The “Abominable Snowbaby” of Sanghai

I must say that the first sight of Miguelin (Little Mickey), the monster baby that presides the themed room dedicated to the future at the Spanish pavilion at Shanghai Expo, caused me a deep disgust. I don’t know which are the feelings experienced by you.

In my view, the film director Isabel Coixet, who is very close to the advertising communication and therefore to the marketing and branding fields, has overplayed her hand in the attempt to represent the future. ¿The future of our country?. At least at least that level, 6.5 meters, forecasted it José Luis Rodríguez Zapatero during his latest oficial visit to China this month.

That sort of buda-baby recycled doll, more than 6 meters tall, manufactured in Hollywood, which is able to adopt 32 gestures has costed the beautiful amount of €500,000, from the purse of the Spanish Economy Ministry.
The overgrown baby makes me feel uneasy, athough I admit that maybe ti is as amazing as the world reputed bearded woman shown at any nineteenth century travelling circus.
It may have grabbed Expo visitors’ attention , Chinese and more.
The giant little Spanish Mickey is intriguing, but this doesn’t mean that the monster baby-doll is the best image for Spain.

It is true that Miguelín (Little Mikey) has suceed drawin the attention not only of Spanish but also of the international and Asian media.
The Spanish pavilion reached good rates of public during the two days just before its official inauguration. The ine (Spanish National Institute of Statiscics) tells about 50.000 persons.
But, following the latest figures, the number of visitors to the Expo (World Exhinbition) in general and the Spanish Pavilion in particular is far below the 380.000 daily rate expected by the Chinese organisation. And this despite the “Abominable Snowbaby” of Shanghai.
To be honest “creepy Mickey” (Miguelín) makes me disgust. How does it make you feel?

Image over the headline.- “Little” Miky inside the Spanish Pavilion at Expo Shanghai 2010. Photo by Carsten Ullrich desde Shanghai, China (IMG_2695) [CC BY-SA 2.0 (https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/2.0)], through Wikimedia Commons. To watch the original image, click here