KPDNKK promotes GST via 'selfie'

The 'selfie' trend, which is now the craze among the people, is being exploited by the Domestic Trade, Cooperatives and Consumerism Ministry (KPDNKK) as a new strategy to explain on the Goods and Services Tax (GST).

The ministry uses the interactive digital touch screen which allows the public to use the 'selfie' while reading the information on the new tax system which will be enforced in April 2015.

The marketing officer of the supplying company for the screen, Berkat Wajar Sdn Bhd, Raja Rozida Raja Aziz said the KPDNKK was their first client using the most modern electronic equipment costing almost RM1 million.

The digital screen measuring 20 feet wide and nine feet high, was installed on level two at the Putra World Trade Centre (PWTC) since yesterday, in conjunction with the 2014 Umno General Assembly.

"There is a television screen equipped with a camera next to the digital screen that enables the public to take a 'selfie' and decorate the photo using the script, frame or icon selected before recording the digital image.

"While waiting for the image to appear on the digital screen, they are bound to read the messages written on the screen because it is normal for us to read whatever word that appears in front of us," she told Bernama today.

KPDNKK minister Datuk Seri Hassan Malek also recorded two selfie images when launching the digital screen today.

Raja Rozida said all photographs uploaded will be 'stored' in the system and displayed on the screen until the conclusion of the assembly, and they could also be sent to the users' personal e-mail accounts.

Advertisers using the digital screen can also find out the effectiveness of the advertisement placed because the screen is also equipped with the traffic flow system that registers the number of selfie users.

"At the PWTC, not only the women like to take the selfie but the menfolk too don't want to be left out. The more people take the selfie, the wider the KPDNKK advertisement messages can be conveyed," she said.