Abstract:
This study strongly intends to demonstrate that Thailands development has entered into the stage of Capitalism. At this stage, the influence of Capitalism has been claimed that its power can transform every single thing into a price-able and sellable form or being called commodity - like form such as ladies beauty. Therefore, the aim for studying the Miss Thailand Contest will not only reveal the effects of Capitalism on the beauty contest but also clearly illustrate the commoditization of ladies beauty. The research methodology consists of collecting and analyzing the primary and secondary data including in - depth interview. The result of this study shows that before Thailand reached the Capitalism stage, the power of Capitalism did not effect on the Miss Thailand Contest significantly. We can see that in the 1[superscript st] era (B.E. 2477-2483 and 2491-2497) and 2[superscript nd] era (B.E. 2507-2515) of this contest, it had been mainly initiated with the express purpose of disseminating the government policies and publicizing Thailand internationally. Thus, during this time, the contest was not clearly perceived as a commoditization and more importantly, ladies beauty was not intentionally produced in a commodity - like form. In contrast, after Thailand had step into the era of Capitalism expansion, the Miss Thailand Contest in the 3[superscript rd] era (B.E. 2527-2542) and 4[superscript th] era (B.E. 2543-2550) were firmly established for the commercial interests. Therefore, the commoditization fully operates and ladies beauty becomes a commodity. According to the effect of Capitalism on the Miss Thailand Contest, this paper can illustrate the commoditization development of fictitious commodity, like ladies beauty, through this beauty contest. Moreover, the power of Capitalism can change the social perception that people have of Miss Thailand from being opposed to be supportive.