These five simple words mean that on the night of the opening ceremony of the Beijing Winter Olympics, more than a million netizens poured into the Tmall Winter Olympics official flagship store, only to find that Bingdundun and its surrounding products were all sold out;

bingdundun is popular.

These simple five words mean Beijing Winter Olympics On the night of the opening ceremony, over a million netizens poured into the Tmall Winter Olympics official flagship store, only to find that Bingdundun and its surrounding products were all sold out; Beijing Offline franchise stores began to queue up, and they were frozen and couldn't get a chance to grab one; people's most urgent New Year's wish is no longer to make money, but "one ticket per household"...

even won the Asian Cup champion Chinese women's football team member, this year's Asian Cup MVP Wang Shanshan , said bluntly in an interview: The whole team likes Bing Dundun, can you arrange one for her.

Of course, arrangements have now been made for the women’s football players. Picture source CCTV website

In contrast to Bingdundun is Xuerongrong .

is also a mascot, but Xue Rongrong seems a bit deserted. Whether it is popularity or peripheral sales, it is far inferior to Bing Dundun. Some netizens even joked: If Rong is born, how can Dun be born? [Note: Bingdundun is the mascot of the 2022 Beijing Winter Olympics, and Xuerongrong is the mascot of the Beijing Winter Paralympics. Now Xuerongrong is also sold out. 】

Here comes the question, why is Bingdundun so popular, why can’t Xuerongrong be the same?

text | Mi Zhi

This article is reprinted from the public account "Yidu" (ID: yiduiread) of China News Weekly . The original text was first published on February 9, 2022. The original title is "Why is Bingdundun so popular, Xuerong "It won't work if you integrate it" does not represent the views of Outlook Think Tank .

1 What people are chasing is not Bingdundun

but Winter Olympics

Bingdundun is selling so hard. Are people really impressed by its appearance?

The answer is not necessarily.

As early as September 17, 2019, Bingdundun was officially released to the public. On November 2 of the same year, Bingdundun’s toy licensed products were launched for the first time. However, there were very few people buying Bingdundun at that time, and many people had not even heard of it. The change occurred on February 4, 2022, when the well-produced and highly emotional opening ceremony of the Beijing Winter Olympics pushed people's emotions to the peak.

was also accompanied by the opening ceremony. This red panda wearing an ice crystal shell suddenly became popular all over the country.

The keyword search trend of Baidu index in the past six months also illustrates this point. Before the opening ceremony of the Beijing Winter Olympics, Bingdundun’s search frequency was as low as almost none. After the opening ceremony, Bingdundun’s search frequency soared to nearly 500,000.

It can be said that what people are chasing is not Bingdundun, but the Beijing Winter Olympics. It is the touch and pride that the Winter Olympics will bring to them.

After all, it is too difficult to become Gu Ailing or Su Yiming to participate in the Winter Olympics and win glory for the country, but it is still possible to buy a Bingdundun.

Then why is Xuerongrong so ignored?

One reason is as mentioned above, Xuerongrong is the mascot of the 2022 Beijing Winter Paralympics, and the opening time of the Beijing Winter Paralympics is March 4, 2022, and has not yet arrived.

Another reason is that Bingdundun’s image carrier is a panda. One of the advantages of

panda design is that Bingdundun’s design prototype is a living animal, which makes Bingdundun more vivid and able to stimulate people’s emotions. Xuerongrong’s design prototype is a lantern, which is slightly inferior to Bingdundun in terms of vividness. Take a look at the animation below. Is it easier and more vivid to imagine Bingdundun skiing?

But Xuerongrong’s design concept is very heartwarming and touching! The luminous properties of the lantern shape mean lighting up dreams and warming the world. It represents friendship, courage and strength, embodying the fighting spirit of Winter Paralympic athletes and the Winter Paralympics concept that inspires the world. The second advantage of

is more obvious, Bingdundun is a panda! Who can not love giant pandas? 's innocent appearance perfectly fits the baby schema proposed by Konrad Lorenz and Nico Tinbergen, winners of the Nobel Prize in Physiology or Medicine: round eyes, fat cheeks, high brow bones, short chin and The proportion of a big head to a small body.

If you say Bingdundun is super cute, no one should refute it, right?

Moreover, as long as it matches a few items of the baby schema, it can feel "cute". Keep the rest, remove Bingdundun’s dark circles, and narrow its eyes. They are all equally cute (just the red ones are a bit scary).

. What’s more, ’s cuteness can activate the brain’s advanced emotions. The Klingelbach research team at the University of Oxford found that the brain reacts in less than 1/7 second after seeing a "cute object". "Cuteness" is the first key to activate the brain's rapid attentional resources. After that, the brain network related to empathy and empathy will come into play.

