Moustachioed housewife |perfect for advertising
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Internet Idol Anurak 'Bew' Cholmunee - better known to the browsing masses as 'Mae Baan Mee Nuad' ('Housewife with a Moustache') - is forever being chased by companies that want his endorsements for their products.
He never fails to add a touch of humour in glamorous trappings.
A favourite stop on the Web with its pictures of Bew posing in high-fashion gowns at crowded bus stops, on a busy highway or on an elephant’s back, his Facebook page began as a hobby for the architecture student. Now he’s got 610,000 followers and almost 200,000 more on Instagram – and he’s still only 23.
“You need not only guts to present your work like this, my work needs a concept too,” Bew said in a recent interview on the “3 Mati” show on the GMM Channel. “People who follow me know that each photo reflects a unique emotion and a different meaning.”
Bew’s objective with “Mae Baan Me Nuad” remains unchanged: He wants to entertain people, put a smile on their faces. And his success at doing that is what the advertisers have noticed. His endorsements can make a big difference in sales. He does accept some of the offers, but not all of them.
“I can’t take all the jobs I’m offered, you know! I have to really look at the product and make sure it matches my image.” For example, he added with a laugh, he’s not about to endorse any slimming products. “With my plump size, you think I’d dare to do that?”
Asked whether he was afraid that a copycat might come along and steal the limelight, Bew laughed some more. How could anyone possibly copy him? “My costumes are so expensive that I don’t think anyone would be able to afford it!”
Bew never did talk about the specific commercial products he’s backed, but we’ve seen him in the latest TV commercial for Siam Cement’s Tra Chang (Elephant) brand, and the spot is very cleverly done. Tra Chang challenges Mae Baan Mee Nuad to live life for a day as a football player. The pitch is that even spending one day when you can’t be yourself is frustrating, so how aggravating it must be to spent all your entire life living in a house that’s not your style.
Bew puts on a great show in the ad, as a footballer and as himself, and backed it up with a tie-in photo posted on Facebook and Instagram, with a typically supple twist. “Between playing football for a day and having a whole team of footballers,” he wonders, “why does the former seem so difficult?”
