Minister Lim Hng Kiang's written answer on Singapore’s branding

Question No. 216 of Notice paper No. 229 of 2009 

Name and Constituency of Member of Parliament
Mr Baey Yam Keng, Member for Tanjong Pagar GRC

Question
To ask the Minister for Trade and Industry for major international competitions like the Miss World beauty pageant where contestants represent their respective countries, whether greater supervision and regulation of the local organizers responsible for selecting the winner-representative for Singapore is necessary in order to protect the brand name of our country.

Answer
Mr Speaker Sir, beauty pageants are run as businesses. The Miss Singapore World pageant for example, is a franchise of the Miss World Limited. Such events are essentially funded by sponsorships. An event that is badly run or whose prestige is affected will have difficulties securing sponsorship.

One example is the 2008 Miss Singapore Universe. It received many brickbats for the Merlion-inspired dress. The negative feedback resulted in a number of sponsors withdrawing from the pageant. ERM World Marketing, the organizer for this year’s Miss Singapore World pageant, has reportedly faced similar negative reactions from its sponsors following a string of incidents related to its initial pageant winner. With the market discipline imposed by sponsors, there is no need for government to regulate such pageants.

The government, of course, cares about Singapore’s branding. And events where there is international exposure can add or subtract from this branding. But how the world perceives us is not determined by a beauty contest representative. Instead international opinion is shaped over time, as a result of events of significance, by what we do as a country.