Singapore's Sentosa: State Of Fun versus Family State

“This is the Neverland. The Dreamland. The Wonderland. The land without rules, without strangers, without stereotypes. Here the borders are open to everyone but shut to boredom. Fun is the most fundamental right of all in this land. And Freedom to be yourself is upheld by all its citizens. Its air is thick with music, skipped heart beats and sonnets composed by nature. And the ground always shakes under the happy feet.”

They should be sponsored by the new Tiger Beer Uncaged campaign. This is Singapore, famous for having more rules, regulations, fines, canings and prison sentences for exactly the kind of fun that you can have without rules. It sounds like someone was on something that could get them the death penalty in Singapore when they wrote this.

Sentosa’s Rewards Tier for their new social media focused game doesn’t say much in the way of fun either:

Rewards Tier 1: Balloons 
Rewards Tier 2: Popcorn
Rewards Tier 3: Temporary Tattoos and Candy Floss
Rewards Tier 4: Sentosa FUN Vouchers and Carnival Acts
Rewards Tier 5: Fireworks, Orchestra and exclusive 100 Fun VIP Party Passes*

Yippee. I can’t wait.

Not to be outdone, the elephant in the Sentosa room (and just like the elephant completely unmentioned in the Sentosa marketing), Resorts World Sentosa (RWS) recently launched a regional campaign that celebrates the “special moments and experiences that guests can enjoy at the Resort”.

The campaign comprises two specially produced clips, an online photo competition and a slew of promotions and offers. Sounds like fun too until you see the promotional video and you will want to be violently ill.

Just to confirm that RWS is very much the place of family fun (rather than the no-rules fun that Sentosa is trying to promote on the same island) they have launched regional photo contest entitled “#MyFamily’. The name says it all. In a country which doesn’t recognise you if you have a child and are unmarried, family promotions are prevalent everywhere and promoted heavily by brands and church-backed organisations trying to resist all non-family orientated people and communities.

This is though slightly contradictory to the fact that RWS is a giant casino. Is that where the family should be going to have fun?

Have fun indeed!