What's not to love about "I Hate Thailand"?
Oh, here we go again. Another disgruntled tourist has posted an angry video on YouTube, throwing shade on our great Kingdom. At least that's what we're initially supposed to think about "I Hate Thailand", the latest viral sensation in the Land of Smiles.
There’s something a bit too slick about the video, in which first-time visitor James is upset that he’s lost his backpack on Koh Samet. He has no passport, money or way to charge his phone. Oh, the tragedy!
Then the video becomes more like a movie, with a feel-good style similar to film studio GTH’s romantic comedies. Scruffy James gets help from a kind-hearted Thai woman, a cute bartender who speaks perfect English. She gives the shirtless backpacker a ride on her motorbike and a free drink and helps him look for his lost bag.
Since being posted on YouTube on November 18, the provocatively titled “I Hate Thailand” has nearly 900,000 views and 13,000 likes.
However, sceptics were sure from the beginning that the video must part of a viral marketing campaign, even though no one claims credit at the end. Also, it’s kind of difficult to suspend your belief after James remarks that he only intended to come to Thailand for a week but ended up staying two years. It also has stirred the debate on whether the Thai hospitality as depicted in the video is all that it’s cracked up to be.
“Bull! Been in Thailand for 26 years on and off and now permanently for four years and have still to find a Thai who will help you or do just anything for you for free,” says Sven Bolin in his YouTube comment. “Don’t fall for this fairytale!”
Other rushed to defend the much-vaunted Thai kindness.
“If you were lost like the man in this video, you would be lucky or unlucky. It depends on the people you meet at that time. There are bad and good people in every country. This video presents the good side of Thailand, but don’t forget there are many bad sides too,” commenter Ton Buengtong says.
Meanwhile, there’s been the mystery over whether the video was make-believe or not.
Leave it to the Coconuts Bangkok website to suss that out. In interview with “James”, whose real name is Oliver Smith.
He reveals that the video was actually made by Hub Ho Hin, one of the production houses that formed the GTH studio. It’s directed by Nithiwat Tharathorn, whose latest feature, the very slick “Teacher’s Diary”, is Thailand’s submission to next year’s Academy Awards.
And, like the sceptics warned us, “I Hate Thailand” was funded by the Tourism Authority of Thailand. Of course.
“I believe the purpose of making it was to portray Thailand in a good light. This is another angle on Thailand, an upbeat angle that shows the friendly, accommodating Thailand that a lot of expats and travellers alike can relate to,” Smith is quoted as saying.
