SINGAPORE – If you passed by the Singapore Botanic Gardens today and noticed that something very strange has happened to its entrance sign, do not panic – the disappearance of letters in its name is not the work of pranksters.
Far from that. In fact, the letters A, B and O were removed from the Gardens’ entrance signs on purpose, as part of the International Missing Type Campaign, which aims to get more people to donate blood.
In a Facebook post, Singapore Botanic Gardens said that the letters were removed from entrance signs at its Nassim, Tanglin and Bukit Timah gates.
A total of 33 Singapore organisations are taking part in the campaign, by either digitally altering their logos online or removing letters from the logos at their premises.
After achieving massive success in England in 2015, the organisers have chosen to run the campaign globally from Aug 16 to 21 this year.
Participant organisations overseas include Morgan Stanley, Microsoft, Sydney Opera House, McDonald’s UK and many more.
Locally, the campaign has been taken up by various hospitals, health organisations and educational institutes such as Ngee Ann Polytechnic and Singapore Management University.
Red Cross Singapore explained on its page that more than 100,000 units of blood are needed to meet the transfusion needs of patients every year in Singapore.
Individuals who wish to donate blood can head to their nearest blood bank to donate blood. You can also participate by taking a photo of yourself with the letters A, B and O dropped from your name. These photos can be shared on social media with the tag #MissingTypeSg.
ljessica@sph.com.sg
