The new KTC credit card - "I am Titanium" MasterCard - features Michelangelo's famed statue of David with a red heart covering a crucial part of his body.

The sexy look of the card prompted the Thai Post newspaper to conduct an investigative report. Reporters were assigned to ask the bank's executives whether the card is designed specifically for a gay demographic.

KTC executives, however, were quoted as denying that the credit card was aimed at gay people. They said the card appeals to highly confident customers, both male and female, aged 25 to 45 years old.

KTC plans to issue the cards to 50,000 customers with an average monthly salary of Bt100,000.

Well, we are not quite 100 per cent convinced that the commercials were oblivious to this important niche market. After all, there's nothing wrong if KTC did decide to create a card for homosexual clients.

Gay people are a natural target.  Most of my gay friends have a high disposable income and colourful lifestyles that can boost the bottom lines of many businesses.

For instance, many gay men love to go to spas on the weekends, groom themselves well, and hang out at trendy places.

An episode of the "Will and Grace" American sitcom featured a plot where conservative neighbours were disappointed to learn that our adoringly gay protagonists would not stay in the neighbourhood for long. Even conservatives need gay friends around because they know that they can rejuvenate an otherwise dull neighbourhood.

Now, why do we assume that the new KTC credit card caters specifically to this group of customers? We'll let our readers decide after reading an unofficial translation of the ad's script.

First, a female voiceover says: "What you see may not be what really is."

Then the scene opens showing that this lady in a warm embrace with a male partner. But there's another guy watching the canoodling couple.

The male partner looks across the lady to other guy.

Then the lady looks uncertain and thinks to herself: "If what I see here is you, then who's the other guy?"  The ad also features a snake slithering across the floor.

Hmm, dear readers, what do you think? Is the new KTC card gay or straight?

Jeerawat@nationgroup.com