A campaign to mute the video ads on Bangkok’s light rail systems has gained over 5,000 signatures during the past month.
Suggesting that loud, lousy commercials are not the stuff of a “developed country,” the petition on Change.org started by Pattaya Upara suggests a little silence on the trains would help Thailand develop its manners.
“Not making sound on the public trains is common manners in a developed country like Japan,” she wrote. “While the train operators have a policy for passengers to not make noise in the trains and platforms, the operators themselves are reckless by showing commercials.”
She also suggested the system operators are “reckless” by showing loud commercials which attempt to draw attention by playing at a high volume, which she said is a violation of human rights.
“The customers of the BTS and MRT did not pay the fares to watch a commercial,” Pattaya wrote. “They should have the right to avoid it. Our request is stop violating human rights with sounds from commercials.”
While silent trains are ideal for Pattaya, Bangkok trains are far from silent.
Maybe they also satisfy a human right to be distracted from other conversations and the Monopoly game theme?
