In more news of elitist sentiments today, a property developer is under fire for perpetuating the whole ‘Us vs Them’ mindset in an ad for a condo it’s building.
Basically, the premise of the ad is this — if you own a condo, you don’t have to deal with overcrowded swimming pools. To hammer in the elitist notions, public housing estates form the backdrop of crowded pools in the ad, while the backdrop of the unoccupied pool is a luxe condo with gorgeous architecture. Not that the scene is inaccurate — but you really don’t have to make non-private property residents seem like peasants.
“The choice is clear”, it says. Presumably after laughing at the hoi polloi despairing at their inability to swim perfect laps.
Who better to call out the bullshit than Jose Raymond — the Vice President of the Singapore Swimming Association? Calling out the property developers for their “elitist” and “offensive” ad, Raymond say it’s unacceptable that they turned to “further dividing the haves and have-nots in Singapore” in a bid to sell the condo.
“Furthermore, let’s not forget that many of our (Singaporean) swimming icons like Ang Peng Siong, Junie Sng, Oon Jin Teik, Joscelin Yeo and May Ooi all became champions by training in public swimming pools.” Damn straight.
