SINGAPORE, April 21 — Dubbed the “Virus Vanguard”, they were a group of five “superheroes” who were supposed to galvanise the country in its fight against the Covid-19 pandemic. But the campaign was launched yesterday to mixed reactions, going viral but not necessarily in a positive way.

By 11pm, the article introducing the superheroes on the Government website gov.sg had gone offline. In a Facebook post at around 11.30pm, the government communications portal stated that the Virus Vanguard is “undergoing a review”.

“We have received quite a lot of feedback on the characters and we will be reviewing them. We are sorry if we offended anyone,” the post stated. “As this is the first time we are exploring this content format, we appreciate your patience.”

It went on to say that the Virus Vanguard is a collaboration with the Band of Doodlers — an art collective — to create a “comic series to convey different aspects” of the circuit breaker measures.

The superhero quintet — Dr Disinfector, Fake News Buster, MAWA Man, Circuit Breaker and Care-leh Dee — each have “superpowers” in the fight against Covid-19.

Care-leh Dee, for instance, is described as “a female trillionaire philanthropist” who uses empathy to “absorb all negativity”.

MAWA (Must Always Walk Alone) Man, as one would have guessed, is the safe distancing enforcer. The Gov.sg article describes him as a Manchester United fan who “despises everything Liverpool including their motto You’ll Never Walk Alone”. It was little wonder the campaign earned a mention on sports website ESPN.

But some among the public were less than amused, with comments saying that the money spent could have been channelled to better use.

The team was first introduced to the public via a Facebook post on Sunday, before it was launched yesterday  — the same day that a record 1,426 cases of Covid-19 were reported in Singapore.

Facebook user Josie Kay, posting on the Gov.sg post, said that there were “better ways to spend taxpayers’ money”.

Another user, Yeong Cheng Ng, said that the campaign is “just a comic joke”.

“No wonder people don’t take your advice seriously,” the Facebook comment read.

Others have had to explain about the campaign to friends from overseas who have heard about it.

Facebook user Hon Liang said that it was “embarrassing” when international medical colleagues sent him messages to ask about the “Virus Vanguard”.

Others, however, took a lighter approach and said that one of the characters reminded them of VR Man — an English television drama about a Singaporean superhero starring James Lye that aired in 1998.

“James Lye is the VR Man! He is the one. Do not replace,” wrote Facebook user Benn Tham. — TODAY