STB confirms that the man-in-briefs video is not theirs

The video went viral after Shanghaiist managing editor Kenneth Tan posted it on Facebook with the comment, "Cover of Adele's latest hit single, "Hello", produced for the Singapore Tourism Board". His post has since clocked up more than 1.3 million views. 

The guessing game of 'Did they? Didn't they?' soon spiralled to local news sites mothership.sg, Coconuts, Stomp and Straits Times. 

The online news hounds have ferreted out that the man in the video is fitness instructor Bryan Hawn, who first posted the music video on his YouTube channel in November. Hawn, who bills himself as a '#1 Best Selling Fitness and Health Author' known for his 'Ass Workout', told the Straits Times that the video was part of a series of music video parodies and was not meant to be taken seriously. 

While many immediately wrote the video's connection with the Singapore Tourism Board off as a joke, it's a sad testament to its marketing history that most were prepared to entertain the possibility. 

Case in point:

To be fair to STB however, it did score a legit musical hit in the Philippines since then with 'All the good things' written and performed for Singapore Tourism by Filipino band Up Dharma Down.