K-pop activism a lifeline for Thailand's hard-hit 'tuk tuk' drivers
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K-pop activism a lifeline for Thailand'southward hard-striking 'tuk tuk' drivers
Bangkok "tuk tuk" taxi commuter Samran Thammasa, 39, had never heard of 1000-pop star Jessica Jung before the coronavirus pandemic, but now the singer's Thai fans are helping him survive the loss of tourist customers.
Tuk-tuk driver Samran Thammasa stands next to his vehicle decorated with a banner of K-pop star Jessica Jung, as he waits for customers, in Bangkok, Thailand on May 12, 2021. (Photo: REUTERS/Chalinee Thirasupa)
BANGKOK: Bangkok "tuk tuk" taxi driver Samran Thammasa, 39, had never heard of G-pop star Jessica Jung before the coronavirus pandemic, but now the vocaliser'south Thai fans are helping him survive the loss of tourist customers.
His vivid green three-wheeled motorcycle rickshaw has been mostly vacant for more than than a year. In the past few months, though, he's earned near 600 baht (Us$nineteen) a month to characteristic K-pop ads on his vehicle.
"The actress income may non be a lot for most people but information technology is for usa," he said, glancing at a shimmering vinyl banner of Jung.
Drivers of Bangkok's distinctive tuk tuks have been among the hardest-hit past the pandemic's devastation of Thailand's earth-shaking tourism manufacture, left haunting corners of empty urban center streets complaining of mounting debt.
Samran used to earn around one,500 baht (US$47) a mean solar day ferrying strange tourists around Bangkok. Nearly all of that disappeared as visitor numbers fell past 85 per cent in 2020, and Thailand is not expected to lift its strict border controls for months yet.
Unexpected assist came this yr from Thailand'south politically disaffected and K-pop-obsessed youth when they stopped buying ads celebrating their idols' birthdays and album launches from public ship, instead giving their ad coin to grassroots businesses, including tuk tuks and street food vendors.
Over the concluding few months, immature fans take mobilised to put up banners of their favourite K-pop idols on the iconic vehicles for a month at a time, providing a new source of income for struggling drivers.
Samran and many others now drive their empty tuk tuks around Bangkok with a banner of a dissimilar Thousand-popular sensation each month, stopping for immature Thai fans to have pictures and use their service, often with tips.
POLITICAL EXPRESSION
And so far, the initiative has benefited several hundred tuk tuk drivers. There are more than 9,000 tuk tuks registered in Bangkok, co-ordinate to government data.
The trend has roots in anti-government protests last yr that drew tens of thousands of students calling for Prime number Minister Prayut Chan-o-cha - who first came to ability in a military coup - to step down.
Many M-pop fans were protesters themselves, and last twelvemonth vowed to pull huge billboard advert fees from Bangkok'due south skytrain and hugger-mugger subway services - a longstanding lighthearted tradition for different fan groups - after mass transport shut downward to effort to prevent students from reaching protest sites.
The fans started printing vinyl or paper-thin signs and recruiting tuk tuk drivers at garages and on the street - funnelling their ad funds to the people who need information technology most.
"It's a political expression that we don't back up capitalists. This marked a change from united states of america competing to book skytrain and subway billboards, simply now it's tuk tuks," said Pichaya Prachathomrong, 27.
Pichaya herself raised 18,000 baht (Us$565) among Thai fans of boy band Super Junior to promote member Yesung's new anthology, earlier recruiting xiii tuk tuks via a new booking service on popular messaging application LINE.
The "Tuk Up" service, created by 21-year-old academy sophomore Thitipong Lohawech, was initially to assistance dozens of drivers who rented vehicles from his family unit'due south garage. But now it supports virtually 300 drivers from all over Bangkok.
"The fans are distributing income to the grassroots, which helps drive social alter and support the economic system," said Thitipong.
Drivers said they have seen little of the government'south approved relief of around 967 billion baht (Us$thirty billion), as handouts were more often than not only accessible via a mobile wallet application.
"By the time the money reaches us, we're nearly dead," said Pairot Suktham, a 54-year-sometime commuter who similar many others doesn't accept a smartphone.
"The fans are our life back up system and give united states of america promise to keep fighting."
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Source: https://cnalifestyle.channelnewsasia.com/lifestyle/thailand-tuk-tuk-lifeline-k-pop-activism-249161
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