'I Hate Thailand' star comes clean: Video funded by TAT

[lust]

My favorite part is when he starts smashing his phone when the battery is dead. Smart Thai shows dumb foreigner the way with presenting a charger... Foreigner very stupid. Thai so smart.

[Jai Dee]

A racist and derogatory post has been deleted from this thread.

Please keep the discussion civil.

[Star Dust]

50/50 Bulshit. But nice Bullshit.

[evadgib]

Here he is @ Heathrow on day 1:)

Edited November 21, 2014 by evadgib

[OPG]

In all honesty, there are Farangs who are lucky enough to have such experiences and then there are Farangs who have all the bad luck in the world.

As for me, I'm one of those Farangs who knows what you should and shouldn't do in a country that I am foreign to; I have the most incredible wife who sticks with me through thick and thin. We've been so down that you just can't fall any further and her and her family's support was incredible and genuine. Her parents are simple Isan rice farmers who make enough to live and not splurge. My wife and all of her friends never worked in a bar and all had honest jobs, whether in a factory or medical field, but they work hard to make a living. Now we have a beautiful child who is tremendously loved by all of her family. Now, all of her friends married and live in different parts of the world, but my family has grown tremendously with honest and genuine friendships that are like family with all the husbands of her friends and I've become Uncle's to all of their children.

That's my story, but I've also heard HORROR stories from many other Farangs. I know how they are, so when a story pops up, I can just imagine why the story went in the direction it did, so it just basically shows that the Farangs (not all, but there are a lot) who tend to have bad luck are the actual cause of their own fate here in Thailand.

But in all seriousness, lately I've started to think about moving away and it's not because of the people I know or see daily, but it's because of too much corruption, too much crime (increased a heck of a lot) and nobody in the Government is willing to really do anything solid to clean up the mess that has been made with full awareness to not just the people living in Thailand but the world. Well, the sad part about this mess, is everything that happens in the West will eventually find it's way to countries such as Thailand. If you honestly think about it, everybody moved away from their own countries for specific reasons...maybe the life we all wanted to live was a more simple and honest life...away from all the westernization. If you pay close attention, a lot of what makes the West popular and the bad that comes with it has spread like a plague across the world and all in the direction of simple countries where people still work like our Parents or Grandparents used to back in the days. Thailand is now getting to Westernized and all that made Thailand great is being sadly washed away. The Thailand we all knew and loved is disappearing quickly and will never return, but hopefully the Thai culture will remain, which is what makes this country so beautiful.

[Whidbeyboy]

At least he lived to tell his story.

[BoristheBlade]

Great campaign and well done to TAT.

If anyone of here thinks the tourist of any country tells or shows the truth about their countries, you must be deluded.

Just watch the UK promotion video's for London.....complete tat and total lies.

[Tubby]

What a load of old TAT. I love the monkey story though. A Thai would never steal someone's bag. Well at least the taxi driver didn't murder him for throwing stones, we all know he would not have left the island if it was real.

This is about as false an image you could portray on Thailand. they forgot the selfish me, me, me, money money money part, the murders, rapes and constant stabbings muggings and general scams.

utter BS

[fakser]

Everything is true. Thailand is the best and the friendliest country in the world for visitors. Nevertheless, the authorities MUST clean up the bad spots that spoil the fan and sometimes turn the fan into great sorrow.

A known and untreated problem is the stealing of personal belongings from the baggage compartments of the coaches between Bangkok to the gateways to the islands and to tracks in the north.

It is known that there is an organised mafia operating on the low cost buses. A "monkey" enters the luggage compartment and steals money, credit cards and passports from the passengers who sleep in the cabin. The hassle and the fatigue caused to the traveler is enormous. It destroys the whole trip and leaves bad taste and bad feeling to Thailand.

The police must take care of this ugly phenomena. The sooner, the better.

[micmichd]

I have had similar adventures to this guy, both good and bad, very cheesy but the sentimentality isn't the problem for me. Oh no it's more 'official' stuff

Two years on what visa?

Teaching English and diving, work permit?

See now tourists will watch this video and think yeah I will spend two great years in Thailand, only to be crushed by the reality of these current very tight visa regulations. TAT you are sending out mixed messages, and further up than you the government for publishing this video! You are being very hypocritical.

[Whidbeyboy]

Thailand is now getting to Westernized and all that made Thailand great is being sadly washed away. The Thailand we all knew and loved is disappearing quickly and will never return, but hopefully the Thai culture will remain, which is what makes this country so beautiful.

You know I agree with you. The more westernized Thailand has become more problems I see happening. But it's more than that like you said the corruption is just out of hand.

That's why my wife doesn't want to move back there. Yes they have corruption everywhere. But I know at least where I live we have a system that will allow me to be ripped off without being able to fight it.

