The camera is on Jomtien Complex

[iendo]

On 1/13/2026 at 4:42 PM, Vessey said:

There is a balance to be struck somewhere, some people are desperate to avoid leaving behind any visible 'footprint' of their visits to gay bars, while other of us are less concerned.

On the other hand we bewail the lack of customers and boys in Jomtien, especially in low season, and the consequent failure and closure of bars that we know and love. Some of us also bewail the lack of any effort of self-publicity by the bars themselves to promote themselves and their boys. 

In Soi 6, the girlie bars are always promoting themselves on social media, almost on a daily basis, highlighting the girls working there. Soi 6 is consequently always very busy, reaping the benefits of its publicity.

Boy bars are so very far, far behind them in promoting themselves. My couple of boy spies working in Boyztown regularly report on activity there, often by video calls from their cameras, or rather the lack of customers there, and not just in low season. Toy Boys, for example, seems to have no social media presence at all. 

In Jomtien Complex, boss Charlie is an exception, promoting his highly popular M Bar, Gus Bar, Sunee Bar and now Jungle Bar which are (consequently perhaps) currently the busiest in the Soi. The massage shops in the Complex are also getting in on the act and now regularly appearing on social media. 

In contrast Facebook, TikTok are full of the various Pattaya karaoke bars promoting themselves, showing off the boys and their 'numbers'. 

A thriving gay bar culture in Pattaya/Jomtien needs visual publicity, but a consequence is that we, as customers, might end up getting caught up in that, even if only as a potentially identifiable bald-spot in the background of some bar 🤣 For me that is a price worth paying! 🥰

I think Soi 6 is actually a poor comparison. It did not become famous because of social media. It has been well known for decades because of what it offers and how everything is concentrated in one place.

You can compare it to a street with twenty furniture shops next to each other. People go there because they know exactly what they will find, all in one area. Soi 6 offers cheap, fast, and very visible access to sex, and that alone has always guaranteed foot traffic.

Social media mainly became relevant during Covid as a way to supplement income when bars were forced to close. That does not mean it is the reason Soi 6 is busy now, nor that the same logic applies to boy bars. The dynamics between male–female and male–male markets are simply different, especially online.

I also do not buy the idea that people already in Pattaya need social media to discover that Jomtien Complex is a gay area. Anyone who is already here knows exactly what it is and what it offers. There is no added benefit there. I also seriously doubt that people choose a holiday destination because a bar has a TikTok or Facebook presence.

More importantly, I do not think the real issue is bars promoting themselves. The issue is customers being filmed and shown online without consent. That was the concern being discussed.

There are countless YouTubers walking through these areas filming everyone indiscriminately. You can clearly see people trying to avoid the camera, covering their faces, or moving away, yet the filming continues anyway, often without blurring faces afterward.

These creators are effectively making money off people who just want to enjoy a drink in peace. Calling this the new normal does not make it acceptable. It is not normal, and it is not legal. Thailand even announced a crackdown on this type of filming last year, and rightly so.

Edit: 

One additional point that is worth mentioning: arguably the busiest lady bar in Pattaya, Windmill, has a very strict no filming policy. There are clear signs everywhere, and every customer is explicitly informed of this rule by the doormen before entering. Privacy is taken seriously there, and it clearly does not hurt business.

It is also worth noting that Windmill is not even located directly on Walking Street itself, but in a side soi, yet it still attracts huge crowds consistently. That rather undermines the idea that constant visibility, filming, or social media exposure is a prerequisite for success.

These bars thrive on word of mouth in places where their potential customers already gather, such as forums and community spaces. That is exactly how I, and many others, find out what is going on in Pattaya.

[floridarob]

3 hours ago, iendo said:

Anyone who is already here knows exactly what it is and what it offers. There is no added benefit there. I also seriously doubt that people choose a holiday destination because a bar has a TikTok or Facebook presence.

Tourism commissions around the world are spending money foolishly then?

The internet is HUGE...it's reach worldwide....it's cost, almost negligible these days.

I disagree, just because you don't see it relevant.... doesn't mean it is 🤷‍♂️

[iendo]

2 hours ago, floridarob said:

Tourism commissions around the world are spending money foolishly then?

The internet is HUGE...it's reach worldwide....it's cost, almost negligible these days.

I disagree, just because you don't see it relevant.... doesn't mean it is 🤷‍♂️

You are mixing general tourism with this type. People who are interested in sex tourism are not influenced by generic promotion in the same way. They actively look for information and feedback in places where they can get real answers.

I use social media too and see those posts. Nobody comes to Thailand because they saw yet another boy’s birthday or a drag show video. What people actually want to know is what the going rate is, what they can expect during a massage, how things really work, and whether a place is worth visiting.

Those are exactly the questions being asked and answered on boards like this. That is where word of mouth happens and where decisions are actually influenced.

And to be clear, this was never a debate about whether social media can be useful in general. The original point was about indiscriminate filming of customers and putting them online without consent.

That does not attract the kind of people these venues depend on. If anything, it drives them away. Privacy matters in this context, and ignoring that is far more likely to harm business than help it.

[floridarob]

You’re still framing this as either/or, and it isn’t. Marketing and privacy are two separate issues.

Forums like this are great for deep detail, rates, mechanics, and reviews. Social media does something different. It signals life, activity, and momentum. A dead-looking bar online looks dead in real life. That matters, especially to first-timers or guys deciding where to go on a given night.,,,

Works for restaurants, no?

[iendo]

6 minutes ago, floridarob said:

You’re still framing this as either/or, and it isn’t. Marketing and privacy are two separate issues.

Forums like this are great for deep detail, rates, mechanics, and reviews. Social media does something different. It signals life, activity, and momentum. A dead-looking bar online looks dead in real life. That matters, especially to first-timers or guys deciding where to go on a given night.,,,

Works for restaurants, no?

I am not treating this as either one or the other. I am saying that, in this setting, the balance matters, and right now it is off.

Showing that a bar is busy does not require filming customers who did not agree to be on camera. You can show atmosphere, staff, or events without putting guests on display. Plenty of places already do this.

In a restaurant, most people do not really mind if they appear briefly in the background of a video. In bars like these, privacy is something people reasonably expect.

And this goes back to the original point. The question was not whether marketing works. It was whether filming customers and putting them online without concern for privacy has become normal.

From what I see, including people choosing not to go to certain places because of this, it risks driving customers away rather than bringing them in.