7
Thailand Overexposed 2009
These are things are that have overexposed in the year of the Lord 2009. Here are they in no particular order:
- Lin Ping the baby panda. Lin Ping was the first panda born in the history of Thailand and the Thai just can’t seem to get enough of him. He has appeared in numerous promotions and commercials. You cannot go anywhere now without running into the image of a panda. As a result, pandas have seemed to have overpassed elephants at the most popular animal.
- Super Junior. Super Junior is a Korean boy band that is composed of 13 members. They had a concert in November of 2009. Like the panda, they have appeared in many promotions and commercials. The Thai media cannot seem to get enough of them They have seemed cast a spell on the media as well as the young girls who have crushed on them. They are popular despite the fact that they do not speak the same language as their fans.
- Korean bands and popular culture have become more popular in Thailand. It helps that when you get local cable channels, you usually two or three Korean channels. Thais can even change their appearance to look more Korean by wearing contact lenses that make their eyes look bigger. It should be said that you should be careful when you wear these lenses as the changes could end up being permanent instead of cosmetic. As they used to say on an American cop show, ‘‘Be careful out there.’’
- British football. British football is going to be on any overexposed list in Thailand for a long time time. Thais just can’t seem to get tired of the game, especially if it is European. If you are lucky enough to have True Vision, you can watch this game 24 hours a day. It is true that you could live here for years and you would not even know that there is a local professional soccer league. Thais seem to barely pay attention to it. They do try to promote it by having it on Thai TV. It does not seem to work. The only team that they seem to pay attention to is the Thai national team.
- Next year is the World Cup. There will be promotions in connection with the World Cup in South Africa. There will probably be sleepless nights for Thais as they try to follow the tournament that is taking place in such a different time zone.
- Mum the comedian. He is a Thai comedian who seemed to appear almost every other movie this year, especially if it was a comedy. He has his own TV show called the Mum show which he does use to promote his movies. He appears in at least 3 or 4 other TV shows. This would mean that almost every day, Mum is appearing somewhere in Thailand. He seems to be one of the hardest working people in Thailand. He must be very exhausted from going to studio to set to stage appearance and back again. How he manages to do all these movies and TV shows without dying of exhaustion is unknown.
- Thai comedians like Mum. There seems to be only 5 to 10 comedians in the country and they appearing right now in at least TV show or movie near you. They seem to be running constantly from one set to studio to another. As a foreigner, you will probably recognize their faces, but you would not know their names unless a Thai tells you what their name is. The Thai government should start a program to get more Thai comedians in the country or the current ones are going to die of exhaustion.
- Thaksin Shinawatra. Despite his exile, he just can’t seem to go away. Love or hate him, he just can’t seem to stay away and the Thai media seems to be willing to be used as a tool to promote him. Whether you seem as a bad penny that keeps on turning up or a saviour that could improve the country upon his return, he is here to stay
