There hasn’t been much happening in Thailand recently, so some weird little news took the opportunity to grab the space.
For example, Lisa, the number one Thai female star on earth, endorsed whiskey some time ago. The advertising picture was posted online by her Thai fan group, which led to an investigation by Thailand's Liquor Control Commission.
Some people who were watching the excitement did not think it was a big deal. Without understanding what was going on, they shouted three times in succession - "Something happened to Lisa! Lisa was investigated! Lisa is going to be sued!".
Lisa's fans were naturally unwilling to be outdone. They quoted classics and fought back, "The person who posted the drinking photos is being investigated, not her who shot the advertisement!", "Do you also know the laws of Thailand?"...
's back and forth has brought this to life. This little oolong has become a hot search topic.
Since ancient times, celebrity gossip has been a propaganda team for the legal education of the people. Lisa's incident reminds people of that Thai law that has been almost forgotten by the world.
This law is really weird to say -
That is: in Thailand, it is illegal to take selfies at the wine table without coding! If
is really targeted by the police, he will definitely be arrested.
Thai people actually like to drink.
The Thai nation is essentially an "extroverted nation" that is happy, free, loves carnival, and advocates hedonism.
"Enjoyment" is definitely inseparable from wine. Therefore, Thai people actually love to drink and are quite good at drinking.
They never confuse "drinking" with "talking about business". Drinking means happiness, not determination. Therefore, Thai people have an average drinking capacity, but the style of wine and the taste of the wine, the drinker's original intention, privately think that it is much better than that of China, Japan and South Korea.
However, there is another very awkward thing about Thailand - it is a Buddhist country.
Buddhism is easy to accept in other places, but it is difficult to get along with wine. I feel uncomfortable when I see people drinking, and I have been persistently asking the Thai authorities to introduce various alcohol bans for many years.
Thailand’s successive governments, no matter whether they are left or right, red or yellow, in order to show the orthodoxy of their Buddhist country, they have to quit drinking and sex.
Ever since, Thailand has formed a set of huge contradictions: the people are addicted to alcohol, and the government prohibits alcohol.
Although social life is extremely open, it still insists on all kinds of weird and puzzling "alcohol restrictions".
Even though we were drinking heavily outside, the public service announcements of "Drink and Go to Hell" were playing on the TV.
For example, since 1972, Thailand has promulgated a "limited time alcohol ban."
Throughout Thailand, all serious places that sell alcohol can only sell alcohol between 11:00 and 14:00 noon, and between 17:00 and 24:00 after dusk and before midnight.
The reason why alcohol is prohibited in the morning and midnight is: What should serious people drink early in the morning and in the middle of the night?
actually sounds quite reasonable...then why is alcohol banned in the afternoon?
The reason is: from 2 to 5 pm, school is over, and I worry that my children will go drinking as soon as get out of class is over...
As for various Buddhist festivals, royal anniversaries, and election days, , there is a direct ban on alcohol throughout the day. , no need to explain the reasons.
Of course, in fact, this rule is not strictly enforced in Thailand.
Supermarkets and convenience stores have indeed implemented it strictly.
But in general restaurants, canteens, etc., sometimes they secretly release water. If you order a beer in a store at three o'clock in the afternoon, you'll probably be given a beer.
Besides, if I’m afraid I’ll run out of wine after midnight, won’t people buy a few more bottles to stockpile?
In 2008, Thailand introduced a new regulation - the "Alcoholic Beverage Control Act of the Kingdom of Thailand".
Article 32 clearly stipulates: No one may publish alcohol advertisements or display the trademarks, names, or images of alcoholic beverages in Thai public media.
Violators will be punished with imprisonment of not more than one year, or a fine of not more than 500,000 baht (approximately 100,000 yuan).
Thailand’s magic code when playing animation
Under this law, all alcohol advertisements in Thailand are illegal, and even alcohol, cigarettes, and guns in TV programs must be coded. That means that whenever you see wine, you will be tempted to drink it. In fact, it is the perfect application of "Lu Xun's white arm association method" in the field of alcohol control.
doesn’t know what kind of drunkard he is, who is greedy for alcohol, to come up with this trick.
Later, with the advent of the Internet age and the rise of social software, the Thai Alcohol Control Commission expanded the scope of application of this regulation to all information release in cyberspace.
prohibits all online alcohol sales, prohibits all e-commerce alcohol advertising, and prohibits the posting of explicit alcohol photos on personal social media pages.
