4 things that made us go WTF in Singapore this week
From cleaning tables with a floor mop to Ang Moh chicken rice
From stolen public benches to gay porn as complementary meal entertainment, these are the stories that made us go WTF this week.
As if Hollywood's critique-riddled Crazy Rich Asians didn't stir up enough backlash about misrepresenting Singapore; now there’s upscale UK supermarket Waitrose’s take on our beloved Hainanese Chicken rice. The paid article between Waitrose and The Guardian (where it was published) left out key ingredients while including strange choices like lime juice and honey, replete with pretentious plating. Say what? Chicken rice with no sesame oil or ginger? Some felt that this was taking "fusion" too far; with a particularly enraged Singaporean going off in a diatribe on Facebook to “please stay away from the food of my people and stick to your gloppy mush”. This dish gets no sympathy points as it clearly lacks depth; kind of like purists would say Crazy Rich Asians lacked the Singaporean minority races?
As we all know by now, a 22-year old Singaporean was caught stealing a metal bench from a bus stop by unscrewing the bolts in broad daylight and carrying it home. And just like that, the advertising mavens have swooped in for the kill. IKEA Singapore's newest item guarantees no dismantling and a bargain price of $159 (as opposed to $1500 for the public bench); while Scoot’s crafty "great benches at a steal" proves that PR teams can put creative spins on newsy buzz. Both companies have had a history of being quick to act on trending topics, like IKEA's S-hook ad from Ahliangate and Scoot's tongue-in-cheek flight tickets advert following the Daryl Aiden Yow saga.
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