Foreign Name Brands That Have Exploited Thais

[greenwanderer108]

Forgive the broadness of the choices...

Everyone is branded all over the world, yes that is the obvious...however, this forum is Thailand-Thai related, so let us focus on Thais in Thailand.

We see them branded/influenced on many foreign things, as the poll has suggested...Surely, there are pluses and minuses that can be argued for/against. I would like to see the general stance of Thaivisa members on such a subject.

Call me a troll or patriotic yank or whatever, but my vote goes to English premiere football. Here is my reasoning. Sports is good for spirit, but in my oppinion the EP has exploited Thai sports to the extent that they have no home spirit for their own teams/clubs on the international level.

When the Thai national team has an international game in most instances, the attendence is usually, as I've seen, less than 30-40 percent...and these are home games...but as soon as Liverpool or Man U, etc. tours to Thailand, the stadium is sold out of Thai fans.

This would not likely be the case in Japan, USA, Korea, Turkey, or even Iran for that matter...

If all the Thai-side promoters spent all their capital and energy promoting the Thai national team in training, media, popularity, etc. instead of sponsoring EP teams and players, the Thai national team might actually have a hope in making it to a world cup...Heck if Angola and Ivory coast can go, why can't the Thais? I think it's all about team spirit, which Thais seem to lack outside of English Premiere football...

So, that's just one argument for why I voted English premiere as branding Thais could do without...Any legit arguments for the other choices or against my own, please bring it on...

And let's try to keep to the topic at hand...I know it's hard thing to do on this forum, but just try...

[samran]

Seriously Greeny.

I'd look in Thailand's own backyard before heading overseas.

There are a bunch of Thai companies with monopolies, foricing Thai consumers to pay way above the odds for products that would be much cheaper overseas.

Plus there is a government supporting them with industry protection and subsidies so that they can survive, at the detriment to new entrants to the market.

Just about all those brands you mentioned above are sucessful as they were able to cut their teeth in COMPETITIVE home markets before they spread their wings overseas.

Who are you to deny the average Thai punter the opportunity to support Man U? Are you saying he should be forced to support the Nakhon Pathom Wanderers instead, as this would be better for the nation? Really greeny, denying choice will never help anyone, and it one of the most foolish of ideas that by somehow protecting local companies/organisations you are able to somehow build a 'national champions' either on the football field or in the business field.

[Sir Burr]

Thais are like everyone else. They have free-will and can choose to buy, or, not buy products from the companies you have mentioned, support, or, not support a particular football team, to spend or not spend 20,000 Bt per month on food.

Edited April 23, 2006 by Sir Burr

[greenwanderer108]

Seriously Greeny.

I'd look in Thailand's own backyard before heading overseas.

There are a bunch of Thai companies with monopolies, foricing Thai consumers to pay way above the odds for products that would be much cheaper overseas.

Plus there is a government supporting them with industry protection and subsidies so that they can survive, at the detriment to new entrants to the market.

Just about all those brands you mentioned above are sucessful as they were able to cut their teeth in COMPETITIVE home markets before they spread their wings overseas.

Who are you to deny the average Thai punter the opportunity to support Man U? Are you saying he should be forced to support the Nakhon Pathom Wanderers instead, as this would be better for the nation? Really greeny, denying choice will never help anyone, and it one of the most foolish of ideas that by somehow protecting local companies/organisations you are able to somehow build a 'national champions' either on the football field or in the business field.

I didn't mean to come off like I was blaming 'evil foreigners' for such branding practices. I was leaning more towards a lack of local/domestic pride and spirit in their own teams/brands. While it is true that some aspects of Thai society have 'too much' nationalism, I feel others lack it...

And you are completely correct, that the main drive for the popularity of Man U, Liverpool, 7-11, Mac, or whatever in Thailand is at the hand of Thais themselves in pursuance of market monopolies, control, etc... I don't argue this at all...but at the same time, does that make it any right? I think it would be better if they could exploit Thai brands/teams on the international level...that would be more impressive in my point of view...

but from a marketer's point of view, yes it is much more 'easy' to exploit an existing brand i.e. buying copyrights, franchises, etc..

cheers

[Sir Burr]

I don't quite get the point of this thread.

Are you trying to say Thais should only patronize Thai companies? Support only Thai teams?

[Thaiquila]

It really has to be American fast food. Thai kids are eating this more and more, which will lead to increased rates of obesity, heart disease, stroke, diabetes, and cancer. This can't be good for Thailand.

Its really too bad that the US mass market exports the worse aspects of its cuisine and not the good stuff.

