Wednesday, February 5, 2014

"Protest symbol or plush toy? IKEA wolf makes brief Hong Kong comeback"_harim




IKEA’s wolf doll, which played a cameo in local politics last year, quickly sold out upon its return to the city. Residents snapped up the stuffed toy in December after one was hurled by a protestor at C.Y. Leung, 
Hong Kong’s leader, who is nicknamed “wolf” for his political cunning.
It was modeled after the antagonist of the Little Red Riding hood fairy tale. The toys have become a popular symbol of protest against the chief executive, who is criticized in the city as having too close ties to Beijing, and for putting off his responsibilities to secure universal suffrage for the city’s voter by 2017. In addition, there is also an element of bawdy humor associated with the toy, whose former Chinese name is a near-homonym of a crude sexual term in Cantonese.
The toy’s popularity remains undiminished, and some of the 50,000 followers of the Lufsing Facebook group page expressed their disappointment with IKEA. However, despite the immediate demand for the toy, the resell market hasn’t caught fire with dolls selling on the Hong Kong portal of eBay. IEKA said that Lufing would next be in stock around the end of March.

It seems like a cute doll for young children, but this wolf doll (Lufing) has the meaning of tongue-in-cheek symbol of protest against Chief Executive last year. I am surprised that just a little toy can be a symbol of political aspiration in Hong Kong such as, “the statue of liberty” in America.
I think it can be friendly for people so, attract concerns of people about politics of Hong Kong.

I hope that this doll will be effective “medium” between politics and people without abusing. For example, do not buy this doll due to only for following other people, for following it is just “trend”. 


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