Philippines tourism video features stock footage from other countries: 'Unfortunate oversight'

An advertising agency has been forced to apologise after a $1.3m tourism campaign to promote the Philippines was done using stock shots from other countries.

The government's "Love The Philippines" tourism campaign, which was put together by agency DDB Philippines, launched on June 27.

However, it was then discovered the campaign included "non-original shots" including images of rice terraces in Indonesia, sand dunes in the United Arab Emirates, and an aircraft landing in Switzerland.

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The major blunder first came to light over the weekend after the use of the videos from other countries was uncovered by Philippine blogger Sass Rogando Sasot, and confirmed after analysis by French news agency AFP.

Sasot shared in a post on social media where some of the images used in the promotional video could originally be found on the websites of stock footage providers.

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Philippine's tourism secretary, Christina Garcia Frasco, said no public funds had been used to make the video, and stressed the ministry had "repeatedly sought confirmation" from the agency that the materials used were their own and were original.

"ALL these occasions, DDB repeatedly assured the DOT that the originality and ownership of all materials are in order," Frasco said in a statement.

The agency has apologised for the "unfortunate oversight".

"The use of foreign stock footage in a campaign promoting the Philippines in highly inappropriate, and contradictory to the DOT's objectives," a statement read.

"Proper screening and approval processes should have been strictly followed."