Figure 5.3 The Singha advert celebrated the king's Birthday on 5th December 2012
The social value of being loyal to and honouring the king/monarchy has been exploited in Singha advertising and its branding approach, as can be seen in Figure 5.3. Due to the cultural influences on Thai cultural norms of Buddhism, the Thai king and monarchy are elevated as the superordinate, one of the most respected institutions in the Thai social hierarchy (Benedict, 1952, Jackson and Cook, 1999, Loo, 2006). The Thai king is regarded as the ‘dhammaraja’ (ธรรม
ราชา), the absolute king who is concerned with the Buddhist orientation of righteousness, compassion and piety (Fong, p.689). For this reason, the king is highly respected as the superordinate, ‘the father of the nation, and a patron of Thai Buddhism’ (Ibid, p.639). Many elements of society hold the king and monarchy in the highest regard (Jackson, 2004a; b) . For example, it is a crime in Thai society to publicly criticise the king and this crime is punishable by 1 month to 15 years in prison or a fine between 1,000 Baht and 200,000 Baht (around 20- 4,000 GBP), or both (Thai Criminal Law, 2015). Singha tries to exploit the population’s fierce loyalty and honour of the monarchy by directly referencing the royal image, and employ advertising to construct a role model of male citizenship: ‘a loyal man’, who is loyal to and honours the king and monarchy. It is similar to ‘the loyal men practice’ that was founded under the reign of the sixth King of Bangkok; Vajiravudh in 1910–1925 (A.D), during the time of Siamese nationalism (Thailand’s former name), a process of modernisation that built the nation state (Reynolds, 2014). As Reynolds (2014) argued:
Vajiravudh advanced Siamese nationalism by debating against advocates of the populist nationalism rising up in the public sphere… Soldiers entered into a pact with the king, pledging their fealty and vowing to lay down their lives not only for the nation but also for the king. By his example, Vajiravudh authorised a model of male behaviour. This code of male honour with elements of masculine self-control and service is found in many societies and is not unique to Thailand. Vajiravudh’s Wild Tiger Corps has a place in the paramilitary heritage of Thailand’s modern history, and the loyalty oaths he required of the Tiger Corps members have become an essential element of modern Thai military culture. The combination of fighting for the king and fighting for the nation was initiated in the sixth reign, a martial code that was eagerly co-opted by military governments and military-aligned governments that came to power after 1932… The willingness to die is proof of loyalty to the king’ (p.274 & 275).
From this occurrence, it can be seen that the cultural value of ‘Thai men should be loyal to the king’ had originally been raised, and significantly built up the social expectation of how good Thai male citizenship should be in Thai society. Evidence in this thesis found that Singha tried to exploit this practice, linking with its brand identity, building up the brand image of Thai male citizenship who loyal to the king, for selling its product. At this point, this social value that Singha has used culturally reflects the patriarchal society, a sexually conventional family unit with the fatherhood (the king) who is the family leader, and the cult of domesticity (the queen) (Connell, 1987; 1995; 2005; Haywood and Mac an Ghaill, 2003). The expectation of the mother (the queen) is that the male is the leader and women are subordinate, with women supporting men. Singha beer is represented as a drink for men, which is very clear on examination of their branding and marketing. The present King of Thailand, Bhumibol Adulyadej, is culturally regarded as the father of the nation which is a patriarchy involving the multi-strand control of
the state authority (Peter A. Jackson, 2004a; Fong, 2009). Loos (2006) argued that the ‘king’s role’ in Thailand is regarded as the most privileged, ‘the sole agent of national independence’, which reflects ‘the roots in notions of power and the masculinity… ’ (p. 1037 and 1038) . Furthermore, Thai people are commonly regarded as the king’s children and are traditionally taught to be honourable and loyal to the king and everyone in the monarchy, again reinforcing the idea of male dominance and the patriarchal image of the man being the head of the household (Reynolds, 2014)
Arguably, this image in Singha branding is a reconstruction of the Singha new-age male image studied by Louiyapong (1996) who found that the image extended beyond just being loyal to the monarchy but also encouraged a general social contribution. As Louiyapong (1996) noted about the Singha new-age male image: ‘it is an ideal type of men who are aware of current social issues such as the nation, religion and being loyal to the king… the ideal type of men who do not think only about themselves but also about ways to relax or have some fun but also think of good things for social contribution’ (p.136 & 160). In comparison, the current Singha ML is more intense and focuses on respecting or honouring the king and the monarchy. It is argued that the king has been working hard for the Thai people by developing the countries, solving poverty in several remote areas, and so on. As a result, Thai people should be grateful of the good that the king has done for the country and think of ways to do good things for the country and the king to reciprocate.
