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!
...1) The Ministry of Tourism suggested to Nestle a plan to make KitKat in Thai fruit flavours such as durian, mangosteen and tamarind. Yum, no?
...2) A website under the Ministry of Culture's purview listed "committing suicide by hanging" as one of the uses of pha kao ma loincloths.
...3) Famous restaurant review platform Wongnai introduced a new service called Wongnai Lovers to allow people to review people whom they have gone out with. For example, Somchai: mama's boy, polite, great biceps, 4 stars.
...4) Grab tried to incorporate a local mode of transport into their service by introducing GrabTukTuk. A unique selling point for Thai users and tourists alike, don't you think?
...5) Noted fortune-teller Sinsae Shogun was recently sentenced to 4,355 years in jail for public fraud for the sale of memberships of her food supplement company. Members were enticed to sign up with a promise of a free tour around Asia.
...6) Remember the hype surrounding Thai drama BuppeSanNivas (Love Destiny) in 2018. Apparently, it went inter because Microsoft co-founder Bill Gates tweeted, "I just watched the Thai drama, BuppeSanNivas. The story has inspired me to learn more about glorious Thai history. I love Mae Ying Karaked."
...7) Bang Kae district in Bangkok recently launched a trial project to curb the problem of motorcyclists riding on footpaths by giving them part of the footpath for them to ride on. Clever, right?
...8) The US Embassy in Bangkok posted a job opening for feline welfare staff, aka cat handler, to take care of the feline population that took up residency at the embassy via their Facebook page in 2016. It was written in Thai and English and came with an official-looking letter too.
...9) KitKat announced four new flavours exclusively for the Thai market in 2017. They were tam sua, grilled pla too, sai aui and stir-fried stink beans with shrimp. Savoury and sweet, why not?
...10) Restaurant review platform Wongnai introduced a new service where users can use a Lineman to reserve a table for them and dine with them as a dining companion.
ANSWERS
1) True and it's not a bad idea either.
2) True. Suicide by hanging was listed at number 28 of the many ways you can use a loincloth. The ministry recently admitted to the mistake, which was made in 2013, and had it removed already. I guess someone was trolling but no one caught it.
3) False. Wongnai tried to pull a fast one on the public back in 2016 but it can't be true. Just think of all the possible libel cases that could happen from such a service.
4) False. It's was Grab's prank for April's Fool Day back in 2016. However, Grab and Nakorn Lanna Cooperative launched GrabTukTuk Electric in Chiang Mai in June of 2019 for real.
5) True. More than 800 people paid B9,700 each for the membership but were stranded at Suvarnabhumi Airport as the promised tour to Japan had never been booked. The 4,000+ jail term (871 counts of fraud charges; five years for each count) given to fortune-teller Sinsae Shogun was commuted to 20 years.
6) Super false. Do you think Gates has time to watch any series?
7) Sadly, true. Bang Kae district tried this strange idea on a footpath they deemed big enough to be shared between motorcyclists and pedestrians. That's like you encouraging bad guys to do the bad things you don't want them to do in the first place. Of course, people responded to their idea overwhelmingly negatively since the footpath is meant for people to walk on. It's in the very definition of a footpath.
8) Sadly, it's false but a good prank nonetheless. In this day and age of soft power, I can imagine such a position could be useful for endearing your organisation to the public, though.
9) False. Thai fruits and chocolate can be a palatable pairing but I'm not so sure about mixing meat with chocolate.
10) False. Clever businesses will come up with a prank on April's Fool Day to get free media coverage as Wongnai did.