The Tourism Thailand video people are calling "creepy"

Client: The Tourism Authority of Thailand (TAT)

Agency: No agency has been named. The local production company behind the video is War Rooms. 

Campaign scope: Online

Details: Thailand’s Ministry of Culture in collaboration with the Ministry of Tourism and Sports, the National Federation of Thai Film Associations recently launched a video titled “Love En Route”.

According to TAT, the objective of the video was to “promote the unique traditions, cultures and attractions of Thailand to both the local Thai people and international tourists”.

A number of media outlets including the Daily Mail, have criticised the video for being a misguided “stalker” video that is at best, “creepy”.

Campaign Asia-Pacific’s comments: In today’s connected world, people go on Instagram to search hashtags before they embark on a journey. This offers a way to find local and personalised information about where to go and what to do at a destination. The TAT was onto something with Instagram also being a highly influential platform in Thailand.

This could have translated into a concept and storyline with potential, but the film was let down by weak execution and poor acting on the part of the male protagonist. The structure of the storyline could have been reworked to avoid the male character’s “stalker” interpretation. For example, he could have simply been a guy exploring a place, who found the girl’s hashtag and geo-tag by chance and then bumped into her in a more serendipitous way. A relationship could have blossomed from there.

TAT is exploring unusual angles for its storytelling but it needs to think more about how its stories will be perceived and make necessary adjustments.

In case you're curious, here's a link to "I Hate Thailand".