The country's Prime Minister's Office has appointed DC Consultants and Marketing Communications - founded by ex-MDK Thailand supremo Danai Chanchaochai - to handle PR for its proposed Political Development Council (PDC), in a bid to encourage public participation in the latter body's formation.
The move comes amid criticism of another PR campaign that has been launched by the Government, this time on behalf of the Council of National Security (CNS) - which is reportedly spending 12 million baht (US$370,000) to hire a publicity team led by the younger brother of CNS deputy secretary-general Saprang Kalayanamitr.
According to leaked documents, the CNS drive aims to focus on the adverse impacts of Thaksin's economic policies, corruption within his Government and international condemnation of its human rights violations.
Any link between the CNS and PDC PR projects remains unclear at this stage, although both report into the Prime Minister's Office.
Thaksin earlier hired Edelman to handle his own communications needs, around the premise that he is a private individual looking to return to Thailand and defend his assets (Media, 19 January).
A source familiar with the high-profile battle said that Thaksin was winning the PR war,questioning the Government's strategy. "The battle (the Government) is losing is not a PR battle - it's a policy and direct investment one. It needs to convince people that what it is doing is right for the country," said the source.
Another Thai PR industry insider said: "Nobody has got to the rural population to convince them; if there was an election tomorrow, Thaksin would win. (The Thailand Government) should look at advertising as well - from day one, it hasn't been able to communicate anything positive it has done."
