After seeing posters all over the place promoting the G.E.M.S. (Go the Extra Mile for Service) campaign, it occurred to us that Singaporeans seem to have perfected the art of using acronyms to make generally mundane campaigns much more attractive than they have any right to be. G.E.M.S.! Doesn’t that just scream out at you; just grab your attention and dazzle you with its wit and style?OK, maybe that’s exaggerating it a little. But this whole acronym thing seems to be at a high point right now and we thought—hey, why not use acronyms for some other campaigns that we need?Here’s a few that we’ve come up with. And we can safely guarantee that they’ll be at least as witty and dazzling as G.E.M.S.C.A.R.: Cabbies aren’t Always Right. A campaign designed to educate tourists that, no, taxis don’t actually have a $10 per passenger tax, contrary to what one cabbie told his passengers.D.E.T.E.N.T.I.O.N.: Demonstrating Explicitly to Teachers Engaging and Nurturing Tactics of Informative Orientation to Numbskulls. This campaign will show teachers that there are other ways of dealing with their more-than-just-a-little-slow students than yelling at the kid in helpless frustration.C.O.U.G.H.: Cigarette smokers Ought to Understand General Hospitality. Maybe smokers do have every right to get a little pissed at non-smokers for sitting in designated smoking areas. But, instead of menacing glares and disgruntled comments, this campaign will teach smokers to be a bit more welcoming to their healthier counterparts.C.A.M.P.: Campaign for Anonymous Musketeers for the PAP. Are you secretly a PAP supporter, even though you voted for the opposition because “all your friends were doing it?” Well, this campaign will help you come to terms with the fact that you’re a cheerleader for the big guys.B.R.O.L.L.Y.: Beating the Rain Ostentatiously by Living Like Yourself. Tired of this awfully dreary weather? Following the same school of thought that “if you ignore something, it will just go away,” this campaign encourages people to carry on with normal sunny weather activities like tanning and playing sports in the hopes that the weather will get tired of not affecting us and change.
