How do you say Irony in Singaporean? (Irony-lah?)

A mock-protest in Singapore by bone nutrient brand Anlene backfired when police intervened, Adoi reports.

About 20 men marched in ’mock protest’ along Singapore’s Orchard Road on Sunday afternoon to complain about not being able to take part a women-only run sponsored by Anlene.

A helpful member of the public alerted the police of the ”protests” and the PR stunt was halted when organizers could not produce a permit. Police are investigating the incident.

This is not the first such incident in Singapore. (When will PR people ever learn!).

Excerpts from blogger Ephraim Loy‘s experience promoting a national youth festival (photo above) last year.

Our team had the same idea. Police requested to see all our placards. They wanted to know our route, whether we would be shouting any slogans, how the placards were to be fixed onto our bodies etc. By the end, our interest died down.

But we still did it. The Police advised that no permit was needed if we stayed in groups of two to three.

Since it was the PR company organizing the event – David Ketchum, CEO of Upstream Asia – who alerted me of this incident, it shows that all publicity is good publicity. (And yes, it also shows I am falling for the trap, but it is a funny story!)