Edited April 23, 2006 by Thaiquila

[greg.d]

It really has to be American fast food. Thai kids are eating this more and more, which will lead to increased rates of obesity, heart disease, stroke, diabetes, and cancer. This can't be good for Thailand.

Spot on TQ, could'nt agree more. It has to be American fast food and all the crap that they produce. keep it Thai, keep it real.

[samran]

It really has to be American fast food. Thai kids are eating this more and more, which will lead to increased rates of obesity, heart disease, stroke, diabetes, and cancer. This can't be good for Thailand.

Spot on TQ, could'nt agree more. It has to be American fast food and all the crap that they produce. keep it Thai, keep it real.

surely then, we should deport every farang then, especially the ones who frequent the bars and clubs of nana, patpong or pattaya then. They are bad influences too, leading people astray? Speading of loose morals, prostitution, venerial disease?

Actually, I am only being devils advocate, but this is where these anti-foreign arguments lead.

Remember too, that all these fast food companies are run and owned locally by Thai franchiees, who provide employment to not only their staff, but also suppliers.

Lets leave this anti-globalisation stuff to the French shall we? We only need one self inflicted moribund economy and culture in this world.

[bkkmadness]

I always find these threads kind of patronising, its as if people think the west have corrupted the poor natives of Thailand who can't think for themselves and the country will go down because of it. They have free will, they are exploited as little or as much as the rest of us by branded goods.

I always get the distinct impression with these 'west have corrupted/exploited the Thais' posts that people would rather the Thais were all still out in the paddy fields and handwashing there clothes in a picturesque stream but that always seems selfish to me.

Its quite obvious that many westerners that come here do want to escape the commercialism of the west and hope to come to countries in Thailand so they can live some fantasy about 'the way things were before' but that doesn't seem right to me; the Thais deserve the chance to have all these international brands as well, and once again, they have the choice whether to use them or not.

[The Dude]

The Dude pondered this for a few moments and then thought of the #1 answer to the OPs question.

####1 MTV

Pushing Hip Hop culture on Thais youth is hands down the worst of the worst. Soccer and fast food very tame compared to MTV. The Thai youth thinks hip hop is oh so cool

runner up:

PEPSI

they use the English soccer leagues and Hip Hop to push their useless unhealthy products, Sugar water and potato chips

[Sir Burr]

In the UK, what about the "in" drink, vodka & Red-Bull. It can cause heart palpitations and is banned in some pubs.

A case of a Thai company exploiting poor, defensless English people?

[skylar]

####1 MTV

Pushing Hip Hop culture on Thais youth is hands down the worst of the worst. Soccer and fast food very tame compared to MTV. The Thai youth thinks hip hop is oh so cool

And I bet you've forgotten what it is like to be young.

Edited to say: it's Ragnarok, not 'Ragnorak' greenwanderer.

Edited April 23, 2006 by skylar

[chuchok]

The Dude pondered this for a few moments and then thought of the #1 answer to the OPs question.

####1 MTV

Pushing Hip Hop culture on Thais youth is hands down the worst of the worst. Soccer and fast food very tame compared to MTV. The Thai youth thinks hip hop is oh so cool

runner up:

PEPSI

they use the English soccer leagues and Hip Hop to push their useless unhealthy products, Sugar water and potato chips

Agreed.hip hop is about as cool as polio.MTV sucks, except when they play the music I like.

[bkkmadness]

Hip Hops really degenerated as a music style from what it once was, though I do only catch the mtv style crap these days so perhaps that's why.

[samran]

Pushing Hip Hop culture on Thais youth is hands down the worst of the worst. Soccer and fast food very tame compared to MTV. The Thai youth thinks hip hop is oh so cool

A great Australian band called TISM wrote a song a decade ago called "All Home Boys are Dickhe@ds". Great, Great song, from a fantasic band.

[Tarragona]

The English football teams aren't actually making much money out of Thais. Despite the hype very little is made from overseas sales, even by the likes of Man Utd.

[Donz]

Hip hop is good music, dancing to it is the best

[Thaiboxer]

I used to teach kids so I saw the effects of fast food five days a week. Fast food is more of a luxury over here and is priced above what a lot of people can afford whereas in the States it's the bottom of the barrel in terms of price and of course quality.

While fast food is causing physical problems for today's younger folks, you have to look at the factors causing mental problems...and one of those factors has to be computer games; internet cafes are jam packed with teens playing these games. Many of the young adults I teach now spend the majority of their free time playing computer games instead of exercising or playing sports.

[The Dude]

####1 MTV

Pushing Hip Hop culture on Thais youth is hands down the worst of the worst. Soccer and fast food very tame compared to MTV. The Thai youth thinks hip hop is oh so cool

And I bet you've forgotten what it is like to be young.

