Mas Selamat T-shirt: What will they think of next?

3 weeks ago I wrote about how Facebook groups help in the hunt for Mas Selamat in Singapore, with particular emphasis on the group Instant ORD for Mas Selamat Capture. The creators of the group, 20-year old Ashwin Tiwari and Ray Ninnan Panicker, have gone one step further by printing 100 T-shirts with Mas Selamat’s face on it and are selling it on Facebook.

The tongue-in-cheek tone of the Facebook group caught the eye of a local reporter, who contacted the guys for an interview. To date, they have gotten attention from local TV channels (Channel 8 and Channel News Asia) and an article in today’s Sunday Times (Mas Selamat: Here are 100 T-shirts to wear him out) which have created even more buzz for the creators.

Some may call it opportunism but it sure is paying off for the guys, who have received 70 orders to date for the $16 T-shirt that they are selling on Facebook. The T-shirt sports the fugitive’s face with the words “Reward Instant ORD”, and is quite frankly rather decent-looking. The publicity can only serve to not only help the pair’s ambitions to start a T-shirt printing business, but spread further awareness of what remains a very serious national concern.

I have to say that I think it’s quite a smart move. If they are planning to set up a T-shirt business, there is no better way to kick-start their sales then by creating a design that resonates with their client base, and attracts publicity at the same time. And by providing local content, it differentiates their product from the existing t-shirt designs out there. It’s a good example of how to use social media effectively, and local companies can certainly learn a thing or two from these two entrepreneurial upstarts.

I for one would love to see more people wearing clothes from not only local brands, but those that reflect local culture and sentiments as well. What better way to ensure that youths continue to feel an emotional connection with their country? Well okay, there may be better ways, but I would say that this could just be an important first step.

Another interesting issue that I felt was interesting is that a local journalist turned to social media for news which then led to coverage by the newspaper and television. This reflects the trend now for news to spread from online media to mainstream media back to online media, and it’s great that Singapore journalism has caught up with the bandwagon, at least a little.