As long as you post a "drinking selfie" on the Internet, which is suspected of advertising, or has a wide impact, then you are "publicly disseminating the trademark and image of alcohol" and objectively committing "inducing people to drink and commit evil" sin.
will not necessarily punish you.
But once I really want to punish you, even if I have a hundred mouths, you can’t explain it clearly.
In 2017, a large-scale "Internet Celebrity Drinking Photo Crackdown" took place in Thailand, which caused a sensation in Thai society.
On July 23 of that year, a "sexy beer girl promotional short video" became popular in Thailand. Three female bar clerks in cool clothes were arrested by the police after they promoted the store's promotions in a video.
In the past, it was true that people who were actually arrested were very rare. So this thing became popular all of a sudden.
According to Thai regulations, the arrest of these three Internet celebrity beer girls is not unfair, because it is obviously an alcohol advertisement.
But then, things got worse.
Thai netizens are not convinced. While criticizing the hypocrisy of Thailand’s “online alcohol-free photos” law, they also deliberately uploaded various photos of alcohol that had been photoshopped and had their trademarks obscured, to mock and provoke the police.
The Thai police were not unambiguous. They directly summoned a group of Thai celebrities who "posted drinking photos" and gave them a lecture, in order to scare the monkeys.
The police also said: "The reason why many people fall in love with drinking is because they saw these alcohol advertisements by celebrities, so the impact of celebrities and Internet celebrities doing such things is extremely bad. At the same time, the general public is also welcome to report, and the reporter will be able to share the profits. 1/4 of the fine as a reward..."
In the end, the celebrities who were summoned did not come to the police station to answer the question, but they all deleted the photos and paid the fine.
The police gained face and beat up netizens, achieving the purpose of "legal dissemination and deterrence", so they no longer embarrass these celebrities.
Since then, people who pay attention to Thailand have begun to know: In Thailand, you cannot upload photos of drinking casually.
Many foreign media have also reported on this, and invited various Thai experts, police officers, and professionals to interpret it.
The Tourism Authority of Thailand once explained that this law "does not apply to foreign tourists." However, the Thai police and Thai tour guides still advise everyone - it is best not to take pictures when drinking in Thailand. One more thing is worse than one less thing. Why bother to try the law? ?
After that, there was no "illegal drinking license" incident for many years - until Lisa became a hot search.
Strictly speaking, Lisa does not have a problem, because this whiskey advertisement was not shot in Thailand, and Lisa herself, her company, and her brokerage team did not intentionally spread it in Thailand. So no matter how much punishment is given, it cannot be punished on her head.
is her fan group. She knows that this is taboo in Thailand, but she still spreads it everywhere. Isn’t this causing trouble for her idol? Go back and punish yourself with three drinks.
Thai-style "alcohol ban", does it work? have no idea.
According to WHO data, the average annual alcohol consumption of each Thai person was about 6 liters in 2010, which was less than half the average of 11 liters in EU countries during the same period.
However, Europeans are all old drunkards. They pour a glass of whiskey to rinse their mouth when they get home from get off work. If you compare with them, isn't it like Ximen Qing comparing chastity?
Moreover, despite the Thai government’s various bans on alcohol, the average amount of alcohol consumed by Thai people is still increasing year by year. By 2018, it had risen to 8.3 liters per person per year, ranking fourth in Asia and higher than China and Mongolia.
This prohibition on alcohol seems to prevent loneliness.
Thai fancy drinking in the new crown era
Function is one thing, rationality is another.
Does a country have the right to hinder others’ freedom to drink?
Whether it is logically feasible and practically feasible for a country to prevent people from drinking by prohibiting the posting of photos is a very difficult and difficult question that cannot be explained clearly in just one or two sentences.
Therefore, this question is left to everyone to interpret and discuss freely.
Finally, to summarize: Thailand’s “drinking photo ban” is indeed true, but the enforcement is not strict. In most cases, you will not be punished because you posted a set of “I won’t get drunk tonight” in your circle of friends. Cangdang went to jail.
However, people have this law after all. In order to avoid unnecessary disaster, why should we get into trouble?
Some compatriots who live in Thailand and like to post some alcohol advertisements should be careful. When taking photos while drinking, it’s best not to take pictures of the wine bottle (the one in the cup can pretend to be oolong tea).
Wine is a thing that is pleasant to drink in small amounts, but harmful to the body when drunk in large quantities. You can just drink it secretly, and it is not worth publicizing it in a big way.
Besides, drinking it quietly will make it more delicious. (Editor: Yue Han)