In other words, people are already in high spirits because of the Winter Olympics, and the ice and ice makes people even more high-spirited.

Moreover, it is interesting to rush to buy. The more is out of stock, the more you want to buy it. Is it Bingdundun that we show in our circle of friends?

has outstanding vision, strength and "connections"!

2 Why Bingdundun is a panda

Xuerongrong is a lantern

Regardless of sales volume, Bingdundun’s design is also very impressive.

Generally speaking, in order to show the unique geographical features, history and culture of the Olympic Games host city, the Olympic Games mascot is usually a local animal, or a character that can represent the local cultural characteristics.

From this perspective, it is most appropriate to choose the friendly, cute and naive panda as the design prototype of Bing Dundun, and the lantern with traditional Chinese characteristics as the design prototype of Xue Rongrong.

Not only is the ice and snow melting, most of the designs of the previous Winter Olympics also followed this concept.

For example, the mascots of the 2010 Vancouver Winter Olympics: Mega and Quitechi. The image of Miga comes from a kind of white bear unique to British Columbia, Canada. Quitechi is a local legendary North American savage. It has a long brown beard, wears blue earmuffs to keep out the cold, and loves ice hockey. . It can be said that the image prototypes of both

have strong local characteristics.

2010 Vancouver Winter Olympics mascot. Source: China News Service

Then why can’t Bing Dundun be a lantern and Xue Rongrong be a panda?

This brings us to another requirement for Olympic mascots: conveying the Olympic spirit.

is the mascot of the Winter Paralympics. Xue Rongrong's body shines, which means lighting up dreams and warming the world (this is especially suitable for the Winter Paralympics). It represents friendship, courage and strength, and embodies the winter disability The fighting spirit of Olympic athletes and the Winter Paralympics concept that inspires the world.

Bingdundun focuses on creation and the future (our opening ceremony also has a sense of technology and the future). The official introduction to Bingdundun also explains this: This is a space panda from the future. It is performing a mission to explore space. It is watching the Beijing 2022 event being held on the earth from the moon with great interest. A wonderful competition at the National Speed ​​Skating Stadium at the Beijing Winter Olympics.

Another example is the mascots of the 2002 Salt Lake City Winter Olympics. They are three different animal images: the snowshoe hare, the North American prairie wolf and the American black bear, which respectively represented the "faster, higher and more powerful" of the Olympic Games at that time. Strong" motto.

Mascot of the 2002 Salt Lake City Winter Olympics. Source: China News Agency

Not only the image, the name of the mascot is also very particular.

Let’s talk about Xuerongrong first. “Rong” means tolerance, tolerance, communication and mutual learning; “Rong” means integration, warmth, and mutual understanding. inclusive expresses the concept of exchanges, mutual learning and harmonious development of world civilizations. embodies the beautiful vision of creating a more inclusive world and building a community with a shared future for mankind through the Paralympic Movement.

Let’s talk about Bingdundun again. “Dundun” means solid and cute, which not only fits the overall image of the panda, but also symbolizes the strong body, perseverance and inspiring Olympic spirit of the Winter Olympic athletes.

I won’t go into details about the words “ice” and “snow”, but I will talk about the characteristics of ice and snow sports.

Speaking of names, one of the most interesting Winter Olympics mascots is undoubtedly the four little owls of the 1998 Nagano Winter Olympics. The names of the four little owls are Sukki, Nokki, Lekki, and Tsukki. The overall meaning of the name is "Snow Elf".

The mascot of the 1998 Nagano Winter Olympics. Picture source: China News Agency

Finally, I would like to send you two pictures. If you can’t buy the real Bingdundun Xuerongrong, you can change your avatar~

Source: Weibo@Beijing2022 Winter Olympics

Reference:

[1]Beijing 2022 Winter Paralympics mascot “Xue” The creative process of "Rong Rong" [J]. Journal of Jilin University of the Arts, 2019(06): 106-107.

[2] Interpretation of the mascot of the Beijing 2022 Winter Paralympic Games. Beijing 2022 Winter Olympics and Winter Paralympics Organizing Committee

[3]Beijing Winter Olympics https://www.beijing2022.cn/a/20190917/007393.htm

[4]Kringelbach, Morten, L., Stark, Eloise, A., Alexander, Catherine, et al. On Cuteness: Unlocking the Parental Brain and Beyond.

[5] Van Duuren, M., Kendell-Scott, L., Stark, N. . (2003). Early aesthetic choices: infant preferences for attractive premature infant faces. International Journal of Behavioral Development, 27(3), 212-219.

[6]https://en.jinzhao.wiki/wiki/Cuteness#cite_note-7

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