Four Million Smiles

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The Four Million Smiles banner outside Suntec Singapore International Convention and Exhibition Centre where the IMF/World Bank Meetings.
The Four Million Smiles banner outside Suntec Singapore International Convention and Exhibition Centre where the IMF/World Bank Meetings.

Four Million Smiles was the theme of an advertising campaign in Singapore by the Singapore 2006 Organising Committee, sponsored by the government of Singapore. The advertising campaign encouraged Singaporeans to smile more in preparation of the 61st Annual Meetings of the International Monetary Fund, World Bank Group and their 16,000 delegates. It was launched by Prime Minister Lee Hsien Loong on 8 July 2006.

A mural was created to welcome the visitors. Singaporeans are encouraged to submit their photographs of them smiling through an official website or by Multimedia Messaging Service. These were eventually compiled into the mural, and those submitting have a chance of winning several lucky draws.[1]

While some agree that Singaporeans are often cold in public and there needs to be encouragement of more visible goodwill in society, others see it as a form of social control.[2][1] Critics also argue that the campaign perpetuates racial discrimination and self-degradation of Singaporeans by smiling in the presence of delegates just because they happen to be "ang mo" foreigners. [3] This includes a Straits Times article featuring recuritment calls by escort agencies for young, athletic girls between 18 and 20 to offer themselves for the spike in demand for escort services[4][1], sparking outrage from women rights organisations.[5] As a parody, the Four Million Frowns [1] and 400 Frowns [2] projects have started online, but the Police has since arrested a man in charge for the latter[3].

  1. ^ a b c "Singapore welcome raises doubts". Andrew Harding, BBC News, 14 September 2006
  2. ^ "Singapore to go the extra smile for IMF summit", Reuters (via Hindustan Times), 12 July 2006
  3. ^ "Serious flaw in four-million-smiles ad", Chiang Meng Lee, The Straits Times, 20 July 2006
  4. ^ "Escort agencies beefing up ranks for mega-meet", Ben Nadarajan & Khushwant Singh, The Straits Times, 12 September 2006
  5. ^ "What sort of tourism does S'pore want? Surely it can't be sex", Tan, Liang-Lin, Ismail, Pasqual et ali., The Straits Times, 25 September 2006

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