The K-obsession among Thai youth

[Asianbloke]

I have noticed a strong grip of South Korean popular media over the imagination and lifestyle of Thai youth. It is evident everywhere -

from the new fashion fads constantly churned out (sporty-doll look for girls, slick-suit look yuppie image, puffed-up, coiffed unisex hairstyles, thanks to K-pop & K-soaps) to seemingly bizarre (atleast to me) expensive extremes ('heightened' nose, rebuilt 'oval' facial structure, whitening skin creams)

Some other close-by Asian cultures like Laos, Cambodia and Myanmar haven't found much appreciation among the Thai youth for obvious reasons.

So, apart from slick marketing strategy of South Korean commercial media and the mechanics involved, so that their products find a steady appeal amongst audience outside its borders, what else could have been the possible reasons for their immense popularity among Thai?

- restrictions on creativity & free speech in Thailand, domestic, simple TV soaps back home as against more interesting Korean soap operas or a craving to be free from the desperate attempts of homogenization of Thai culture by the government?

Korean wave has become so popular that some worry it might 'compromise' their Thai culture. Is this concern justified or shouting out 'compromise' taking things too far?

Edited April 6, 2014 by lokesh

[Lucifer]

Why would the Thais emulate or look up to poor countries like Cambodia, Lao, and Myanmar? Besides, It's not just the Thais who like K- culture, most of asia love it. All to do with marketing.

[sustento]

I think it's not only the Thais who are in the grip of an obsession.

[Ulysses G.]

The girls are good looking and the pop music sucks, just like Thailand.

[David48]

I think it's not only the Thais who are in the grip of an obsession.

subtle ...

[DP25]

The popularity of Korean movies and music is a global phenomena, particularly in Asia. Korean stars are now some of the most popular in the world. Laos, Cambodian, and Burmese movies and music are not popular anywhere outside of their own country.

[Asianbloke]

What needs to noted that Thai authorities have been less than welcoming of this K-pop phenomenon. Official warnings often accompany these fashion fads stating that the new fad may disfigure/blind or even kill. Just an example among several - one advisory blamed black hosiery, a fashion import from Seoul, for dengue fever in Thai women. The Deputy Health Minister cautioned against there use by Thai since he felt that the mosquitoes are drawn to the leggings’ dark hues.

A head of Thai cultural ministry in his speech had stated that the intention to go crazy after another culture shouldn't happen unless we have forgotten our own culture.

Is it taking nationalistic fervour & pride too far?

Similar concerns were raised in past too, way back in 1960s and 70s when the 'hippies' arrived from Europe and US on backpacking trips to Asia.

The Thai interior ministry in 1968 declared that 'Hippie' culture won't become fashionable in Thailand because it is too crude and dirty for the sophisticated Thai people.

It ordered Thai embassies to bar entry of Hippies into their country and Foreign ministry agreed. It called such scruffy backpackers 'crazy people'.

Edited April 6, 2014 by lokesh

[Asianbloke]

I think it's not only the Thais who are in the grip of an obsession.

Aren't we supposed to discuss the issues concerning Thailand on this forum? It surely is a craze elsewhere too, but that doesn't stop us from examining its influence here in Thailand.

[BlackArtemis]

I thought we were talking about ketamine....

[sustento]

"The Thai interior ministry in 1968 " - That was 46 years ago.

Edited April 6, 2014 by sustento

[casualposter]

Similar concerns were raised in past too, way back in 1960s and 70s when the 'hippies' arrived from Europe and US on backpacking trips to Asia. The Thai interior ministry in 1968 declared that 'Hippie' culture won't become fashionable in Thailand because it is too crude and dirty for the sophisticated Thai people. It ordered Thai embassies to bar entry of Hippies into their country and Foreign ministry agreed. It called such scruffy backpackers 'crazy people'.

Singapore was worse.

Hippies transiting Singapore had their passports stamped with:

Suspected

Hippy

In

Transit

I've never seen a SHIT stamp, by the way, and some people claim it's just an urban myth.

[David48]

"The Thai interior ministry in 1968 " - That was 46 years ago.

I was in Kindy then ...

[thailiketoo]

I think it's not only the Thais who are in the grip of an obsession.

Aren't we supposed to discuss the issues concerning Thailand on this forum? It surely is a craze elsewhere too, but that doesn't stop us from examining its influence here in Thailand.

Don't ya think the Thai interior ministry's opinion in 1968 a bit of a stretch? Back then I thought K Pop stood for Khmer pop. As the Khmer Rouge were popping anything that moved weren't they?

[Asianbloke]

Similar concerns were raised in past too, way back in 1960s and 70s when the 'hippies' arrived from Europe and US on backpacking trips to Asia. The Thai interior ministry in 1968 declared that 'Hippie' culture won't become fashionable in Thailand because it is too crude and dirty for the sophisticated Thai people. It ordered Thai embassies to bar entry of Hippies into their country and Foreign ministry agreed. It called such scruffy backpackers 'crazy people'.

Singapore was worse.

