Youth upset by whisky ad
Youth groups have called on the owner of the tallest building in Bangkok to remove a giant advertisement of a whisky brand.
They claim the advertisement on the Baiyoke 2 building violates the law against displaying alcohol ads within 500 metres of a school. "We are requesting that Baiyoke take the advert off the building," said Phanuwat Phromtha, 21, a representative of Krua Khai Wai Mun Ru Thun Alcohol (Cool Age Network Aware of the Risks of Alcohol). Despite the "Drink Don't Drive" warning that accompanies the poster, the advertising was aimed at luring new drinkers, said the activist, who thought the visual impact of the Johnnie Walker sign was more powerful than the warning. Piyoros Surin, a Mathayom six student at the Sri Ayudhya School on Sri Ayudhya Road, a few metres from Baiyoke 2, said the group would campaign until the advertisement was removed. "If they have no idea what to show on the building, I suggest they put up a picture of our beloved King," said Nuthawuth Sunkaew, another student at Sri Ayudhya School. They said a major beer producer had displayed another illegal alcohol advertisement on the KPN building on Rama IX Road. Their complaint comes just before the last round of public hearings on a new bill being drafted to outlaw all forms of alcohol advertising by the Public Health Ministry, to be held in Bangkok tomorrow.
Arthit Khwankhom The Nation
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