Feature

Thai lip balm ad goes viral for all the right reasons

So fiiiiiine.

gay thai lip balm commercial

Source: YouTube

A Thai lip-balm commercial has lips smacking all across the internet for its adorable twist, and you're gonna want to watch until the end.

What starts out as quite an odd anti-bullying ad completely shifts into a different direction, ultimately turning into a truly iconic ad for lip balm you probably won't soon forget. Take a look:
After a student is accused of bullying a girl by her brother he reveals, "I told her to forget about me, I don't think about you like that... I prefer your elder brother."

Then he whips out a lip balm, slaps it on the girl's brother and just before walking out of the room reminds him to use it regularly, "so you know how my lips feel".

The commercial then pans to a group of stunned school girls all agape and stunned by the whole encounter before they all swoon.
The KL Lip Care commercial is a parody of "BL" storytelling, or "boys love", which is common in manga comics but has become super popular in Asian soap operas and TV series which have a focus on gay relationships.

The ad's cute twist isn't entirely surprising, considering Thailand has a massive slate of BL dramas and a huge appetite for these queer stories.

Despite the country's openness to BL dramas, as , a Thai politician blamed queer-centric TV shows on the nation's rising HIV rates.

The deputy governor of Bangkok, Thaweesak Lertprapan, told Thai media that the trend in BL stories had made it more "fashionable" to be gay, and linked it to a rise in HIV transmissions.

"The risk to HIV is increasing among gay men more than other groups because of men imitating behaviour from TV soap operas and social media," Lertprapan reportedly said.

Despite the unfounded claims, the commercial is a hit with many commenting they want a full series created just based on these characters.

Share
Published 29 December 2017 12:18pm
By Mathew Whitehead


Share this with family and friends


SBS News in your Inbox

Sign up now for the latest news from Australia and around the world direct to your inbox.

By subscribing, you agree to SBS’s terms of service and privacy policy including receiving email updates from SBS.

Download our apps
SBS On Demand
SBS News
SBS Audio

Listen to our podcasts
Join host Yumi Stynes for Seen, a new SBS podcast about cultural creatives who have risen to excellence despite a role-model vacuum.
The day's top stories from SBS News.
Ease into the English language and Australian culture. We make learning English convenient, fun and practical.
Get the latest with our sbs podcasts on your favourite podcast apps.

Watch SBS On Demand
Over 11,000 hours

Over 11,000 hours

News, drama, documentaries, SBS Originals and more - free.