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The Correctional Services Department has acknowledged shortcomings and pledged to apply more rigorous standards in future video productions after an artificial intelligence-generated anti-drug music video was taken down due to online backlash that it appeared to promote illegal substances.
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Ng Kee-hang, Senior Superintendent (Rehabilitation), said on Sunday that the video was produced internally by the department’s multimedia production team. He stressed that the original creative intent was to deliver a positive anti-drug message by leveraging a pop-culture format popular among young people.
He said that as the project was handled entirely by in-house staff, it did not involve any additional public funds.
He said the department is committed to conducting a comprehensive review of its media production processes to ensure future campaigns are executed more effectively.
The video, titled “Obsession: The Sugar-coated Trap,” was released on the department’s social media platforms on Friday.
It personifies four common drugs as female pop group members who sing and dance, but later the characters turn into ugly, emaciated men to warn viewers about drug harms and to resist “sugar-coated” packaging.
The campaign sparked public criticism that it might potentially romanticize drug use rather than discourage it. The department later uploaded a revised version that accelerated the transition to the anti-drug message, but ultimately removed the revised video entirely on Saturday evening.