Hippies transiting Singapore had their passports stamped with:

Suspected

Hippy

In

Transit

I've never seen a SHIT stamp, by the way, and some people claim it's just an urban myth.

From the looks of it, it's most likely to be an urban myth though I am not completely sure.

Edited April 6, 2014 by lokesh

[casualposter]

Similar concerns were raised in past too, way back in 1960s and 70s when the 'hippies' arrived from Europe and US on backpacking trips to Asia. The Thai interior ministry in 1968 declared that 'Hippie' culture won't become fashionable in Thailand because it is too crude and dirty for the sophisticated Thai people. It ordered Thai embassies to bar entry of Hippies into their country and Foreign ministry agreed. It called such scruffy backpackers 'crazy people'.

Singapore was worse.

Hippies transiting Singapore had their passports stamped with:

Suspected

Hippy

In

Transit

I've never seen a SHIT stamp, by the way, and some people claim it's just an urban myth.

From the looks of it, it's most likely to be an urban myth though I am not completely sure.

Meet Maureen Wheeler, the co-founder of Lonely Planet:

http://www.lonelyplanet.com/about/our-founders/

And from the Lonely Planet story: "Maureen swears the Malaysian officials stamped SHIT in our passports".

http://books.google.co.th/books?id=onAAlO6qkiIC&pg=PA25&lpg=PA25#v=onepage&q&f=false

[Asianbloke]

I just read it, it seems to be true.

[Asianbloke]

Similar concerns were raised in past too, way back in 1960s and 70s when the 'hippies' arrived from Europe and US on backpacking trips to Asia. The Thai interior ministry in 1968 declared that 'Hippie' culture won't become fashionable in Thailand because it is too crude and dirty for the sophisticated Thai people. It ordered Thai embassies to bar entry of Hippies into their country and Foreign ministry agreed. It called such scruffy backpackers 'crazy people'.

Singapore was worse.

Hippies transiting Singapore had their passports stamped with:

Suspected

Hippy

In

Transit

I've never seen a SHIT stamp, by the way, and some people claim it's just an urban myth.

From the looks of it, it's most likely to be an urban myth though I am not completely sure.

Meet Maureen Wheeler, the co-founder of Lonely Planet:

http://www.lonelyplanet.com/about/our-founders/

And from the Lonely Planet story: "Maureen swears the Malaysian officials stamped SHIT in our passports".

http://books.google.co.th/books?id=onAAlO6qkiIC&pg=PA25&lpg=PA25#v=onepage&q&f=false

I just read it up, it seems to be true.

[LaraC]

Trends are common the world over.
Just so happens that Thailand is into K-pop.
So what...?

[sustento]

Similar concerns were raised in past too, way back in 1960s and 70s when the 'hippies' arrived from Europe and US on backpacking trips to Asia. The Thai interior ministry in 1968 declared that 'Hippie' culture won't become fashionable in Thailand because it is too crude and dirty for the sophisticated Thai people. It ordered Thai embassies to bar entry of Hippies into their country and Foreign ministry agreed. It called such scruffy backpackers 'crazy people'.

Singapore was worse.

Hippies transiting Singapore had their passports stamped with:

Suspected

Hippy

In

Transit

I've never seen a SHIT stamp, by the way, and some people claim it's just an urban myth.

From the looks of it, it's most likely to be an urban myth though I am not completely sure.

Meet Maureen Wheeler, the co-founder of Lonely Planet:

http://www.lonelyplanet.com/about/our-founders/

And from the Lonely Planet story: "Maureen swears the Malaysian officials stamped SHIT in our passports".

Malaysia isn't Singapore. It's a separate sovereign state. In fact if you read to the end of the page you link to you'll find a mention of the fact that they had to go through Singapore immigration to leave Malaysia.

[casualposter]

Singapore was worse.

Hippies transiting Singapore had their passports stamped with:

Suspected

Hippy

In

Transit

I've never seen a SHIT stamp, by the way, and some people claim it's just an urban myth.

From the looks of it, it's most likely to be an urban myth though I am not completely sure.

Meet Maureen Wheeler, the co-founder of Lonely Planet:

http://www.lonelyplanet.com/about/our-founders/

And from the Lonely Planet story: "Maureen swears the Malaysian officials stamped SHIT in our passports".

Malaysia isn't Singapore. It's a separate sovereign state. In fact if you read to the end of the page you link to you'll find a mention of the fact that they had to go through Singapore immigration to leave Malaysia.

Malaysia isn't Singapore

Everyone on this forum knows Malaysia isn't Singapore. Some people will also know that Malaysia never issued the SHIT stamp.

Maureen has confused Malaysia with Singapore, but might she also have confused fiction with reality. I've never actually seen a Singaporean SHIT stamp, nor have I come across anyone who has.

Just about related was the Chinese PERVERT stamp. A few decades ago, foreign men caught in China with local prostitutes had the word PERVERT stamped in their passports.

[sdanielmcev]

Old farts complaining about pop music. Some things never change.

