Thai banking institutions have undergone quite a cosmetic transformation in the past few years. Hardly surprising in one of the globe’s cosmetic surgery capitals where an afternoon bite can easily be preceded by a nip and tuck. Within the last five years, the Thai banks have gone from boring to beautiful, with new logos, vibrant color schemes and careful marketing and promotion.
Siam Commercial Bank, the 100-year-old original Thai bank, has its royal purple. TMB, the Thai Military Bank, has a patriotic red and blue color scheme with an umlaut that is intended to represent two people working together (or two soldiers holding hands in a don’t ask, don’t tell sort of way). Ayudhya Bank has a very “We Love the King” yellow for its color. Kasikorn Bank, previously known as Thai Farmers Bank (“kasikorn” being an older word for farmer) has adopted a fertile green color and brands itself as K-Bank.
The competition between the banks is fierce and each works hard to convince consumers that they have something to offer you besides the miserable 0.25% interest rates. (Which climbs to 3% if you lock at least 5 million baht into a 3-year certificate of deposit.)
Recently, K-Bank has launched a new campaign emphasizing how customer-friendly they are. (In full disclosure, K-Bank is one of the two banks where Tawn and I have accounts, the other being the Singapore-owned UOB. Yes, I am a Thai farmer.)
When you enter a K-Bank branch, there are complimentary bottles of K-Bank water to quench your thirst.
And as the weather is so warm here, you might need to freshen up after entering the branch. If so, please feel free to help yourself to the K-Bank moist towelettes.
But the K-Bank hospitality doesn’t end there. There are also K-Bank condoms, free for the taking. Yes, you probably saw that one coming, didn’t you?
The thing about the “K-Condom” is that there is a terrible double-entendre lurking in plain sight. The Thais have borrowed the word “cock” from English as a slang for, well, you know…
Since “cock” is a very harsh sounding word, they us the word เค (pronounced “kay”) as an abbreviation, much in the same way as in English we euphemistically refer to the “F-word”. So that makes the K-Condom very much like saying the cock condom, which to a gaggle of juvenile boys would be hilariously funny.
(Have I mentioned that Thai comedies are quite sophomoric in terms of what is considered funny? Bodily humor is considered the pinnacle of wit.)
Anyhow, after a week of politics both Thai and American style, I thought we deserved a laugh. Have a good weekend.
christao408 
No pics of cute tellers?
LOL. that’s one bank that REALLY goes the extra mile. =P
Wow. Just… wow. Lol!!
@La_dolce_vida – Not a mile, really, just six inches or so. LOL!
Well, now I know which bank I will use next time I travel to Bangkok!
That is hilarious.
Ha, ha! Thanks for a good laugh. 🙂
hahaha… this is hilarious Chris! I never ever imagined that a BANK would have its own brand of condoms! lol
What I find amusing is that the packaging looks more like a teabag package than a condom. If we’re on the subject of condoms and their obvious use, they should be handing all of those items out in the opposite order of how you’ve listed them…condoms, moist towelette and THEN a cool drink of water 🙂
hehehe… b-sai(brother)… i am learning thai from my thai workers… hopefully i could at least speak simple thai for the daily conversation with them… =p Bangkok Bank has branches in both Malaysia and Singapore…
@lcfu – pee-chai, actually. But only for an older brother. A younger one is nong-chai.
@deedee8370 – HA HA HA!!!
I never thought I would see a bank do that. It’s hilarious!
OMG! I never thought Kasikorn would ever give away condom with wording “K-excellence” on that. There are 2 in my gang that working for Kasikorn and we always make a joke about their “K- excellence” but may be they don’t even know that their bank give away something like this. I have to ask them now.haha
@blue_beau – Yes, you may find out that they are even more “K-excellent” than you knew! Ha ha…
Wow…I’d never have imagined Kasikorn Bank (formerly Thai Farmers Bank?), would have such “creative” promotions!! Well done!!
I like the K-condom ….hum………free to be picked up from the bank too?
Thanks for the giggle. I needed it.
@agmhkg – Absolutely. Available at a branch near you. Or near me, as the case may be.