They got bombed to hell by the US during the Vietnam war, and still have unexploded bombs everywhere. Luckily Vietnam won that war because if they hadnt Laos would have been next to be invaded I'm sure.
Since they are over there next to China, and Vietnam and a member of ASEAN it would be hard for the US to try, and intervene there without China stepping in. So no need for the US to bother doing much propaganda about them. (Or any really). Which explains why most people in the west probably don't even know they exist, or if they do that they're communist.
Last i heard they were working with China to industrialize, and cooperating on agricultural development. They export lots of cash crops to China. They also built the 6B$ Laos-China railway a few years ago which has helped a lot in getting them more connected to the world. A lot of people there are very poor. So hopefully with closer ties to China they can be lifted out of that within a decade or so. Nothing too flashy going on, but they're on the path to better conditions. Let's hope they can keep it up, and nobody tries to mess with them.