Significantly, Singha can be seen as trying to exploit Thai cultural values of faithfulness to the king to tie in with its brand, representing the ideal type of Thai male citizens that must be loyal to the king. Furthermore, the colour yellow that is used in the Monarchy Loyalty adverts does not only represent the Singha brand identity, but also the colour yellow is commonly recognised among Thai people as the king’s colour (Hewison, 2014). Stengs (2012) noted that: ‘yellow is the colour of Thailand’s present monarch King Bhumibol Adulyadej’ (p.63). Yellow was also applied to symbolically represent the king in the Singha ML image. In a study by Louiyapong (1996) about Singha beer advertising during 1976-1996, Louiyapong argued that ‘the yellow colour of Singha beer bears a similarity to the colour gold, which has connotations of value and wealth’ (p.123). Therefore, Singha beer is like a valuable item worthy of high-class men or a premium look, which was reinforced when Singha launched a new advertising campaignfor a new product called ‘Singha Gold’ in 1986. Regarding these current findings, it could be said that yellow adds more connotations by associating the Singha brand with the monarchy’s colour, which hints at a royal endorsement. These associations could be decoded so when
consumers drink Singha, it represents the high-class men, who love and honour the king and monarchy. It also signals that to criticise the brand or to switch to a different brand is a lack of loyalty that resonates with a lack of loyalty to the king.
This version of Singha beer and the lived masculinity of the king, means that the brand can act like a royal proxy, taking the values of the king and absorbing them into the Singha brand masculinity (Moriarty et al., 2012). For example, the utilisation of moods and tones in the ML masculine representations in television advertising were predominantly feel-good ads that appealed to personal and social-based feelings (Belch et al., 2012). They mostly represented happiness, joy, and pride in the king and queen. It could be argued that those feelings and stories emotionally impact Thai society as they are based on true stories that Thai people collectively recognise. Smooth music, male announcers (Fejes, 1992) and male celebrity endorsers (Gee, 2013) were mostly used to represent a particular kind of men and masculinity(ies) who worship the king and the monarchy. The overall impression of the adverts using ML are that they have strong strands that employ traditional masculine imagery (see Table 5.2).
Table 5.2 The types of Advertising Executions categorised by sets of men imaged contents
For example: one ad campaign was called ‘Smile and keep on fighting’, inspired by one of the king’s most favoured mottos. This ad was aired during 2010, see Figure 5.4. The advert adopted the king’s philosophy of Sufficiency Economy, promoting the Singha ML image. The king’s philosophy of Sufficiency Economy is ‘a holistic concept of moderation that acknowledges interdependency among people and with nature. It calls for a balanced and sustainable development as its objectives of development’ (Piboolsravut, 2004, p.1). Therefore, the concept of the Sufficiency Economy stressed:
‘…the middle path way as the overriding principle for appropriate conduct by the populace at all levels. This applies to conduct at the level of the individual, families,
corporations, and communities, as well as to the choice of a balanced development strategy for the nation so as to modernise in line with the forces of globalisation while shielding against inevitable shocks and excesses that arise… Sufficiency means moderation and due consideration in all modes of conduct, as well as the need for sufficient protection from internal and external shocks… a balanced approach combining patience, perseverance, diligence, wisdom and prudence is indispensable to cope appropriately with critical challenges arising from extensive and rapid socioeconomic, environmental, and cultural changes occurring as a result of globalisation’ (National Economic and Social Development Board 2004, p.5).
