Despite the negative chatter, Ah Girls Go Army brand sponsors aren't left disappointed

Jack Neo's latest film, Ah Girls Go Army, has been slated for a sequel in June this year. The film was officially released in Singapore theatres on 1 February and had hit SG$1.67 million in just 10 days, according to a Facebook post by Golden Village cinemas. In a separate post, GV said the budget for Ah Girls Go Army was close to SG$2 million. To date, the film grossed over SG$2 million in Singapore, and RM1.5 million (SG$480,000) in Malaysia & Brunei as of 17 February, mm2 entertainment said in a statement.

Online chatter about the film also spiked to over 15,000 engagements on the film's release day, according to Truescope. Additionally, discussions were rampant on online forums, with at least 60 unique threads on HardwareZone forums itself within a week since the film's release. 

Nonetheless, the film also faced a fair amount of negative chatter online over the number of product placements and sponsorships in the movie.

In HardwareZone alone, Truescope spotted a thread calling for a boycott of the brands, and another calling for a boycott of the film itself. Some of the brands MARKETING-INTERACTIVE spotted in the film include Carro, foodpanda, Livingcare, New York Skin Solutions, Nippon Paint and OGAWA Singapore.

Shelly Chan, marketing manager, Nippon Paint told MARKETING-INTERACTIVE that it sponsored SG$40,000 in cash and material as it wanted to show its support for local companies - in this case, the local film. On its expected ROI from the sponsorship, Chan said: "We hope to remind Singaporeans that we have an effective product, Nippon Paint MozzieGuard, which can eliminate Aedes mosquitoes effectively."

Meanwhile, Laura Kantor, marketing and sustainability director for foodpanda Singapore, said that the decision to sponsor the film came about after witnessing the success of the original franchise, Ah Boys to Men. She explained that the success of Ah Boys to Men movies showed how relatable the experience is to so many people, and foodpanda was confident that the Ah Girls Go Army movie would garner the same interest. Kantor did not comment on the sponsorship price.

"Given how central food delivery platforms have become in Singaporeans’ lives, we saw a good synergy in combining the two," she added. 

Foodpanda further leveraged its presence in the movie by creating some army-themed content on social media, including a foodpanda voucher, disseminated via Facebook Ads, in light of the film's release. A giveaway with tickets to the movie premiere was also carried out and were well-received by the public, Kantor said.

"By being a part of this movie, we hope for our customers to always think of foodpanda when they need something delivered fast - even when they are in seemingly inaccessible locations such as army camps," she added.

Carro did not comment on MARKETING-INTERACTIVE's queries.

Dealing with the backlash 

However, while the film was well received, its lack of realism in the film also stirred up debate online. Several users on Facebook commented on mm2 Entertainment's Facebook posts, pointing out that females in BMT would be allowed to wear makeup, with some commenting that "the girl version was too fake".

Commenting on the negative sentiments felt by some viewers, Chan felt that the brand would not be heavily impacted by the boycott calls. "Nippon Paint has been in Singapore for over 50 years and is the most popular paint brand voted by consumers, as verified through independent research company. Paint is not an impulse buying product, so rather than measuring absolute sales, we want to focus on creating more awareness," she said.

On the other hand, the Ministry of Defence (MINDEF) posted a video on Facebook on 4 February, calling on users to view its web series instead to find out what women in Basic Military Training (BMT), really go through. "What's women's BMT like? Watch the real deal here!", it said. The video has since garnered over 700 reactions, 66 comments and 55,000 views. Truescope also saw online chatter about MINDEF's female BMT video reaching over 25,000 engagements. MINDEF did not comment on MARKETING-INTERACTIVE's previous queries on the impact of how the movie reflects Singapore's defence force.

https://www.facebook.com/mindefsg/videos/1770177269838639/

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