Thai Beverage, the company behind Chang beer, has denied it paid celebrities to advertise its new bottle design after being heavily criticized when photos of several celebrities enjoying Chang beer appeared on Instagram last week.
Prapakorn Thongtheppairot, ThaiBev president, said the company had not broken the law and had no intention to use the celebs to advertise Chang beer.
The controversy started after a photograph of Pakorn “Dome” Lam with a bottle of Chang went viral last week.
In total, 24 celebrities posted similar images online, and police are investigating whether they have broken the law.
“We affirmed that the company has no policy to promote our drinking products, such as beer or whisky, with famous Thai artists, as we understand about business ethics and Thai law,” Prapakorn said.
Twenty-four celebrities and entertainers will be summoned for questioning in the wake of the scandal, deputy national police chief Pongsapat Pongcharoen has said, reported the Bangkok Post.
He said the celebrities had defied Section 26 of the Alcoholic Drinks Control Act B.E. 2551 whether their postings on social media were intentional or not. Violation of the law is liable to imprisonment of one year and/or 100,000 baht fine.
Pakorn “Dome” Lam, Virithipa “Woonsen” Pakdeeprasong, Waranchaya “Ja” Chindarakwong and Nontaporn “Ying Yae” Teerawatanasuk were among the celebrities who shared photos of themselves drinking Chang beer.
Woonsen and Ying Yae admitted on Sunday that they voluntarily posted pictures of themselves with bottles of Chang to promote the product on Instagram, but they denied being paid by ThaiBev.
Many people have speculated that this is just another “seeding” campaign — a marketing strategy where businesses hire celebrities or influencers on social media to post about their products at the same time to create the impression their product is trendy.
READ: Instagram Ads: How much do the stars get paid?
In Thailand, Ying Yae and Woonsen are among the famous seeders.
Actually, Dudesweet made this useful calendar showing what Woonsen has advertised on her Instagram in a month.
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