It is now not just celebrities or well-known figures who are barred from showing photos of themselves with alcoholic drinks on social media but ordinary people will be subject to punishment if they post beer selfies to social media.Section 32 of the 2008 Alcohol Control Act bans the advertising of alcoholic drinks and the showing of the names and logos of alcoholic drinks to promote alcoholic drinks.People who break the law could face a jail term of up to one year and/or a fine of up to 500,000 baht, or a daily fine of 50,000 baht throughout the period of violation.The police have now decided on a new interpretation of the Alcohol Control Act that includes all selfies with alcohol.In response to this, people have taken to posting photos of themselves with alcoholic drinks, or bottles of even rubbing alcohol in protest
CELEBRITY CHANG BEER SELFIES CONTROVERSY
Although the Alcohol Control Act has been in force since 2008, the law came into the public spotlight last week following an outcry over celebrities who posted photos of themselves with Chang beer in what appeared to be an advertising campaign. Thai Beverage, the producer of Chang beer, denied paying the two dozen or so entertainment figures to advertise its alcohol products.Two female celebrities who reported to police on Sunday also said they were not paid to post the photos as part of an advertising campaign. However, they admitted to uploading the beer selfies on their Instagram accounts to promote the product as goodwill gestures to help a friend. However, it is difficult to believe it was merely coincidental that some top celebrities would have chosen to upload similar photos of themselves with Chang beer and similar messages encouraging people to drink it, at the same time.
NEW FORMS OF ALCOHOL ADVERTISING
When alcohol advertising was banned, new forms of alcohol advertising evolved to avoid the ban. The Alcohol Research Centre at the Ministry of Public Health stated in a 2013 study that alcohol advertising control is effective in curbing alcohol consumption and was deserving of being pursued further.The same study, however, also noted that the Alcohol Control Act had changed the very nature of alcohol advertising itself.Instead of the direct TV commercials or advertisements of the past, alcohol producers nowadays have to resort to more subtle means of persuasion and promotion.This includes the use of feel-good social responsibility projects and celebrity influencers which not only bypass the law but develop the culture of drinking more effectively than traditional advertising. What legal grounds could the police use to go after celebrities or ordinary people posting beer selfies to social media? People who "intentionally" encourage other people to drink alcohol may be found to have broken the law, according to Sarawut Benjakul, head of the Institute of Legal Education of the Thai Bar Association. However, it is difficult to prove what a person's intention is behind some action they take.How could authorities prove that one person's uploading of a photo showing, for example, a glass of chilled champagne against the background of a setting sun had the intention of promoting the drink more than one showing, for example, a young woman grinning besides a row of liquor bottles? Will an alcohol advertising control law which relies on a personal judgement of violators' intentions be effective? Some predict this could lead to selective enforcement of the law and double standards. Former prime minister Anand Panyarachun once said that for Thailand to become a full democracy, one condition is that the country would have to establish rule of law, that is equal application of the law to all people. The controversy over "selfies with alcohol" seems to illustrate this point.