Thai AirAsia’s newest campaign shows a lack of international understanding…

Flipping through a big English newspaper in Thailand, my eyes crossed an advertisement campaign of Thai AirAsia, AirAsia Group’s subsidiary. The airline is promoting its new Phuket base. Maybe it is made on purpose to entertain English-speaking readers for Christmas, but the advertisement is full of inappropriate information as well as incorrect English-spelling and grammar faults.

‘Phuket Calling, fly low fare direct from, enjoy great connectivity’. Just the title already gives an idea of Thai AirAsia’s apparent lack of English skills… Does the airline mean “fly low fare TO” as it provides a list of destinations? And then we learn that ‘Ho Chi Minh (they omit ‘City’) is steep in history’ and not steeped; that ‘Medan is a city of the most gorgeous volcano’ instead of being a city with some of Southeast Asia’s most gorgeous volcanoes. Thai AirAsia’s team probably never heard of Merapi, Dieng or Bromo on Java Island, just to name a few of Indonesia’s highest volcanic mountains.

However, best of all is the description of ‘Burobudo, the biggest temple’. Are they referring to Borobudur, the world’s largest Buddhist temple??? Not only is the spelling wrong but the information provided is also inaccurate: as Thai AirAsia flies to Jakarta, it is claimed in the advertising that Borobudur temple is only 45 minutes away from Indonesia’s capital. This is true, but only when flying to the city of Yogjakarta. And not to mention that there is another 40 minute drive from the airport to the temple…

Thai AirAsia’s poor English and geographical knowledge are a pathetic reflection of how some Thai companies continue to see the world today. By neglecting to hire staff with sufficient English or geographical skills these companies show their lack of international culture in a time of globalized business environment. Or is it because employing well-educated people remains too costly?

Going once to a Thai AirAsia press conference and asking a question in English, Tassapon Bijleveld, TAA boss, replied to me that he already gave an answer in Thai. He should then stick to advertising only in a language that he masters so well…