Product promotion angers tired commuters

Product promotion angers tired commuters

Hundreds of angry commuters eager to get home pushed and shoved, and berated the organisers of a product promotion that caused a huge pedestrian jam in the heart of Bangkok during the Monday evening rush hour.

The PR presentation for a shower gel began about 5pm at Victory Monument.

A shower room was set up at a congested pedestrian overpass and celebrity Pakorn "Boy" Chatborirak was the product presenter.

As the show started hundreds of commuters, many returning home from work, crammed the narrow walkway, their passage obstructed by the PR staff and Boy's fanclub.

Many commuters on the jam-packed overpass appeared disoriented and some began loudly expressing their annoyance.

One woman was heard to repeatedly shout, "Give way," while another man directed his ire at the PR staff, yelling "Obstruction!" They were not alone in expressing their irritation.

The show was rushed by the organisers and eventually came to an abrupt end. Boy started to sing the theme song for the product, but had to end it halfway through.

A member of the PR team then apologised to the irritated crowd and announced that the promotion was over.

The video of the confusion caused by the promotion, for a shower gel produced by St Luke's Snake brand, was uploaded to YouTube by SanookTV and received mostly negative responses from netizens.

"The organisers had the intention to create an obstruction so they could promote their products in other media," one netizen said.

"What part of the brain did the organiser use to come up with this. I was there at 5pm, the walkways are very narrow and [Boy's] fanclub did not let people get through," another commenter complained.

Another posted a message saying he and his friends will not use products made by this manufacturer again.

Boy later gave an interview apologising to people on the organiser's behalf for causing a "slight problem" at Victory Monument. He said the organisers had not expected it would cause such a problem. It was unintentional, he said.

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