like the one from IT.
As for the reasoning, I reckon it’s pretty self-explanatory.
But it seems that once in a while, stunts don’t really go as well as they should go.
Though in hindsight, the fact that the entire matter has since blown up could also constitute success on their part.
People Dressed as Clowns Seen Loitering Outside Tao Nan School
If you’ve been hanging around certain primary schools recently, you may have noticed some rather peculiar individuals loitering about.
I’m talking, of course, about killer clowns.
Actually scratch that. I meant “friendly” clowns.
Having been spotted in locations such as Marine Parade, Katong and Tampines, these clowns naturally caused a stir within the neighbourhood.
Some even allegedly asked students to follow them, a notion that caused Tao Nan School’s principal Poh Qinyu to warn parents about the dangers. The clowns were spotted near Tao Nan School, as well as other nearby primary schools.
Meanwhile, the police force has also been roped in, having received multiple reports of such clown sightings.
“Members of the public are advised to stay away from strangers and to report any suspicious persons or activities to the police,” the spokesman said.
And even the member of parliament of Marine Parade GRC Tan Chuan-Jin has intervened; he had earlier posted an entire Facebook post in view of the incidents.
Warning the people responsible for the stunt to “stop it”, he asked parents to remind their children not to follow the clowns.
“I trust the Police are investigating this,” he wrote. “It’s not amusing and just plain dangerous.”
The post has already garnered over 1.1K shares.
Netizens have since thanked the minister for highlighting the incident. Some have also pointed out how scary the clowns look.
Meanwhile, a netizen has since provided some context pertaining to the situation.
Apparently, it was indeed a marketing stunt, and it was hosted by Speech Academy.
“They approach us parents with kids n gave free stickers n masks then asking for our contact details for a follow up call to invite us to their trial classes,” the Netizen wrote.
Apology
Despite the clarification, Minister Tan was still less than convinced.
“This input surfaced in our community network and schools are reminding children to be careful,” he replied.
“Approaching parents is ok, but not children.”
In general, the reception was not positive.
And Mr Kelvin Tan, the director of Speech Academy Asia, evidently took note of it.
“There was no evil intention behind the costumes and we sincerely apologise for it,” he said.
“We will not do it again.”
He also added that the clowns had simply visited the neighbourhood to promote the academy’s courses. The school’s marketing team had been deployed to areas in the east and west side of Singapore over the last two weeks.
They reportedly offer speech classes that train individuals in public speaking skills.
They had not, he stated, actually approached children or requested them to follow them.
“Our employees wouldn’t go around saying such things,” he said.
As for the reason behind such controversial outfits, Mr Tan stated that the team had actually been tasked to be “cute mascots”.
Alas, it didn’t quite happen as planned.
“Maybe the clowns were too scary. It’s wrong and we won’t do it again,” he repeated.
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Featured Image: Facebook (Tan Chuan-Jin)
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