Edited to say: it's Ragnarok, not 'Ragnorak' greenwanderer.

Hip Hop has nothing to do with being young. MTV is selling dog poop and has convinced folks that dog poop tastes good

[Donz]

Is it because you look funny dancing to hip hop

[Jai Yen Yen]

Is it because you look funny dancing to hip hop

Absolutely! But back on topic... I don't think KFC or McDonald's put quite as much MSG and other <deleted> in their foods as you see put it typical Thai food. I'm surprised more Thais don't suffer from the side effects of MSG.

I've also seen in the streets of major tourist resorts rows of tailors all named "Armani"... who are they exploiting? (And who are they kidding?)

[Donz]

Is it because you look funny dancing to hip hop

Absolutely! But back on topic... I don't think KFC or McDonald's put quite as much MSG and other <deleted> in their foods as you see put it typical Thai food. I'm surprised more Thais don't suffer from the side effects of MSG.

I've also seen in the streets of major tourist resorts rows of tailors all named "Armani"... who are they exploiting? (And who are they kidding?)

Mcdonald has so much perservatives and other shit in there food then any other food IMO.

We did a science test at school many years ago with a Big Mac and a normal takeaway burger.

the takeaway burger was gone in 3 days.

The bigmac after 3 weeks never even changed colour.

[lomatopo]

I am pretty sure that it is Thai-majority owned and operated companies that have licensed brands in order to sell and market goods and services to Thais. So to use the OP's parlance, it is Thais "exploiting" Thais to make money.

EPL - UBC and Satellite operators (Thai-owned), sales of knockoff jerseys (Thai manufactured and sold), and the gambling, which is HUGE. I think the wagering drives much of the interest in the EPL; as much or more than the sport/teams/players here. I always seem to see more discussion about the betting sheet than the sports pages?

American Fast Food - I think all of these outlets are Thai-owned and operated. I imagine all of the food and supplies are Thai-sourced, and thousands of Thais work in these restaurants serving Thais. If the government is concerned about public health issues then they should not allow people to choose what they want to eat, and possibly limit the gargantuan sales of cooking oil and MSG used in the preparation of 'healthy' Thai food.

European Beer - Probably not much of an impact? Thais own the distribution rights and make the money but local brands are still more popular I think?

Video games - Not sure where exploitation enters into the equation? Thais sold the hardware and (possibly) licensed the software so Thais could play video games.

Pop culture - Oy vey, what're we in France now? (My great-grandmother thought that my grandmother should not listen to Frank Sinatra, my grandmother thought that my mother should not listen to Elvis Presley ("devil music"). Where did that get anyone? And of course Thai cinema is just so much more intellectual than Hollywood fare? I think indigenous Thai pop culture is much more dominant and influential here?

[britmaveric]

Freedom of choice is never a bad thing. I think blaming companies is rather simplistic.

[skylar]

You're right. We should blame crappy media outlets like MTV that brainwash the young with crappy hip hop instead. Never mind if we belong to that generation or not The Dude, it was better in the old days, wasn't it? Or something.

[slackula]

Absolutely! But back on topic... I don't think KFC or McDonald's put quite as much MSG and other <deleted> in their foods as you see put it typical Thai food. I'm surprised more Thais don't suffer from the side effects of MSG.

I've also seen in the streets of major tourist resorts rows of tailors all named "Armani"... who are they exploiting? (And who are they kidding?)

Perhaps, but you can always request that the Thai food be prepared without MSG, I do it all the time because I have an allergy to MSG. That is not an option at McDonalds house of <deleted>.

The other options on the poll *perhaps* might damage culture, but only US style fast food is going to have a bad effect on children's future health, so that gets my vote.*

* I know beer might too but the poll is not beer vs no beer it is foreign beer vs Thai beer

[Ulysses G.]

Freedom of choice is never a bad thing. I think blaming companies is rather simplistic.

It's nice to know that at least one poster can think for himself.

[Heng]

This thread sounds an awful lot like the "your income is higher than you deserve" threads (only more like "I can't afford certain imported -even when manufactured locally or creates local jobs for hundreds of thousands of people- items or concepts.... so it must be bad for the whole country").

[Ulysses G.]

This thread sounds an awful lot like "I can't afford certain imported -even when manufactured locally or creates local jobs for hundreds of thousands of people- items or concepts.... so it must be bad for the whole country".

Here, here!

[Nawtilus]

Certainly should do without the pizza and maccas and kfc crap.

The <deleted> on Thai girls are already starting to head south. Just like back home. Soon I fear we will be hearing the dreaded "does my arse look fat in this"