BANGKOK — A new iPhone, Mercedes-Benz and other riches are only the twist of a cap away, according to the endless promotions for brands such as Ichitan, Yen Yen and Oishi.

While consumers drink their way through bottle after bottle in search of winning codes, they’re also burning out their pancreases on an overload of sugar, and health officials are calling for regulation of the advertisements.

“Thai people like lucky draw campaigns,” said the Department of Health’s Sutha Jienmaneechotchai. “Letting companies freely arrange the promotions has boosted consumption.

Sutha said other countries such as Japan have reined in such campaigns by limiting the rewards offered.

Every day a Thai consumer eats about 26 teaspoons of sugar, according to new data yesterday from the department.

According to the Ministry of Public Health, Thais consume 104 grams of sugar daily, which is about three times higher than what’s recommended by the World Health Organization, or WHO.

Those numbers are different from other studies. A February report from market research firm Euromonitor put Thai consumers at 29.3 grams of sugar per day, with an average American eating 126 grams on any given day.

In 2014 the WHO recommended an adult of average body size should keep daily sugar intake down to about 50 grams.

Sutha said his office will ask authorities to regulate ads for sugary products to fight rising levels of diabetes, as diabetes in the country has been on the rise.

Tan Passakornnatee, owner of Ichitan Co., is a household name and features prominently in his juice company’s aggressive advertising – often in his signature ‘Tanman’ costume

Most of that sugar, he said, was coming from sugary beverages. Green tea was found to contain the most – 12 to 14 teaspoons – while fresh coffee and soft drinks contained around 10 teaspoons of sugar.

Bottle cap contests and similar promotional tools have exploded in the highly competitive beverage market after they were introduced by well-known, costumed businessman Tan Passakornnatee some years back.

Competitors in the lucrative juice trade, which is expected to hit 1.7 billion baht this year, quickly followed suit by appealing to consumers with expensive prizes.

BANGKOK — Between a commercial cycling event and university graduation, traffic Saturday on Ratchadamnoen Avenue is expected to hit nightmare level, even by Bangkok standards.

Organizers of the Bangkok Criterium asked the public via Facebook today to avoid the area Saturday, as their event would close several roads from 3pm to 11pm.

The race, sponsored by Singha Corp., said arrangements had been made in cooperation with the police, but Senior Sgt. Maj. Chalakom Kijthongsai of the nearby police station on Khaosan Road told Khaosod English his office had heard nothing about it.

Dinso Road and Ratchadamnoen Avenue from the Khok Wua intersection to the Democracy Monument, organizers said. Four of the avenue’s eight lanes would remain open for two-way traffic.

Some online said they were alarmed by the announcement as traffic around the Sanam Luang was already expected to be awful as it was Thammasat University’s graduation rehearsal day. Thousands attend the event every year, which is known for crippling traffic in the area.

Facebook user Pitchakorn Poompayoong said it seemed to be poor planning.

“The schedule of the graduation day was already out, and we all know from the past how congested traffic gets during the rehearsal day,” he wrote in reply to the Criterium announcement. “… Let’s see Saturday whether it’s gonna be a mess or not.”

Completing the trifecta of traffic torture, the Chao Phraya river’s nearby Tha Chang Pier, another popular way to avoid traffic, shut down today for two weeks of renovation.

It should be back in service Nov. 20.

By Lisnaree Vichitsorasatra
Staff Reporter

BANGKOK — Take your eyes off the screen and open your ears to escape into another world that’s not so far away. Hear birds warble and chirp in a lush national park in coastal Cambodia. A master strikes notes from bamboo instruments on Borneo. Torrents of rain pound a village in the north of Vietnam.

Southeast Asia’s diversity of culture is poorly understood or experienced, and with Thailand on the verge of joining this broader community of neighbors, people can go on an aural adventure at As((ear))n, an exhibition of curated sounds from throughout the region now showing at Bangkok’s Museum Siam.

“This exhibition will encourage visitors to open their eyes and ears to the sounds, stories and histories, tastes and tales of the region,” Jean David-Caillouët, one of eight artists featured in the exhibition.

Sounds for the immersive installation were collected from Cambodia, Vietnam and Malaysia, and many from around Thailand.

To create a kind of ASEAN radio station tuned into its built and natural environments, the artists contributed video footage and sounds to archive the region’s diversity of sounds.

The As((ear))n exhibition is divided to two parts: an information and documentary room, and an interactive room with a 360-degree projector and eight speakers.

AS((EAR))N sound exhibition runs now through Dec. 20 at Museum Siam.

Here are a few of the sounds:

Hear more samples at Asearn.com.