A puzzled reader wrote in to STOMP, wondering why Caucasian children were used in the new Speak Mandarin Campaign advertisements this year.

In the email, the puzzled STOMPer wrote: "Like many Singaporeans I watched the first ever airing of the new advertisement for this year's Speak Mandarin Campaign yesterday night on TV.

"To my surprise, it featured a group of children from Norway, Russia, France, Congo and other countries speaking Mandarin.

"I don't understand what they were thinking of when they did this commercial. Surely local children would have been more appropriate instead of featuring a bunch of foreigners?"

The STOMPer also commented that the commercial was shot overseas, making it a "waste of public resources".

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