Have a Coke and a Smile, Singapore Says to Its Migrant Workers

WSJ Blog (2014/05/08 13:43PM)

By Sara Schonhardt

Delivery drones dropped boxes of Coca-Cola at construction sites in Singapore recently as part of a kindness movement aimed at providing millions of migrant workers with a "moment of happiness."

The packages, bearing what the campaign calls "happiness from the skies, " contained cans of soda with photo messages written by Singaporeans thanking the workers for all they do toiling on construction sites and elsewhere across the city-state.

Campaign organizers say the initiative aimed to show migrant workers that they're appreciated.

"The project has helped to bring to the surface the feelings of gratitude and acceptance that many Singaporeans possess but rarely express," said Marilyn Peh, the assistant general secretary of the Singapore Kindness Movement (SKM), which released a promotional video about the initiative on Wednesday.

"The act of kindness shown in the video was simple, and the project was limited in scope, but we hope it can serve as a catalyst for other acts of kindness and understanding," she added.

The kindness movement, which was launched in 1996, is led by a council of Singaporeans from educational institutions and private organizations and advised by the country's acting minister for culture, community and youth. According to a description on its official website, the movement's mission is "to inspire graciousness through spontaneous acts of kindness, making life more pleasant for everyone."

The Happiness from the Skies campaign, a partnership between Coca-Cola Singapore and the SKM, was launched in March, months after a riot by migrant workers in Little India drew attention to tensions between residents and the foreign workers the city-state increasingly depends on.

The Dec. 8 riot, involving hundreds of South Asian workers angered by a fatal road accident, also stirred public debate over the country's treatment of low-skilled migrant workers. About 1.3 million foreigners work in the small island state of 5.4 million people, according to official statistics.

"We reached out to this group because we wanted to share a moment of happiness with these workers who are often invisible because of the physical barriers such as construction hoarding and inaccessible worksites that separate them from the public," said Leonardo O'Grady, the director of marketing and communications for Coca-Cola in Southeast Asia.

Over the course of a month, the campaign delivered 2,734 messages to construction sites across the city-state. Mr. O'Grady said at first people were cautious of the deliveries, but once they opened them many said they were pleased with the recognition.

"Such campaigns alone will not remove tensions overnight, but it shows us how some empathy along with a small gesture of appreciation can easily spread goodwill, even between two separate communities," said Ms. Peh. "If a few positive voices, working in concert, are able to diffuse some of the negativity left behind by recent incidents, it would be well worth doing."

As for the drones, they're merely a novelty, an innovative way to utilize technology, "as a service to happiness."