As a result, the idea of the king’s philosophy was applied to encourage people to live life in a balanced (humble) way within the capitalist world, by employing the three principles of moderation, reasonableness, and self-immunity (Piboolsravut, 2004; Chalapati, 2009; Pruetipibultham, 2010). The advert therefore represented the ideal Singha male citizen who is loyal to and honours the king, as per the king’s instructions. Also, this ad campaign reflects the patriarchal authority of the king who is regarded as the father and leader of the country. The adverts employed various social classes of people representing honour to the king such as: academic scholars who received the king’s scholarship to study aboard, the children from hill tribes in a remote part of the country where the king had built the school for them so that they did not have to travel to study in the city, ordinary people, and even celebrities.
Within the same ad campaign, the ad portrayed a sergeant, Mr. Kean Soisom, an ordinary traffic policeman, a working class person who employed the king’s motto (‘Smile and keep on fighting’) to encourage and inspire people to keep on fighting when facing a crisis in life. The advert suggested that even though he was a traffic policeman with a small salary, he was satisfied with his poorly paid job and was proud of being a traffic policeman, serving people. The advert aimed to convey to everyday people that the challenges in life were incomparable to what the king had sacrificed to develop the country to create a higher standard of living for his people. It encouraged people to adopt the king’s philosophy towards self-fulfillment in order to be more content with their lives and their contribution to society even if it seemed relatively small.
Figure 5.4 Singha corporate campaign ‘Smiling and go on fighting’, a motto of encouragement from the king. The adverts applied several types of people expressing how the king’s motto encouraged them to keep on fighting despite several problems in their lives in 2010. This one used the people from the hill tribe that live near the border of Thailand and Myanmar to express how much they love the king because the king let them stay in Thailand, providing them places to stay and giving them jobs to survive.
Within the same TV brand corporate image advertising series was the so-called ‘celebration of the king’s eighty-four years of age’ aired during 2011, portraying model male citizens that are loyal to, praise, and respect the king. The adverts demonstrated a variety of people from different social classes expressing their gratitude to the king for sacrificing himself in order to work hard for the Thai people by carrying out good deeds without ostentation. In the advert, Bhanu Inkawat, a celebrity from the Thai creative art industry, is represented as a successful professional, a middle class man, who used the king as an inspirational role model to achieve his goals in life. The advert illustrated why the king is regarded as the most important person for Thai people. For Inkawat, especially when he thought about trying to achieve something or carrying out social contributions for others, the king was the greatest example of doing well without ostentation. Immediately there is a juxtaposition embedded here between the ordinariness of the everyday Thai persona and the royalty of the king. It is a tension that is threaded through Singha advertising that we will return to later.
Another interesting example of the Singha ML advert, which took aspects from Thai cultural values in everyday life, represented the hegemonic ideal male citizen who should not only be loyal to, praise and respect the king but also the queen, the Mother of the Nation (see Figure 5.5). This advert exemplified the expectation of the queen as the cult of true womanhood, representing women as subordinates to men, supporting the king. In other words, this implication reflects the significance of the patriarchy that men and masculinity(ies) take aspects to empower their constructions of identity. As Connell (2002) stressed: ‘it is important to note that the patriarchal divide is to the benefit of men’ (Connell, 2002, p.142). So that ‘masculinity is shaped in relation to an overall structure of power (the subordination of women to men), and in relation to a general symbolism of difference (the opposition of femininity and masculinity’
(Connell, 2005, p. 223). Likewise, ‘[Hegemonic] masculinity was understood as the pattern of practice that allowed men’s dominance over women… It embodied the currently most honored way of being a man, it required all other men to position themselves in relation to it, and it ideologically legitimated the global subordination of women to men... The dominance of men and the subordination of women constitute a historical process’ (Connell and Messerschmidt, 2005, p.832 & 844). With this perspective, the Singha ML representation therefore portrayed the queen as a mother who supported the king, and was responsible for the family’s happiness. The queen’s main concerns were: the environment, nature, folk wisdom, Thai classical arts and culture, and the domesticated family/national happiness.
