Call of a Nation: Get Romance. Make Babies

Romancing Singapore campaign, a festival of love.

There is a dinner party in progress. Guests are 30 eligible unmarried men and women, strangers to one another. A few months later, there will be a mass wedding, and then a few weeks later, Tango parties. The food will include generous portions of ginger and pumpkin broth, oysters, and chocolate torte—items chosen for their reported aphrodisiac value. Who is paying the bill? The Government of Singapore and its partners in the government’s Romancing Singapore campaign.

Started in February 2003, the campaign is an unprecedented and bold government move to socially engineer, among Singaporeans, well, ROMANCE! Romance within marriage, that is, and expressly designed to make babies. Faced with a declining birth rate and shrinking population, the government considers it a matter of national priority. And it is incentivizing love-making as a patriotic duty.

For marketers, this is a one-of-a-kind business opportunity. Some 80 businesses have partnered with government on its Romancing Singapore campaign. Its Web site promotes specially branded Eau de Parfum and Chocolate Truffle cake called Aphrodisiac!

An entertainment entrepreneur, famous in Singapore as Dr. Love, has, in conjunction with the Singapore government, launched a TV show called “Dr. Love’s Super Baby-Making Show.” Nine couples will participate, and the couple having the baby first will be the winner of the $100,000 (USD).

Dr. Love has started another business, Meggpower. The company calls itself “A bio-communication” company and purports to sell a “wireless hormonal monitoring service.” It will text-message or email a subscriber when she is due to ovulate. Based on its monitoring of the members’ hormonal cycle, the company will also recommend totally customized diets to enhance conception.

Want some beach reading this Summer? Pick up a copy of “When Boy Meets Girl. The Chemistry Guide.” Want to learn some creative tips on dating? Pick up a copy of “Dare to Date.” Both are free! They are published by the Singapore government.

Incidently, the Romancing Singapore campaign is not a one shot campaign. Rather, it is an ongoing celebration. The idea is to keep the issue in continuous awareness of people.

Some readers might wonder why love making—a behavior that comes naturally to most humans—needs to be promoted at all? The answer is three fold: first, it is love making within a marriage; second, it is love-making undertaken to procreate. And the third reason has to do with the value system and life themes of Singaporeans.

Singapore is an achiever’s society; everyone, especially the educated Chinese, is driven to work hard and obtain success. These educated Chinese—the native people—just don’t have the time for leisure and forming a family. Romance Singapore is therefore a lifestyle and value priority altering mission. Its goal is nothing less than to shape your world-view and your life-theme. It is to make you respect and embrace leisure and family life. It is not merely hedonic and personal; it is, rather, a patriotic duty. If you are a citizen of Singapore, your nation is calling you. So get some romance. Make babies. Will You?

Romancing Singapore.com.sg

Wow-her.com.sg

Loveclinic.com

DISCUSSION QUESTIONS.

Is the persuasion the Singapore government is attempting a low or a high involvement context for the consumer? Which model of attitude is applicable, and to what extent is the government utilizing the guidelines suggested by various models of attitude? Specifically, which route to attitude change is the government trying to pursue?
Is the target market one homogeneous group? What segments might be useful to recognize?
In terms of people’s reasons for not getting married and not making babies, what factors might be responsible? How might the campaign work (or fail to work) depending on the specific factor?
What other new components to the program would you suggest, speaking from a consumer behavior point-of-view?
Does the government’s sponsorship of such programs raise any ethical issues? Discuss.

From MYCBBook Cases

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