Thailand has been witnessing a booming market for goods related to religious beliefs and superstitions since the COVID-19 pandemic as the country deals with slow growth, with social media platforms prominent in marketing them.
Auramon Supthaweethum, director of the Thai Business Development Department, reported that 12 companies specializing in faith-based products registered between January and March of this year, compared with 33 registrations for the whole of last year and 24 in 2022.
The companies operate both physical stores and online shops, offering a variety of belief-themed goods. Popular items include bracelets with god charms, gemstone necklaces believed to have spiritual powers, and mobile phone screen wallpapers featuring deities.
Thailand is a predominantly Buddhist country but statues of Hindu gods are common, and Hinduism-related items are particularly popular. Hindu gods, known for their specific attributes, such as Lakshmi, the goddess of wealth, and Brahma, the creator god, are among the top sellers.
Traditionally, Thai people have valued spirituality and amulets. However, Auramon noted that businesses related to these beliefs have grown significantly over the past five years, including during the COVID-19 outbreak. This growth continues as people seek luck and mental support during challenging times.
Thailand's economic growth slowed to 1.9 percent last year, down from 2.5 percent in 2022, due to a decline in exports and tight government spending. While robust tourism and increasing consumption have supported the economy, exports were weak against the backdrop of an economic slump in China, Thailand's biggest trade partner.
Thai tabloid Thairath highlighted the trend earlier this year of companies tapping into growing demand for spiritual objects, with the term "Muketing" gaining currency -- a term derived from "Mutelu" or "Mu," referencing the Thai title of a 1979 Indonesian movie about black magic called "Mutelu: Occult War."
Major mobile phone operators and cosmetics makers have embraced Muketing, selling "lucky phone numbers" and incorporating fortune-bringing ingredients into products like foundation and toner.
Generation Z, or those born in the late 1990s and 2000s, are the primary consumers of these products, often discovering them through social media, according to Auramon. A survey conducted by Hakuhodo International Thailand Co. revealed that many in this generation wear clothes in auspicious colors, adorn themselves with jewelry featuring Hindu gods, and use deity-themed mobile phone wallpapers to seek luck in work and studies.
The survey, with over 1,200 respondents across Thailand, found that more than 88 percent of all generations hold beliefs in the power of sacred objects.
Bangkok university student Onarin Odompholvanich expressed her reliance on "sacred items," stating, "They are like crutches for spiritual support, and I think I have luck from them sometimes."
Neeranooch Malangpoo, an anthropologist at Silpakorn University, told Thai news website Sanook that the use of sacred items in Thailand has a long history but first took off during the 1997 Asian Financial Crisis, known locally as the Tom Yum Kung crisis, even before the COVID-19 pandemic.
"It is understandable that superstitions, or merit-making, which we do have in Thailand, have found use as tools to handle changes including in the economy and politics and with the outbreak of the virus," she said.
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