The corruption my country is more your white-collar crime, not the local government conspiring to take everything that you own given the chance.

And that's fine by me because I can visit Thailand anytime, have my fun, visit my extended family, see the sights and then get on a plane back to the land of cool air and modern living.

[micmichd]

In Germany, the maximum for vacation is 6 weeks. The maximum for students is 3 months, which is not realistic anymore.

So, young Farangs will face no problem at all when they travel as tourists. Up to 4 weeks most of them don't need no visa at all.

So, where's the problem?

[cup-O-coffee]

Just par for the course.

All we need now is TAT to deny any involvement.

come on all of us living here for a long time like me for over 30 years can get very cynical about Thais and start to think its all bad. We forget how bad it is in west.If you've been here a long time (over 30 years ago was my first time) you will remember your first visit to Asia (mine was 37 years ago in Indonesia). The buzz you got the experiences the pure joy compared with rat race hole of UK and USA. Sure I like most got scammed a bit in first few years was taken in my outside beautiful smiles of most gorgeous females I've ever seem and sure I lost in money terms a few thousand gbp which luckily was at the time not much to me. So some of rose tinted grasses wore away as a few years rolled on and i got more wise and a bit more careful but in all honestly i also found great true frendliness and kindness. Sure this was partly so they could make a living but for most of my guides it was more than that. It was about service and wishing to please and being kind. So after 5 years or so I discovered Thailand and by then was very vary of any Asian ladies and determined never to fall into same trap id seen so many. Like most who've been here a very long time I fell totally in love with Asia. I met true love and saul mate of my life and we've been together for 30 odd years. Like all marriages we've had our rough patches.

TO point I know this film is of course grossly exaggerated and sadly Thailand like all developing countries is not the paradise it used to be. The ladies have grown hard and cynical due IMO to hordes of forang especially in Vietnam days basically just treating them like and throwing them on rubbish without a thought later.

I guess its good TAT are learning some proper PR even if its like any PR its a long way from truth.I recall after a few years in Indonesia saying this place is like paradise and like Hell but tourists and short visitors only normally see paradise bit and not the hell bit. Thailand is same as often us olduns forget why were still here and will never ever return to decedent rotten to core western societies.

Very well put Icare999 - It's so easy for us long-termers to get cynical and bitter over the years and forget how and why we're here. I like to remember the mad culture shock and the wild fun of first arriving and partying on the south islands in the mid 80's. I arrived there around the same age as this guy - 25ish. Young troppo and more than a bit stupid and naive.

A bit like these young fellahs living it up on Soi Bangla - Thailand did make my dreams come true.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=tvH7SUr9fvo. -

Cheap everything and 'seemingly' noone really policing anything... Seemed if you just didn't hurt anyone - you could nearly do what you liked. No one seemed hostile or deliberately out to steal or injure you. This seems no longer the case in the young peoples' haunts.

Like everyone else I enjoyed the 'pink cloud' of culture shock for the first few months - but of course we all have to grow up and my illusions became less and less fantasy and more and more fact over the years.

I found a good job and stayed - actually becoming a Thai citizen just recently. With ASEAN coming up - that's a bonus for travel within the member nations.

Back on topic - I actually enjoyed watchiung this short fantasy film and understand the TAT's rationalle given the recent rape and horrific murder of the British youngsters. Why not try a youtube film getting back to basics about why young travelers like to come and party here. No harm done.

Except for, as already stated several times - the early scenes infer that an angry young foreigner will get away with swearing at a police officer and even throw a rock at a passing car. <deleted>? No way. Not on your life... Some pretty stupid script writing there TAT. Sheesh.

Apart from those few silly mistakes, it's alright. I mean - the bar girl is cute and the expat job on a boat - and the rest of the fairy tale sometimes actually happens - or at least it 'used' to happen way back when. They need to be proactive because Thailand is no longer the the only SEA country for youngsters to come and blow off their steam. - It's becoming more dangerous and there is absolutely no justice. As always in the amazing ever changing and beautiful LOS - we must all - Caveat Emptor.

You might be correct in all of this were Thailand to have ever made any attempt to apologize, admit fault, failure, incompetence and lying to the parents of the deceased children over these last several years.

Thailand has never done that. Instead, they have made the foreigner out to be the blame, along with insults worthy of a punch in the mouth... bikinis... what an ass.

That is why this video is an insult and demonstrates that Thais really do not have any concept of foreign consciousness: what makes us upset and what makes us angry.

Moreover, know that any advert is choreographed, planned and every minute item gone over again and again, then this is why I am insulted as stated before. That the TAT - of ALL the potentially attractive tourists they could have chosen to portray - instead chose this scruffy looking Tarzan-wannabe bum (the weak minded, drunken idiot, rock throwing, penniless Falang) as their "tourist".