The same strategies were used in the king adverts as were applied within the queen advertisements. This can be seen in the ad campaign that revealed the Queen’s Royal Highness Projects, such as the so-called ‘Growing the forests for Thailand’ campaign in 2010. The adverts employed a variety of groups such as kindergarten children, movies stars and singers, who all expressed why the queen’s projects helped nature. One of kindergarten children represented the younger generation’s concern for the preservation of green forests saying: ‘do not cut the trees for illegal selling because the queen said big trees help the natural balance, keeping water sources’. Furthermore, on the occasion of the queen’s 80th birthday, there was an ad campaign called ‘conserving Thai classical theatre’ in 2012, the height of aesthetical cultural heritage of Thai Royal identity called ‘Khon’. The adverts showed various people from different social classes expressing appreciation for what the queen had sacrificed for the Thai people: a person who did a thankless job as the queen. As one of the high-profile celebrities articulated: ‘we should be proud of the queen and her concern to preserve Thai classical arts for the next generation’.
Figure 5.5: Singha campaigns celebrated the queen’s 80th birthday and her royal project to conserve Thai classical theatre ‘Khon’ (โขน)- 2012. Singha represented the queen as the godmother of the land, who preserves the arts, culture, the forests, folk wisdom, and domesticity.
Furthermore, the television adverts represented the Singha male model of citizenship that is loyal and honours all members of the royal family. As can be seen during the princes’ or princesses’ birthdays, Singha would always produce celebrated adverts on television expressing
how grateful for the princes, princesses and the Dynasty of Thailand Thai citizens were, as all members of the royal household had made excellent social contributions to Thai society and people. In short, the use of Monarchy Loyalty can be seen as a major element of the Singha brand. This was something that I discussed further with my participants in order to further explore the brand masculinity of Singha.
5.5 ‘Working men’: A model of Inspiration Capitalism (INS)
A theme of inspiration capitalism was employed in the second largest number of adverts that appeared on television. The reason for naming this theme Inspiration Capitalism is because Singha significantly tried to represent the configurations of successful men who work hard to achieve goals in life in the prevalence of neoliberal commerce and a capitalist world (Connell and Wood, 2005). Furthermore, this kind of INS man also thinks of others to encourage or inspire others to follow their dreams and make it happen like them. It is therefore named Inspiration-Capitalism.
It is evident that Singha INS has adopted aspects of transnational business masculinity(ies) and forms from a global perspective, creating the ideal type of successful men who work hard for success in life and think of others by encouraging/inspiring others to make their dreams happen. The prominent characteristics of Singha INS are: men who are professional, hyper-masculine, tolerant and ambitious in the context of a global capitalist world (Roper, 1994, Connell, 1987; 1995; 2005, Ling, 1999, Hooper, 2000, Connell and Wood, 2005). This is because, as Connell and Wood (2005) argued, transnational business masculinity is regarded as the hegemonic masculinity on a global contemporary scale (p.362). As the prevalence of neoliberal commerce and capitalism socially influence the formation of gender identities, they of course also impact upon masculinities. Connell and Wood (2005) noted about the hegemonic form of masculinity that it is ‘associated with major forms of social power. Capitalism, it is widely acknowledged that the most powerful institutions, excepting only major states, are transnational corporations operating in global markets’ (Connell and Wood, 2005, p.347). More specifically, they found that the prominent characteristics of this transnational business masculinity include ‘tolerance, energy focused on work, flexibility, a certain libertarianism, certain technological skills, and skill in communication… But there is little of the old content of bourgeois masculinity domestic patriarchy, snobbery, social authority, patriotism, religion, and so on to give it point' (p.361 & 362).
More specifically, the prominent characteristics of Singha INS representations are modern Thai men, middle class professionals, hyper masculine, highly confident, leaders, ambitious, tolerant, egalitarian, idealistic and highly driven to overcome crises. The INS representation has also added the social values of sincerity, faith, reliability, thoughtfulness and compassion. These are comprised in the Buddhist instructions for living life (Niffenegger et al., 2006). Buddhism is one of the three pillars of Thai identity that influences the formulation of Thai culture and social values. This is demonstrated in the grand ad campaign, ‘Singha: the brave hearted men’, that has been used since 2010 until present day. It represents an ideal image of the capitalist male who is hard working, a successful professional, a leader, sincere, faithful, reliable, thoughtful and compassionate. Moreover, the Singha INS depiction is a type of man