A tale of two billboards that never actually met

A photo has been making the rounds showing a Thai AirAsia billboard out on a highway someplace with the airline’s “ambassador”, actor Nadech Kugimiya, saying, “Nadech is a fan of AirAsia.” Right next to it is a Nok Air billboard with a cabin attendant saying, “But … fly with Nok Air.”

Among those who live to speculate, it looked like Nok Air had come up with a clever if rather cheeky dig at its rival, distributing an image of rival billboards in which it had the final word. But Nok Air chief executive Patee Sarain says the photo’s a fake, and so do the “the Pantip detectives” – a self-appointed body of investigators on the popular community website. Their speciality is scrutinising images for fraud, via Photoshop or otherwise.

The Pantip “police” determined that the photo had indeed been doctored. They found that the AirAsia billboard in the picture is located at the Pornsirikul intersection in Trang’s Muang district – and it has the intersection all to itself. 

Of course, by this time, the mock-up photo had been circulated repeatedly through every social network ever invented. That’s what they’re there for – sharing. So Patee chose one of them, Twitter, and sent a humble message to the folks at the other airline: “We apologise to @AirAsiaThailand for the billboard. We didn’t do it! And sorry if it causes you any discomfort.” 

 

Be afraid, Yangon

 

The hauntingly funny film blockbuster “Pee Mak Phra Khanong” has been all over the world by now, constantly burnishing its gilded success at home in Thailand. But it still hasn’t been to Myanmar, right next door.

Not to worry: Among the many reforms that the government there has introduced is a first-ever Thai film festival, unveiled mainly because government officials (and their kids) really, really want to see “Pee Mak” and especially its leading man Mario Maurer.

So Mario and his spooky missus Davika Hoorne are off to Yangon, enjoying the reciprocal fruits of Thailand hosting a Burmese Film Festival ever since 2006 in a bid to cultivate cultural friendship. 

Myanmar’s Media 7 and Thailand’s Kantana JK Media have put together the movie event in Yangon that will have Mario and “Pee Mak” as its main magnets. Many other Thai stars have been invited to attend, alongside their Myanmarese counterparts. 

The Thai Film Festival 2014 will be held in People’s Square in the former capital and all the movies are free to watch.

Mind you, we still haven’t heard what other movies are lined up, but, yeah, Mario will be there. 

He might even chew betel nut while he’s greeting the fans, like he and Davika do in the film. Chewing betel nut is something Thais and Burmese have in common, along with one other thing – ghost stories!