Top five things Singaporeans made fun of in 2014
2014 is another year where Singapore’s vocal online citizens took great delight in mocking and laughing at others.
Remember the Singapore anti-gambling ad that everybody made fun of for predicting Germany’s win at the World Cup?
And let’s not forget local trolls SMRT Feedback’s vigilante antics against Sim Lim shop owner Jover Chew.
After trawling the Internet archives, we present you Yahoo Singapore’s top five things Singapore netizens made fun of in 2014.
1. Singapore anti-gambling ad backfires during World Cup season
The National Council for Problem Gambling ran a timely ad campaign in Singapore during the World Cup season to remind gamblers how their nasty habits could affect their loved ones.
They spread this message through an ad that showed Andy, the young son of a gambling addict, looking depressed because his father had gambled his savings away by betting on the World Cup result -- a win for Germany.
Well, the Germans did win and if the scenario had happened in real life, Andy and his father would have been rich.
This unintentional prediction backfired on the campaign that was supposed to discourage gambling — the memes and snarky remarks were unleashed online with a great frenzy.
While it was too late for NCPG to contain our laughter, they did respond with a good comeback:
2. “Human tetris” at MRT escalator
SMRT train disruptions and service delays are no longer uncommon in Singapore, but a human traffic jam on an escalator? That's a sight to behold.
Dubbed the “human tetris”, a Facebook user posted a video in October showing train commuters crashing against one another at an escalator at the overcrowded Lakeside MRT.
The 30-second clip quickly garnered the attention of online citizens as well as public transport operator, SMRT, who apologised for the incident.
They added that the escalator was stopped to prevent more commuters from getting on it.
3. SMRT Feedback ordered pizzas for errant Sim Lim Square shop owner and made him pay for them
Fresh in the minds of angry Singaporeans is Jover Chew, the man infamously at the centre of the Sim Lim Square controversies that revealed his shop Mobile Air’s tactics of intimidation. In one incident, a bag containing thousands of coins was thrown to the floor, as the shop paid out a $1,010 court-ordered refund to a female customer. In another incident, a Vietnamese tourist fell to his knees to tearfully beg for his money back after finding out he had to shell out more than he expected to for an iPhone 6.
What fuelled the flames of controversy further was his refusal to admit his wrongdoing or cruelty, coupled with the news that neither the Consumers’ Association of Singapore (CASE) nor the mall management wielded sufficient power to stop Chew, or any of the other rogue retailers who were in successive stages discovered, raided and shut down by the police.
Errant Sim Lim Square shop owner Jover Chew made headlines this year for all the wrong reasons.
He refunded a customer $1,010 in coins, and made a Vietnamese tourist beg and cry for his full refund after he was duped into paying $1,000 for an iPhone 6.
Chew made almost everybody in Singapore furious, particularly local trolls SMRT Feedback, who were later dubbed vigilantes for their brand of justice against Chew.
The crew behind SMRT Feedback ordered three pizzas that were delivered to Chew’s Ang Mo Kio’s home. Total damage? $54.40.
4. #Underhappy
After the Singapore Human Resource Institute and Align Group released the Workplace Happiness Index in November, stating that the majority of employees in Singapore are “Under Happy”, it unleashed an onslaught of tweets expressing “woes” about living in Singapore.
According to media reports, local employees in Singapore received a score of 59 out of 100, which falls within the “Under Happy” band (51 to 67). The other two bands are “Unhappy” (0 to 50) and “Happy” (68 to 100).
The first person to send a tweet with the hashtag, #UnderHappy, was popular blogger Mr. Brown.
A sample of his tweets:
“Bak Chor Mee came with one less meatball. #Underhappy”
“Boss just bought a Bentley after announcing this year no bonus. #UnderHappy”
5. LTA’s useless taxi app
When the Singapore Land Transport Authority unveiled their taxi app in December, many were clearly stupefied at how useless it was.
The app, called Taxi-Taxi@SG, does not allow you to book a taxi – you can only see available taxis nearby so you can hopefully catch one.
It is useless compared to apps like Grab Taxi, which allow you to locate, book and reach your destination from wherever you are.
When LTA announced the app, sites Tech in Asia and Vulcan Post slammed it and netizens chimed in to emphasise how unnecessary the app is.
See SGAG's post:
