A campaign against attempts to drop the ogre-like characters from a musical tourism promotion video is gathering pace, with the former "culture police" chief as the prime target.
Pava-ris Sowapasd is using the website change.org to garner support for the music video, after the producers were ordered to make changes to content deemed "damaging to Thai culture".
That includes scenes of people dressed like temple demon guardians, or Yaksha, making coconut cream cakes, driving go-carts and taking selfies at tourist destinations during the 4 minute 7 seconds video.
Ladda Tangsupachai, a former director of the Culture Surveillance Bureau and dancer at the Fine Arts Department, engineered the move against using the characters from the Ramakien, the Thai version of the Ramayana, in the video after it was posted on YouTube on Sept 11. She considered it damaging to Thai culture.
Her complaint was tabled in a meeting of Bunditpatanasilpa Institute, which righteously decided on Wednesday that some scenes were not appropriate.
Bundit Thongdee, who directed the tourism video, agreed on Wednesday to make some changes.
The "Fun to travel in Thailand" music video was produced for the Tourism Authority of Thailand to encourage Thais to travel inside the country, instead of going abroad.
"We are against Mrs Ladda Tangsupachai, the former artist of the Office of Performing Arts, on the issue filed at Bunditpatanasilpa Institute over the appropriateness of the 'Fun to travel in Thailand' music video," Ms Pava-ris writes on change.org, a non-profit website opened for people to lodge complaints or start petitions.
A petition needs 50,000 supporters before the non-government organisation administering the website will direct it to the relevant agencies.
Ms Pava-ris's petition had already gathered more than 50,000 supporters by Thursday afternoon.
A petition supporting the tourism music video will be sent to Culture Minister Veera Rojpojanarat, Prime Minister Prayut Chan-o-cha and the Fine Arts Department.