Bangkok tuk-tuk driver Samran Thammasa, 39, had never heard of K-pop star Jessica Jung before the COVID-19 pandemic, but now the singer’s Thai fans are helping him survive the loss of tourist customers.
His bright green three-wheeled motorcycle rickshaw has been mostly vacant for more than a year. In the past few months, though, he has earned about 600 baht (US$19) a month to feature K-pop ads on his vehicle.
“The extra income may not be a lot for most people, but it is for us,” he said.
Photo: Reuters
Drivers of Bangkok’s distinctive tuk-tuks have been among the hardest-hit by the pandemic’s devastation of Thailand’s all-important tourism industry, left haunting corners of empty city streets complaining of mounting debt.
Samran used to earn about 1,500 baht a day ferrying foreign tourists around Bangkok.
Nearly all of that disappeared as visitor numbers fell by 85 percent last year, and Thailand is not expected to lift its strict border controls for months yet.
Unexpected help came this year from Thailand’s politically disaffected and K-pop-obsessed youth when they stopped buying ads celebrating their idols’ birthdays and album launches from public transport, instead giving their advertisement money to grassroots businesses, including tuk-tuks and street food vendors.
Over the past few months, young fans have mobilized to put up banners of their favorite 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 different K-pop sensation each month, stopping for young Thai fans to take pictures and use their service, often with tips.
So far, the initiative has benefited several hundred tuk-tuk drivers. There are more than 9,000 tuk-tuks registered in Bangkok, according to government data.
The trend has its roots in anti-government protests last year that drew tens of thousands of students calling for Thai Prime Minister Prayuth Chan-ocha — who first came to power in a military coup — to step down.
Many K-pop fans were protesters themselves, and last year vowed to pull huge billboard advertising fees from Bangkok’s skytrain and underground subway services after mass transport shut down to prevent students from reaching protest sites.
The fans started printing vinyl or cardboard signs, and recruiting tuk-tuk drivers at garages and on the street — funneling their advertisement funds to the people who need it most.
“It’s a political expression that we don’t support capitalists. This marked a change from us competing to book skytrain and subway billboards, but now it’s tuk-tuks,” said Pichaya Prachathomrong, 27.
Pichaya raised 18,000 baht among Thai fans of boy band Super Junior to promote member Yesung’s new album, before recruiting 13 tuk-tuks via a new booking service on the Line messaging app.
Drivers said they have seen little of the government’s approved relief of about 967 billion baht, as handouts were mostly only accessible via a mobile wallet application.
“By the time the money reaches us, we’re nearly dead,” said Pairot Suktham, a 54-year-old driver who, like many others, does not have a smartphone.
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