Freedom may be fleeting, but merchandising is forever.
Although a plaque declaring a new era of popular sovereignty was ripped out hours after it was laid by protesters, its symbolism lives on in a range of merch cropping up since yesterday to cash in on the moment.
After student protest leader Parit “Penguin” Chiwarak placed the image of the People’s Plaque into the public domain, more people have opted to slap it on everything from keychains to surfboards rather than run out and cast a new bronze replica.
Laid in ceremony before thousands, Thai ‘People’s Plaque’ already uprooted
You can liberate your keys with a People’s Keychain for THB112, or let everyone on the BTS know how woke you are with a People’s Smartphone Case for THB199. Are you the kind of free-thinking nonconformist who wears black T-shirts? Or the kind who wears white T-shirts? Prove how unique you are for only THB300 and up. Progressive AND hopelessly hip? Try fashionable caps in the disarming colors of khaki, cream and black are also available.
Cynical cash-grab or way to inject the symbol into popular culture? Why not both?
There aren’t just things for pasty bookworms to collect, but also for the pro-democracy Chads out there. Down south where the sunsets are long and the waves high, the Phang Nga Progressive Movement is floating pre-orders for 8-foot People’s Longboards for just over THB20,000. They’re marketed as a way to “feel freedom on the waves, practice surfing over dictatorship.”
Want to stick it to the pigs? Before you start slicing off some bacon, a People’s BBQ Grill that got people salivating turned out to be the work of Bangkok graphic designer Samphan Sittiwantana rather than an actual product. But not to worry. So long as there are factories churning out cheap goods, anything is possible.
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Laid in ceremony before thousands, Thai ‘People’s Plaque’ already uprooted
