YouTrip reveals ball lightning footage as marketing stunt, garners mixed reactions

Ball lightning footage actually YouTrip marketing stunt, netizens praise & criticise it

The three recent viral ball lightning videos in Singapore turned out to be a marketing stunt by the multi-currency travel wallet YouTrip.

Across three days from 19 to 21 Sept, TikTok videos popped up showing alleged ball lightning sightings in Tampines, Yishun, and Pasir Ris Park.

In the videos, the ball lightning left a smoky trail while occasionally zapping the ground.

YouTrip promotes mascots with ball lightning marketing stunt

On 22 Sept, YouTrip posted on their social media declaring the “mystery solved”.

“Seen these purple ball lightning videos online? That was us,” they wrote.

The YouTrip video showed the ball lightning entering a suitcase at Jewel Changi Airport before emerging as three tiny purple dragons.

The Singapore-based fintech company further said that the dragons, named Trippie, were their birthday mascot.

Commenters split on good or bad marketing from YouTrip

Netizens gave mixed reactions to the marketing stunt.

One TikTok user praised the marketing team, admitting that they were fooled by the videos.

The netizen was not the only one who fell for the stunt, as others similarly expressed their shock in the comments section.

Meanwhile, another commentor called it some of the worst marketing they have seen.

A netizen went as far as to accuse YouTrip of causing paranoia and fear islandwide with their marketing.

However, others questioned how it would cause fear even if the ball lightning sightings had been real.

Some commenters were more surprised that people actually believed the videos.

One netizen had even allegedly figured it out beforehand, pointing out a similar stunt YouTrip pulled earlier this year.

YouTrip performed the stunt to celebrate the launch of their Malaysian Ringgit (MYR) wallet.

A few others chose instead to focus on the cute mascots, earning likes from YouTrip.

NEA says sightings not meteorological phenomena

Ball lightning is an extremely rare and still unexplained natural phenomenon.

Due to their rarity, there has yet to be a confirmed video recording of ball lightning, making three local video sightings in three days highly unlikely.

The National Environment Agency (NEA) previously confirmed to MS News that the sightings were not meteorological-related.

Also read: Purple ‘lightning balls’ spotted at Pasir Ris, Yishun & Tampines were actually part of YouTrip promo campaign

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Featured image adapted from @xmbubulov3 on TikTok and @youtripsg on TikTok.