Energy-drink ad exposes uncomfortable truth in Thai society

A TV commercial for an energy drink has become a social phenomenon in Thailand as it depicts the privileged elite being humbled, to the delight of the majority here. In the commercial for Lipovitan D, a drink from drugmaker Osotspa Taisho, a wealthy young woman driving a luxury sports car speeds into a parking garage and parks in a spot marked with a wheelchair sign for the disabled. Security guards look annoyed, but no one says anything — until one of them walks toward the driver and says: “Please park on the third floor.” That is when the woman utters the incredibly bratty response: “Do you know who my father is?” The guard does not budge.

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