Welcoming All

A New Era of Thai Identity and Inclusivity

The My Pride Thailand campaign has been launched to create global recognition and stimulate economic growth in both the business sector and tourism in urban areas. This initiative is a collaborative effort between several key organizations, including the Creative Economy Agency (CEA), the Creative Industry and Soft Power Institute (CISPI), the Federation of Thai Industries (FTI), and Pink Blue Black and Orange (PBB and O). The campaign showcases diversity through 50 unique graphic characters that reflect the essence of Thainess.

Embracing Diversity Through Visual Storytelling

The campaign uses vibrant and varied colors to embody the concept of inclusivity and the charm of Thai culture. It emphasizes that everyone is valuable, equal, and proud of being Thai. The design of these characters requires creativity and visual storytelling, which are specialized skills. However, the My Pride Thailand campaign allows companies from all industries to use these 50 characters in their products, services, and activities, offering opportunities for Thai entrepreneurs to benefit.

There is a cost associated with using the MY Pride CI (campaign identity), but it is offered at a special deal. For example, entrepreneurs who use My Pride CI as part of products with a total commercial value between 50,001 and 500,000 baht will be charged 2,000 baht. Meanwhile, the charge for its use in products with a total commercial value between 500,001 and 1,000,000 baht will be 20,000 baht, and 50,000 baht for products with a total commercial value of 1,000,001 baht or more.

Expanding Beyond Pride Month

The campaign was launched during Bangkok Pride, an event that celebrates and promotes diversity, equality, and LGBTI rights. Siam Attariya, design director of PBB and O, revealed that My Pride Thailand was initially developed as a campaign for the LGBTI community during Pride month. However, the CEA and CISPI aimed to promote the characters in various commercial products targeting tourists.

Siam explained that after hearing the idea, they realized the character design should not be limited to only the LGBTI community because the number of LGBTI people is less than straight people. They later discussed the idea with the Bangkok Metropolitan Administration, which commented that the campaign has potential and can be used continuously in the long term because the concept involves what Thai people are proud of. The campaign can be developed for other events such as My Pride Songkran, My Pride Loy Krathong, and My Pride Thai Cuisine.

Designing Characters That Reflect Thai Values

Due to the short deadline, every designer and intern at PBB and O and many outsourced designers were involved in the campaign. The design of the 50 characters was developed from the style of Watoosiri Jansin, the lead illustrator of the campaign. Siam emphasized that the characters illustrate typical characteristics of Thais, such as easy-going, fictive kinship, fun-loving, and acceptant. They focused on characteristics of Thai people rather than well-known culture like muay Thai, temples, or Songkran because these characteristics cannot be replaced.

Siam also mentioned that the campaign reflects that Thai people have self-respect and are proud of themselves. Since they respect themselves, they can embrace differences of other people. As the design director, Siam wanted characters with unique personalities, hairstyles, and costumes that contrasted with society’s stereotypes. Although the team wanted to create fun characters, they had to accept that people have a different sense of humor.

Ensuring Wide Appeal and Recognition

Chakrit Pichyangkul, executive director of the CEA, explained that launching 50 characters at the same time may confuse people and they may find it hard to recognize all of them. He stated that since there are many companies, if they created only one character, it would not tailor to their needs. There must be enough characters so that different industries can pick and choose characters that appeal to them and are appropriate for their products.

Although each character is different, they all have the same theme such as Thainess, pop art, and contemporary features. The characters are not traditional but are modern and have international appeal because the campaign aims to connect the characters on a global level.

Additional Campaign Elements and Future Plans

In addition to the 50 graphic characters, My Pride Line stickers inspired by characters in Thai literature are now available. The BTS Skytrain also issued 220,000 one-day pass tickets featuring My Pride characters in June. At the press conference of the My Pride Thailand campaign, Moreloop, a company specializing in upcycling surplus fabrics from the fashion industry, offered DIY tote bags and T-shirts screened with My Pride characters.

Thamonwan Virodchaiyan, co-founder of Moreloop, said having 50 characters is good because people have different characters. She felt excited to see designers create characters from different perspectives and dimensions. Moreloop plans to create tote bags and T-shirts with My Pride Thailand characters, which people can check out on Moreloop Facebook.

Siam mentioned that two or three characters would be selected to convey certain issues. One character, Nabito, inspired by the famous character in the Japanese manga Doraemon, reflects Thai people’s easy-going nature and lax attitude in conforming to rules and regulations. Another character is a young angel, created because many Thai people tend to pray for good fortune.

Siam hopes to provide some value or change attitudes through these characters, with a convincing message that is fun, non-threatening, or non-serious. However, without a budget, PBB and O cannot push any further movement. He hopes a government organization will take this on.

Chakrit hopes that entrepreneurs will contact the CEA or CISPI if they want to use My Pride CI to create value for their products and services. The FTI will be the center of communication with the industrial sector because they understand what industries need.

Siam expressed his gladness that the campaign is opening the way for a system of sharing benefits. He believes this is a starting model and hopes that people will realize the value of designing since designers invest a lot of time and effort into their work.