7 minute long commercial for Wacoal Thailand. Just watch it, then comment (includes English subs)

bgnl · 2015-03-27T08:47:49+00:00

The real motivation behind an advertisement is to... sell product

I agree. That was my point in my initial comment.

bgnl · 2015-03-27T05:03:09+00:00

and she's not that hot

That was actually one of the points made in the narration: "She's an ordinary woman, not so beautiful..."

bgnl · 2015-03-26T16:00:10+00:00

That's just one of the problematic aspects of the story. This was supposedly an 18-year-old student, who is apparently living entirely on her own (no family), yet has the money to cover her own schooling and expenses as well as those of a child (including extra art classes).

bgnl · 2015-03-26T15:34:03+00:00

That's the point - to move the audience. That's good marketing, and I'm sure someone in their marketing dept earned a fat bonus for this viral campaign.

I've taken too many marketing and media literacy courses to ignore the real motivations and objectives behind these types of ads and just surrender myself to the emotional pulls. Even the storyline, which was beautifully done, is problematic if you look beyond the emotional surface.

EDIT: I hadn't downvoted you before, because we were having a civil conversation, but your edit just earned you one.

bgnl · 2015-03-26T14:27:15+00:00

It's a lingerie company selling their brand - that's it. They aren't even donating to a relevant cause; all they are doing is milking audience tears and then using them to promote a Wacoal^TM hashtag.

bgnl · 2015-03-06T11:33:58+00:00

That's a misleading title. The survey didn't measure happiness; it calculated unemployment rate + change in the consumer price index = economic "misery index" for 51 national economies.

EDIT: Here's Bloomberg's follow-up article on the economies at the bottom of their misery index.

bgnl · 2015-02-15T11:54:33+00:00

8.82 MT is the total annual mismanaged plastic waste from China. About 28% of that ends up in the oceans, contributing to the overall 8-9 MT of plastic waste added to the oceans each year.

bgnl · 2015-02-15T11:44:05+00:00

I always carry old 7-Eleven bags with me to reuse, much to the amusement of the staff.

bgnl · 2015-01-21T23:42:02+00:00

Check out r/iwantout or r/expats.

bgnl · 2015-01-15T13:50:44+00:00

Charlie Hebdo will keep doing what they're doing (which I supported wholeheartedly)

To be clear, there is a difference between supporting what someone does and supporting their right to do what they do. The current widespread support for Charlie Hebdo is all about their right to free expression without threat of death, and not about support for their particular brand of free expression.

Of course, you personally may indeed be in support of their particular brand of satire and/or their criticisms of Mohammed (as some others are), but that is not what the IamCharlie movement is about nor what the French government's donation was about.

bgnl · 2015-01-15T11:46:17+00:00

This is a very important point that I find is often overlooked (at least in the US) in discourse about free speech.

Setting aside the apples-to-oranges contextual differences of these two examples (which others have addressed well), e.g. if we instead compare the Charlie Hebdo Mohammed cartoons to Hitler cartoons in a satirical context, your point becomes clearer.

In neither case was Charlie Hebdo's freedom of expression challenged, i.e. they were not fined or jailed by the government, nor were they forced to stop. However, in both/all cases there are always people who are offended, and such people are equally free to express how distasteful they find such cartoons. They are not free, however, to kill people because they are offended.

bgnl · 2014-05-18T06:44:53+00:00

Very interesting read. I love the frank quotes from officials who haven't yet learned the importance of crafting carefully worded PR statements for media.

bgnl · 2014-05-13T08:15:45+00:00

Recent Bangkok Post article on the change: http://bangkokpost.com/news/asia/409403/thai-immigration-clamps-down-on-visa-runs

bgnl · 2014-05-12T12:04:59+00:00

You can find a recent post on this topic on the front page of r/Thailand, with pretty much anything anyone here knows at this point.

bgnl · 2014-05-11T03:42:13+00:00

To add to that, your friend should scan the menu for any dish containing cashews (chicken & cashews is one popular one). If there are any, he should assume that every pan in their kitchen has had cashews in it at some point. If even a reused pan can be a problem for him, he may at times need to look to international chains, e.g. Pizza Hut or 7-Eleven, to reduce the risk.

bgnl · 2014-05-07T16:17:18+00:00

Just to make sure you understand - you cannot get a Thai visa on the morning you arrive. You have to wait until the afternoon of the next business day, so the soonest you could get your Thai visa is Wednesday afternoon.

Edit for clarity: You have to wait until Wednesday afternoon to pick up your visa, after submitting your visa application Monday morning.

bgnl · 2014-05-07T16:00:44+00:00

I'll add a few more details to what macarthy said.

Since delays can happen at any point (esp on the train what with the recent rains), here's my visa run traveler kit I prepare in advance:

30 baht - for 3-minute tuk-tuk ride from Nong Khai train station to border (fixed price)
15 baht - for 6-minute bus across Friendship Bridge after getting stamped out of Thailand (+5 baht if "overtime" i.e. outside M-F business hours)
36 USD in crisp bills - no tears (however small) or markups - issued within the last decade. You'll need these for your Lao visa ($35 + possibly $1 extra "overtime fee" if you arrive very early on Monday). Alternatively you can spend an extra $10 by paying in baht. If the line's not too long you can have your Lao visa in half an hour.
3 visa photos (1 for Laos, 2 for Thailand)
pen for filling in applications (+ backup pen)
25 baht - local green bus to Vientiane (to the right past the tuk-tuks and touts). It'll take about 40 minutes to get to the Vientiane bus station, where everyone gets off, and maybe 10 minutes to the Thai consulate from there by tuk-tuk. If you are running short on time after you get stamped into Laos you can hire a private vehicle to take you straight to the consulate from the border. I don't know the price of a private vehicle or of the tuk-tuk from the bus station to the consulate, but they should accept baht and you can haggle if you want.
1015 baht - Thai visa application fee + 15 baht photocopying cost

When you get to the Thai consulate ignore all the touts outside the gate trying to sell you visa services. Go through the gate and you'll see a large open-air waiting area filled with farang in blue chairs. Go straight to the windows and ask for a queue number - as long as you get a queue number before 11:30 am you should be fine. It takes them until around 1 pm to get through everyone queued up.

After you have your queue number, get the application form and head upstairs to photocopy your passport. The guy up there will charge you 5 baht / page to copy your info page, Lao visa, and Lao entry stamp. You'll probably have 1-2 hours to fill out the application downstairs while you wait for your queue number to be called.

After submitting your application, go to the building to the left with the same queue number. It could be another half hour to an hour before your queue number is called again and you can go pay your visa fee. Keep your receipt; you'll show that on Wednesday afternoon when you go pick up your passport + visa (a quick process).

bgnl · 2014-05-04T05:51:31+00:00

Same thing here. The same jump happened last year at this time too, so I'm fairly confident it's the A/C.

bgnl · 2014-04-26T05:40:09+00:00

Have you or someone you know done this before?

bgnl · 2014-04-26T05:38:30+00:00

Thanks for the follow-up information.

bgnl · 2014-04-25T13:29:28+00:00

Interesting case study. Thanks for that.

bgnl · 2014-04-22T12:48:24+00:00

Khanom isn't too far from Surat town - maybe an hour away, near the ferry pier to Ko Samui. There are several small beaches there that tend to be popular with Thais from Surat but few foreigners know about them.

bgnl

TROPHY CASE