Commerce Minister Phumtham Wechayachai on Wednesday announced the cooperation between the ministry and “Be On Cloud”, a world class company known for producing popular Boys Love or “Y” Series TV dramas, to promote Thai products and services to the international market.
Mr. Phumtham said he wanted to see Thai products at the global market together with Thai TV series production and related industries.
Mr. Phumtham who is also Deputy Prime Minister attended a press conference to announce the collaboration between the ministry and “Be on Cloud” to produce a “Y” series TV drama titled “Shine” for domestic and international markets.
Under the partnership, the ministry is using two Y Series heart-throbs –Phakphum “Mile” Romsaithong and Nattawin “Apo” Wattanagitiphat.
The TV series is also aimed at promoting gender equality, he said.
“I am the Minister of Commerce. My duty is to sell things, to provide the opportunity for the products of the Thai farmers to be in the market and in the world,” said Mr. Phumtham.
He added that the Ministry of Commerce has to do something new, something outside the box.
“If you do the same way, you will get the same old results. If we do something new, we will have the opportunity to get something new,” according to Mr. Phumtham.
Be On Cloud is expected to support Thai products and food in its series, similar to how Korean series incorporate Korean products and food, hoping to spark interest among viewers to try what they see, said Mr. Phumtham.
He said this can help distribute income to the community and fans of the series may want to travel to these locations, similar to how Thais travel to explore places featured in Korean dramas.
Boys’ love or BL genre depicts romantic relationships between male characters. Thai movies and dramas in this genre have gained strong international following in recent years, particularly in Asian countries like Japan and China.
BL is also known as “Y” series in Thailand, deriving from the Japanese term “yaoi” – a genre of fictional media originating in Japan that features homoerotic relationships between male characters. (TNA)