I worked in advertising before. This would have never made it off the cutting table where I come from.

So my point is, you have a good point if you can manage to convince me that this video does not intentionally trample on the dignity and intelligence of foreigners, and demonstrate that Thai's simply do not understand us and are only interested in filling rooms and filling up their filthy coffers. They have demonstrated this over and over again... almost weekly.

It is about as insensitive as that Hitler Chicken place in Bangkok. That is what I mean. If you don't want to be murdered in Thailand, then maybe you should not wear revealing bikinis... but on the other hand, it's OK for to illustrate a Thai country girl to stop and chat up a scruffy looking Tarzan-wannabe bum (the weak minded, drunken idiot, rock throwing, penniless Falang) and take him home to daddy and adopt him.

Why not choose attractive people with money and maybe kids and have a taxi driver return the two million they forgot and left behind?

Or better yet, why not show the PM visiting a foreigner in the hospital, after he has been beaten and had his head kicked in by tuk tuk drivers, or a Chinese woman who has been robbed, raped and beaten, and then the PM hands him a check to pay for hospital bills and a refund on his R/T/ airline ticket?

But instead, they chose to demonstrate that they are the HUB of gods and descend upon the worst kind of example of a foreign tourist you could ever imagine (a scruffy looking Tarzan-wannabe bum -the weak minded, drunken idiot, rock throwing, penniless Falang), and adopt him.

Nope. This is bad advertising and a very very poor management decision.

Pure psycho BS and very insulting. It is the principle of it all. I think people these days have forgotten what principle is, and kids these days have no idea and Thais never have had it.

Edited November 21, 2014 by cup-O-coffee

[FangFerang]

All righty then. The star of the video called it cheesy. Coconuts called it propaganda.

It was guerrilla marketing, and some people don't like that.

I don't care. Even Discovery and National Geographic are pulling stunts like this in their productions.

It also would not change my mind if I had doubts about coming here.

[asdecas]

I predict a 56% increase in tourist numbers next year as result of this video.

If anyone at TTT is reading, I am willing to lend my talents to the next promotion, for a modest fee, taken in kind if necessary.

[schbang]

In fairness, the best bit of marketing done by TAT for years.

Cheesy, but a good effort.

Did people really believe 100 Thais would take to a beach with candles for free to find someone's bag?

I agree, I actually think this is a good bit of marketing and refreshing change from the usual rubbish TAT puts out.

I don't think that TAT were trying to pull the wool over anyones eyes with this. I don't think they ever claimed it to be anything other than what it is and I don't think they were trying to pass it off as being 'real', so to speak.

If people watching it believed this video to be anything other than scripted, then more fool them!

In fact, it could be argued that it's been very successful as it's gained huge attention, the video has been watched more than 800,000 times on YouTube and had people talking about it on forums and throughout social media.

Sure it's cheesey but it's better than the 'Thainess' campaign and the other quickly forgotten marketing spiel they've put out in recent years.

[JeremyBowskill]

Well we all consider Thailand a preferable option to farangland or we wouldn't be here, this video doesn't show the real place though. Well unless they edited the bit where he gets deported for teaching without a work permit or the bit where he drinks himself to death after a rough break up with Nancy over money.

Speak for yourself.........my Wife likes to stay in Thailand, dont lump everyone in with your idea of heaven

Sorry didn't have time for a survey of 7.125 billion, so I did in fact speak for myself.

[schbang]

Cheesey? it's a total fabrication masquerading as documentary.

Land of (S)miles of deceptions.

Fortunately farangs are now more vocal about thais unfriendly opportunism and perfidy.

Poor monkey...he takes the rap again. Nothing new or innovative about this fantasy.

No thais were harmed or framed in this making.

Hilarious in its stupidity.

[tomyummer]

The TAT's rip off of Brian Camuset's youtube brilliance, "Never go to Thailand". They were going to contract him to do a campaign for them, but as all Thai's do, they decided to give it a go themselves. Probably cheaper.

This was a video meant for locals to teach them not to rip off backpacking foreigners.

Edited November 21, 2014 by tomyummer

[granuaile]

Like it. And if funded by TAT so what?

It's the Thailand I normally experience, I can't count the times someone has offered me their seat on the bus or BTS/MRT, a few days ago at the top of the steps crossing a pedestrian overpass and knees aching, (I am 60, finally have acknowledged that to myself) a young woman stopped and asked if I was OK (I was), dropped a baht and someone pick it up to give it to me, I can't count the kindnesses I have experienced here.... Actually I've never experienced anything seriously bad here, though it could happen. Thailand really is great, if it wasn't I could choose another country to live or go back to USA, but I am happy here. Thailand is home for some of us who love it....

