While lamenting the closure of Thailand Tatler, the publisher of BigChilli says that people still love printed magazines because of their permanence, unlike the fleeting and easily forgettable nature of social media
The end of this fine publication has special poignancy for me as I was given the task of launching Thailand Tatler on behalf of the Bangkok Post, the original license holder, back in 1991 and went on to run the magazine as its managing editor for the next seven years.
It was a challenge I relished, particularly as Tatler was the first of many local versions of international magazines like Elle, Cleo and Vogue to enter the Thai market soon after. It was an exciting period for magazine publishers and we all expected it to last forever.
Although I have no inside information about the decision by its present franchisee to pull the plug on Tatler, I assume it is down to the same three factors that have caused the demise of so many magazines - the flight of advertising to social media, especially but not exclusively Facebook, the high cost of printing and the chronic economic slowdown caused by Covid19.
Other factors such as changing tastes may have also impinged on the viability of such publications, but it is unquestionably those three reasons that are mostly behind the closure in recent years of so many once familiar titles.
Indeed, the list of English language magazines that once packed local bookshops and graced countless coffee tables is long, and now a distant memory.
Who remembers Caravan, Metro, Living in Thailand, Time Out, The Magazine, Farang, Look East, Travel & Leisure, Sport, Traversing the Orient, and AsiaLife? They’re not alone - The BigChilli also bid farewell to a number of its own publications, the demise of which we will cover in a future issue of this magazine.
ll of these were home to some great editors, writers, designers and a host of creative minds, not to mention the many behind-the-scenes people such as printers, messengers, sales teams and office staff. Have they all found
new employment in the online media revolution?
I doubt it.
Recalling Thailand Tatler’s launch three decades ago, I’m pleased to say we got our market bang on target from the outset. Readership was aimed squarely at the country’s emerging and newly enriched middle class – ‘hiso’ Thais - while our editorial coverage paid homage to the people who really ran the kingdom.