Thailand is a fine country and I would not wish to live anywhere else; but it is by no means perfect. Thailand is particularly notorious for the availability of counterfeit goods. Bad business for the manufacturers, something of an attraction for tourists.
Many a visitor must openly discuss how much they are looking forward to purchasing all manner of copied merchandise during their visit; and they won’t be disappointed because there are thousands of Thais who make their living by manufacturing, distributing and selling counterfeit goods.
One such visitor was Lady Gaga, who announced her arrival in the country with a tweet proclaiming how she was looking forward to buying a copy Rolex. This may have been a throwaway remark, or it could have been a subtle dig at a country where official sales of her album have yet to reach double figures, because everyone would rather buy a 60 baht copy.
Whatever the intent, she could not have expected the massive media backlash that erupted. Thai forums are awash with outrage, Lady Gaga could have done no worse if she had mentioned the appalling education system and the rampant corruption.
“How dare she criticise this perfect country”, commented Parawisa Peraboon (wearing a fake Burberry hat and with her rip-off Louis Vuitton handbag), writing on her computer with a hacked version of Windows.
She who must be obeyed is something of a fan, and I must admit to watching the video for Bad Romance several times, a particularly competent piece of pop art. But we will join the requested boycott against this woman who has failed to follow the golden rule of “only say nice things about Thailand or the citizens will get upset”. Instead we will stay at home and watch a Blu-Ray of Mission Impossible (300 baht copy from Tuk Com).
Comments 🔗
2012-05-25| Craig saysPerhaps she is taking a leaf out of the Sex Pistols and Madonna book - Any attention is good attention and negative news is both easier and cheaper to leverage. Who knows, hope she has a good time here anyway, in the land of smiles, many of which are actually quite genuine lol.
2012-05-25| Chang Noi saysI always considered her as a gaga (copy) nutcase but maybe she is actually a smart girl.
2012-05-25| Bob says300 baht? I thought they were 200.
And since when are you actually BUYING illegal copies instead of downloading them for free?
2012-05-25| Robin Parmar saysSince Lady Gaga is nothing but a cheap rip-off of the pop that came before, I wonder if she isn’t in fact manufactured in Thailand herself?
2012-05-25| Spanky saysWait! You paid for your copy of a copy of Mission Impossible? Now that is an outrage! You could easily download them as Bob pointed out or sit in any bar and enjoy a nice cold beer and wait for one of the handy sellers of shit you don’t want or need to shove them in your face.
2012-05-25| Spike saysOK, I lied. I actually bought a legal Blu-Ray of Mission Impossible: Ghost Protocol. 700 baht if I recall. The cheap Blu_ray copies are not proper copies, they have been downsized to fit on a standard DVD. Downloading a Blu-Ray is an approximate 20GB exercise and I really can’t be arsed doing that given my internet speed. So yes, I buy original Blu-Ray disks; but only about two per year.
2012-05-26| Wentworth saysThat doesn’t excuse you for watching that Tom Cruise drivel :-)