Magazines are dying off like the proverbial flies on the windowsill. (Promise you’ll keep reading The Nation, though, okay? You swear?)
Thailand said goodbye last year to lifestyle-fashion magazine Priew after 35 years of fine service and right now both Image and the local edition of Cosmopolitan are preparing their final issues.
ML Pee Malakul Na Ayudhya, managing director of Advance Publishing, has decided not to renew his contract with Cosmo in the US to keep the Thai version going, so the ladies will have to look elsewhere for advice on managing their wardrobes and their men. Pee says the May issue will be the last.
Advance now has just one magazine left, the similarly venerable Dichan, and even it went through major changes late last year to cut production costs.
Meanwhile Image, which also covered the clothing-and-lifestyle beat and was a going concern for 27 years, is also feeling unwanted and closing up shop – though hopes linger that it will return someday.
“We’ve been discussing this for a long time,” Viroj Wachiradechkul at ThreeSixtyFive, a major shareholder in Image Publishing, tells Matichon Online. “We acquired Image from GMM Grammy last June knowing the print-media industry in Thailand was in trouble. We only hoped to stem the loss of income, but it’s been much worse than we expected. We did all we could, but decided it’s best to just stop before anything else happens.”
Image Publishing also puts out In Magazine, Maxim, Madam Figaro, Her World and Attitude and they too are struggling, but they’re hanging tough thanks to adaptive marketing strategies that counter losses with income from other projects.
“This is not the end of Image, more like a pause to catch our breath,” Viroj says. “We need to stop the bleeding, patch up the wounds and regain our strength. We still hold the rights, and when we’re ready we’ll be back for sure.”
James conquers Asia
TV superstar Jirayu “James” Tangsrisuk has demonstrated that you don’t actually have to land a role in a Hollywood film to “go inter”. A turn on a foreign red carpet will do the trick, especially if you’ve got a handsome face on the front of your head like he does.
All James had to do was put in a brief appearance at the opening of an MCM Haus store in Seoul last week and his Korean fan-count skyrocketed. And at the same time he’s scored a music deal in Japan.
“It was a lot of fun,” James tells Dara Daily. “The Korean team took great care of me and I felt very welcome. All the fans were great and supportive.”
Evidently the Koreans find him adorably friendly and funny and, yes, drop-dead gorgeous – attributes that have drawn comparisons with their own superstar, Soon Joong-ki of “Descendants of the Sun” fame.
“Well, I would definitely take that as a compliment!” James replies with all due modesty. “But Soon Joong-ki is much better-looking than I am and I certainly wouldn’t compare myself to him.”
Meanwhile James’ 2013 series “Rak Sood Rit” recently aired in Japan and he’s become a massive star there too. They want to hear him sing, so a recording contract was swiftly signed.
This source first appeared on The Nation Life.