All three players - Thai Asia Pacific Brewery, Thai Beverage and Singha Corp - have sought wiggle room and loopholes from the new regulations, which will be fully effective from December 3.

While Thai Asia Pacific Brewery, the maker of Heineken beer, has blended itself with the new regulation by using "Green Space" with a "Red Star" symbol at its beer park to replace the word "Heineken", Thai Beverage has come out with the Chang (Elephant) official logo in white on a blue background (similar to that used on Everton football jerseys).

Singha Corp will promote its beer-park theme as "Yellow Planet" with the use of only the Singha logo in gold - without using the word "Singha".

The Singha sign is currently on the wall of the CentralWorld building next to Chang. The same golden Singha logo is also wrapped on the KPN building on Rama IX Road.

All operators of beer parks, however, would like to have a clear message from the authorities at the Public Health Ministry and the Food and Drug Administration about what they can or cannot do under the new regulations.

"We are now getting confused with the regulations, which seem to be unfair and in favour of some players," said Chatchai Wiratyosin, marketing manager of Singha Corp, adding that the company had been prohibited from using the Singha logo in gold at its CentralWorld beer park, which was officially opened yesterday.

Chatchai said that if the government allowed Heineken to use a "Red Star" logo, which represents its brand, at its park, Singha Corp should also keep the use of the Singha logo at its venue.

"If we are sued by the authorities for any matter that breaks the new ad-ban regulations, we will fight back on the legal issue, citing that the new regulations are not fair and treatment favours certain players," said Chatchai.

Piti Bhirombhakdi, advertising manager of Singha Corp, said the company - formerly Boonrawd Brewery - had used the Singha image as its corporate logo for almost 73 years. However, it agreed to drop all TV commercials and billboards which advertise its beer before December 3, when the ad-ban regulation will be fully effective.

"The regulations announced by the Health Ministry and Food and Drug Administration are not clear and have created lot of confusion for business players on what they can or cannot do," said Piti. "We ourselves have a clear policy to follow any regulations announced by the authorities if they benefit the entire society and do not favour certain players," he added.

Piti said t he would like to throw the question back to the authorities: what is the real purpose for implementing these regulations, and how do they actually benefit society?

"We should have many dimensions of solutions to solve the problems related to alcohol, such as the youth problem and traffic accidents," said Piti, adding that both families and educational institutes should play an important role to educate young people on the negative impacts, including disease, from drinking alcohol.

The implementation of regulations and punishments against drunk driving should be strict, he said.

Piti added that regulations on TV alcohol commercials had already been adjusted to allow alcohol producers to advertise only after 10pm and focus only on good corporate values.

Kwanchai Rungfapaisarn

The Nation