[DM07]

The "worst" thing about it is, that some (Thai) people on FB passed it around as the gospel, mentioning "Don't dump Thailand before you know Thailand!" and other comments like that!

If people are really that easy to deceive and to fool, then Thailand has a loooong way to go, facing reality and living with it.

This is like watching a McDonalds- spot and going "Look! I told told you it is healthy and good for you!"

[micmichd]

We, my Issan GF and me, we consider ourselves as hippiesque globetrotters, and we surely had all our ups and downs. When one has a downtime, then there's always the other one. When we both have a downtime, it will still not make us despaired because we're two. That's what counts, sociologists call it "social integration"

What happens in the global economy is social disintegration caused by the panical run for scare resources. The desaster usually starts when public soil is sold to foreign investors. Global economy is off-topics here, there's another TV topic for this.

Imho precisely in times like this, you should make a decision about what is more important to you: Keep western economy ongoing, or survive the global economic crisis?

Thailand's charme is certainly that it maintained her social integration (exceptions prove nothing), and this could be an export hit, too.

I think that's what the movie is for: a vision.

[jaywalker]

The video sells the dream.

Unfortunately reality can be somewhat different.

Sent from my SM-G7102 using Tapatalk

I could not agree with you more.

I could not sell a life jacket to a drowning man in person, yet I can sell 10 out of 100 to a targeted audience via video.

Sell the dream.

Worry about reality later.

I don't sell BS. I write copy & my most recent effort is converting at 9.5% to a targeted audience.

Difference is, my copy. in my niche (nothing to do with Thailand), uses "how to avoid" as the primary BENEFIT, which is what my sales is/are all about.

What's in it for me? AVOIDING PAIN in my niche is top of the list.

===================

The actor's magical experience focuses on a perfect experience.

Here's a commercial for them to consider...focusing on benefits & reality...the reality part is cool.

0700 wake up.

0705 shag gal from goo-goo's gogo bar twice.

0730 give her the boot.

0800 luxury limo takes you to the golf course for 0830 tee time

0930 bar cart serves you & your Mate a couple ice cold Grolsch

1400 hours, 6 Grolsch & a score of 155 on the course, you take the limo back to the Dusit Thani in N. Pattaya (can you tell I've been there & done that by now?)

Large lunch, followed by a dip in the pool to clear the cobwebs, followed by a Singha or two.

Back to the room, take a nap.

1830 your buddy is bugging the tar out of you to go back out & eat again, followed by a complete trawl of the strip from Soi 2 to Walking Street, where you meet yet another goo-goo girl and.....it's a vicious cycle.

Far closer to reality in the tourist areas though, whether one flops at the Dusit or some cheap Charlie hotel.

My very first Pattaya hotel room was in the Montien Beach Resort. Ahhh.. FOND memories indeed.

[tgeezer]

This is a good attempt at showing the culture of Thailand, the fact that it is difficult to find is more a comment on culture of those who don't find it. The farang in the film is more attractive than the average down and out, so not at all surprising that he gets help on all fronts. Don't miss the fact that he is changed by his experience, he lives with Thais, he bathes the Thai way and he studies by teaching Thai kids. There are many Farang in Thailand who have met Thai people half way and encountered something similar as a result.

[thhMan]

The thing that was most important in the video....

The Police.... They are not there to help you, so make friends with the locals and hope you find a way through the mess

[Roachiebkk]

So, obviously no crime in Thailand just naughty little monkeys

[Roachiebkk]

How many poor suckers have I spoken to that handed over their hard earned moolah to nice tuk tuk drivers, or helpful English speaking students for gems, where the police themselves were involved. Many stories but nice cheesy marketing

[alanferdi]

Nice clip...good acting... all paid ofcourse....

I learned early in life that products that do not sell well or new on the market need the most amount of advertising - Thailand stop trying...!!!! Just learn to be yourselves and honest to yourselves, sorting problems and issues practically. This whole idea of impressing people....a substitue to saving face.....NOT A DOG Cares..... People will talk if they have to ..... let them thats freedom of speech. What is beautiful, graceful and clean and honest in Thailand that some people try hard to respect and protect.... these will speak for themselves. Do not LORD yourselves.... you are not higher than any or lower than any.... Be honest and continue in your own traditions of buddhism and in what it demands you to be and you would be loved.... all this bungkum is short attempt to make people who know your ways even more a bit aggitated that the concentration is only a put on..... LIVE IT AND PEOPLE WILL LOVE IT

[willyumiii]

Thailand’s image has been battered by an unrelenting storm of real-life incidents and crises. So the video seems a government attempt to counter reality with fiction.

Nothing else really needs to be said.

Does it?

Edited November 21, 2014 by metisdead
Overly large font set to normal and quote used to highlight the part of the topic responding to.

[micmichd]

Yes, of course it sells a dream.

Up to you if you make the dream come true.