There’s been a ceasefire in the Pattaya truck wars with “a group of bar owners” complaining loudly enough to put an end to advertising on LED sign vehicles.
Hackles were raised – and violence ensued – last month by Walking Street’s the Pin-Up Group’s strategy of recruiting girls employed in other bars by parking trucks with advertising for better-paid jobs on giant LED signs right outside bars with lots of girls.
Almost immediately, Nightwish Group went online to blast Pin-Up’s bosses for trying to “poach” his Soi 6 employees by not just driving by short-time bars, but actually parking on the street. Stickman Bangkok reported Night Wish Group owner even went to Pattaya City Hall to persuade them to close Soi 6 to traffic to block the recruitment trucks. (Their efforts failed).
Just three days later, the Pin-Up truck – which the group hired and did not own – was attacked by a gang of young men in blacked-out motorcycle helmets. No one has been arrested for the attack, which reportedly caused 100,000 baht in damage for the real Pattaya truck wars victim, truck owner Pongsakorn, not the Pin-Up Group.
Pattaya Truck Wars Claim Innocent Victim
As Pin-Up lost nothing due to the Pattaya truck wars incident, they simply hired another truck. A few days later another truck with job ads – this time for group’s XS go-go bar, parked on Beach Road near the bottom of Soi 6.
Nightwish Group’s competitors, who rolled their eyes over their mountain-out-of-a-molehill response, were happy to show their rival. “We thought it was a great idea, so we decided to advertise our website with them,” the GentsClubs.com group said in its October newsletter.
Unlike Pin-Up, GentsClubs.com’s advertisements were only for its website, not for jobs. But the campaign didn’t last long, rolling through Pattaya for two days before the advertising company canceled the contract and refunded their money.
“It seems a bunch of bar owners got together and complained,” GentsClubs.com said in the newsletter. “Maybe if they spent the time watching traffic on improving their bars, they wouldn’t need to be afraid of a few adverts.”
So, for now, the truck wars are on pause.
“It’s not the end though,” GentsClubs said. “We’ll think up some new ways to go viral this month.”