“City of Angles” welcomes you | 18.03.05

Since Apirak Kosayodhin assumed governorship of Bangkok, there has been a flurry of PR campaigns. This advertisement, placed in every issue of Fortune magazine since January, is one them:

Visit BANGKOK where old meets new

Bangkok, known as the City of Angles [sic], is one of the great cities in Asia. Apart from being the nucleus of the country’s commercial and financial activities, Bangkok offers a cornucopia of sights, sounds, and activities for the visitor.

Heritage buildings are juxtaposed with glistening marble skyscrapers; visitors can shop in magnificent malls or in hurly-burly of weekend markets; one can also retreat to the peace and quiet of nature in the suburbs; and at night, Bangkok dazzles with a frenetic nightlife. Experience a city like no other, visit Bangkok.

[Emphasis original]

I’ll leave it to others to ponder which agency produced this ad and whether the copywriter should get his or her head chopped off.

What bothers me is that the municipality should waste its limited resources on publicizing clichés about already one of the most clichéd cities in the world. (Okay, the “marble skyscrapers” and “nature in the suburbs” bits are new. Where did you find those? Bizarro Bangkok?)

P.S. The Bangkok Tourist Bureau (not to be confused with the Tourism Authority of Thailand) even set up a website, whose many feature attractions include — skip this if you’re religious or easily offended — “The Cunt of God”. Now that’s not cliché. Or, on second thought, yes, it is.

update The typo has been corrected in the latest issue of Fortune (March 21). Unfortunately, the tiresome bromides, ridiculous claims, and awkward language stay where they were.

15:20 ▪ politics, miscellanea

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1

Dusty 18.03.05

Geez, after reading it, I couldn’t wait to buy my plane ticket. I like sights, sounds and activities on my vacation. And I would have gotten to visit another city with ancient ties to the Germans.

Now you ruined it!

2

Zato 19.03.05

I sincerely love Bangkok but the bit about “Heritage buildings are juxtaposed with glistening marble skyscrapers” just made me laugh. A historic absence of zoning regulations coupled with a seemingly complete lack of concern for urban planning is now being spun as a tourist attraction. Too bad they didn’t seem to find enough space to tout the skeletal remains of abandoned buliding projects as archeological exhibits and the flooded streets during the rainy season as nature excursions.

3

FOOK CHI WAH 20.03.05

His policies seems to be overlapping the current government’s policies. Why is he wasting taxpayers’ money on these POS projects like intelligent signals, intelligent parking lots etc?

If my memory serves me right Bankok’s annual budget is around $500 million and these projects cost at least $20 million. Forget cleaner sidewalks, safer streets, more schools, these projects only benefits him and his crony goons.

4

aurix 21.03.05

The copy writer’s head should definitely be chopped off. The ad reads like a pretentious piece of junk..

5

John cena 2.06.06

good job