Pornchai Sereemongkonpol
Guru section Editor
Guru section Editor
Email : pornchais@bangkokpost.co.th
Modern Advertising Oops
If you've been a regular reader of mine (and thank you so much if you are), you know I'm a bit obsessed with advertisements. They can be an unintentional source of controversy and comedy, if not done right. Here's a few of modern advertisement that perhaps need a second thought.
Cultural And Religious Authorities Have Bigger Tilapia To Fry
A Thai dessert shop in Samut Songkhram got creative by introducing alua in various shapes of Buddha amulets, whose pictures of which went viral last week. Various cultural and religious authorities -- shock horror -- cried foul over this idea.
Music Is A Weapon
Last Friday, singer-songwriter Trai "Boy" Bhumiratna released a song in support of the medical frontliners in the ongoing battle against Covid-19. He later said in a Facebook post that someone had criticised him for not reflecting on the government's shortcomings. He replied, in gist, that music isn't a weapon but is healing and consoling, and he doesn't think of politics with every breath he takes. This didn't sit well with netizens who brought up his past involvement with the PDRC movement that ultimately led to Prayut Chan-o-cha's premiership.
Vintage Ads that Won't Run Today
I love browsing through Thai old-timey print ads from the yesteryears for the nostalgia and quirks from the past they bring. Mirinda was B1 per bottle and Ovaltine was purported as a drink of choice for ladies who wanted to have glowing skin.
2021 Songkran Bingo
As you already know, Songkran this year is on, albeit with much less splashes and debauchery. There seems to be more don'ts than dos that the authorities would like us to abide by in order to safely celebrate Thai New Year during the pandemic. Basically, the traditional ways of celebrating -- religious practices and ceremonies, Buddha image bathing and pouring water onto elders' palms -- are in while the layman fun that we associate with the pre-Covid-19 Songkran era such as water wars, concerts and foam parties are out, for now.
Happy Belated April's Fool Day!
Sometimes I feel like every other day is April's Fool Day in Thailand given the sheer number of unbelievable news stories, for good or bad reasons, that happen. To belatedly celebrate April's Fool Day in a way that the authorities won't have any problems with, I present you with 10 news stories -- your job will be to discern which ones are genuine. Put T in front of the story you think is true and put F if you think it's an April's Fool Day prank, you know the drill. The answers are provided at the end so no cheating!
Flippant Promotions
Businesses can cash in on the talk of the online town by incorporating it into their online promotion in order to grab people's attention amid a barrage of items that flood Facebook newsfeed. A few of them, however, made people stop and stare for the wrong reasons. I noticed two recent incidents where brands cashed in on the political climate in order to promote themselves. And received a tonne of online backlash for it.
Emojis for 2021
If Clubhouse isn't enough to make Samsung fanboys considering abandoning Android for iOS, a new set of emojis may. It has been recently reported that iPhone users can look forwards to 217 new emojis that they can use to expand their emojinication (emoji + communication) with. These new ideogrammatic icons include a revamped version of the syringe icon to be bloodless to go with 2021 as the year of Covid-19 vaccination, obvi. The normal black headphone icon will turn white and look like Apple AirPods Max. Three new smileys. Two new hearts. A bunch of bearded men/women in different skin tones (Because why not?). And multiple pairs of couples with a mix of skin tones for interracial lovebirds.