[Asianbloke]

Trends are common the world over.

Just so happens that Thailand is into K-pop.

So what...?

Exactly. The question is why has this Korean wave then left Thai officials perturbed. It definitely has ruffled a few feathers.

Do they really think that popular media imported from another country can endanger their own Thai culture and if people of their nation choose to emulate it, then are they being unpatriotic and disrespectful of Thai culture?

Shouldn't the government be more tolerant of changes in the likes & tastes of the public and consider it to be normal rather than a deviance?

Discomfort with 'hippie culture' which found popularity in Thailand too way back in 60s & 70s and the crude references to it - is also a reminder of the similar Thai attitude.

Obsessing over K-pop & media is fine except for in cases where it adopts an extreme stance - going under the knife to look more 'Korean' and the excessive use of skin-whitening creams/peel treatments to attain a lighter East Asian complexion, courtesy the air-brushed, glossed up images of these K-stars.

[Seastallion]

Trends are common the world over.

Just so happens that Thailand is into K-pop.

So what...?

Exactly. In NZ during the eighties, the "old fogies" (ie adults) worried that the gangsta rap culture of America was taking a hold on the youth. Jeans worn below the hips with boxers showing, idioms ("sup homey?") etc. People worried that it was destroying "our culture".

Rock and Roll "culture" was condemned when it started. The haircuts of the Beatles or the dancing of Elvis or the music of Jerry Lee Lewis were considered outrageous.

Gosh, I expect that my grandma doing the Charlston was frowned upon by HER parents, and they in turn were tut tutted for dancing a polka.

I think the OP is simply showing his age; ie too old to understand emerging fads of teenagers, and too young to recognise it's been happening for generation upon generation.

[wellred]

I don't see what the value this discussion has. Why on earth would anyone want to discuss Thailands k pop obsession? It's like any obsession anywhere in the world, am thought not quite like the OPs obsession for Thai culture and 'copying'.

[ChiangMike]

The girls are good looking and the pop music sucks, just like Thailand.

Most pop music sucks everywhere now, the 'idol' phenomenon. Korean soaps have gained a small foothold worldwide - they're very popular in Southern California. And the Korean film industry... film for film I actually prefer them to Hollywood for the last several years.

Didn't like the recent remake as much - but went to a screening of Oldboy at the Egyptian theater about 10 years ago - had no idea what it was - and literally it's the only film I can remember where a sold out audience was dead silent as the ending credits rolled. Not because it was a bad film, but because it was potent and it shook people up.

They still haven't produced anything with the same emotional wallop of Midnight Cowboy or On the Waterfront... but getting there. That's the film industry though, K-pop is another story entirely, can't say I care for it much.

But the ladies are a little cute.

[AlexRRR]

Its a fad that will disappear in time, i dont mind it at all i like the the K hairstyles and fashion and k girls often are hot.

[ultimate weapon]

Is op so ignorant? In western countries they also love korean culture which has superseded japanese culture and mind you japanese culture in terms of say anime, video games etc have long held sway on the western world. Just the word pokemon alone will tell you how many western ppl know what it means and if you don't you're a caveman go ask your grandchildren what that word means. Anyway korean culture is like the new japanese culture of today. Oppa gangnam style is famous world wide. Everyone knows what it is.

I find it laughable that OP would single out the thais in this respect when there are teens in western countries that listen to korean pop music and watch their dramas. SNSD even held a concert in the US and they are something like the korean version of the spice girls but better looking. You know how hard it is for an asian band to do that. They held their concert in some popular stadium or venue. UK bands have problems doing that apart from the oldsters like the beatles.

[ultimate weapon]

Singapore was worse.

Hippies transiting Singapore had their passports stamped with:

Suspected

Hippy

In

Transit

I've never seen a SHIT stamp, by the way, and some people claim it's just an urban myth.

From the looks of it, it's most likely to be an urban myth though I am not completely sure.

Meet Maureen Wheeler, the co-founder of Lonely Planet:

http://www.lonelyplanet.com/about/our-founders/

And from the Lonely Planet story: "Maureen swears the Malaysian officials stamped SHIT in our passports".

Malaysia isn't Singapore. It's a separate sovereign state. In fact if you read to the end of the page you link to you'll find a mention of the fact that they had to go through Singapore immigration to leave Malaysia.

Singapore gained independence from malaysia in 1965

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/History_of_the_Republic_of_Singapore

Before that it was a part of malaysia so please take note of the date in the story.

It is true that the first PM of singapre lee kwan yew implemented tough rules like guys with long hair would be served last. Popular bands like the beatles and kitaro could not perform in singapore unless they cut their hair.

[Somtamme]

What is there to worry about, with Thai's wishing to follow Korean movies etc? The story line and dialogue in these soaps is quite good and with less screaming and the strange noises heard every now and again you get from Thai offerings. The be-doing type noises I find funny, and remind me of Benny Hill days.

[rhythmworx]

I get them SHIT stamps in my undies from time to time.

Nothing to do with K-pop though.