Hong Kong’s twin cubs will celebrate their 100th day of birth on Saturday, with Ocean Park lining up a series of events to mark the occasion and bringing closer the prospect of the city advancing on a panda economy.
On the same day, the panda cubs’ father, Le Le, will be making his first public appearance in months at his enclosure. He will be the first of the six pandas at Ocean Park to meet the public since the cubs were born in August.
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As the park’s Giant Panda Adventure attraction reopens to visitors, the question of how Hong Kong can tap into the panda economy has surfaced.
Secretary for Culture, Sports and Tourism Kevin Yeung Yun-hung said earlier that authorities were looking into turning the animals into intellectual property as a first step towards developing the panda economy.
Park chairman Paulo Pong Kin-yee also mentioned developing panda-themed intellectual property and creating cartoons, comics or documentaries featuring the six.
He said Ocean Park would consider referencing the South Korean documentary “My Dearest Fu Bao” about the country’s first native-born giant panda, Fu Bao.
Cashing in on the profitability of giant pandas, zoos around the world have turned their bears into intellectual property to earn even more money from merchandise.
Mainland China’s Chengdu Research Base of Giant Panda Breeding registered several trademarks last year after a clip of a pair of twins went viral on the internet, drawing close to 60,000 visitors to the Sichuan province centre every day.
Born in 2020, elder sister He Hua and brother He Ye captivated the hearts of visitors last year after a video of him snatching her bamboo leaves went viral.
He Hua has a short neck making her look like a triangular rice ball and resulting in her becoming a subject of internet memes.
The centre registered multiple trademarks for the terms “Giant Panda He Hua”, “He Hua”, “He Ye” and “Giant Panda He Ye” covering international classifications related to office supplies, convenience foods, education and entertainment, according to a mainland database.
He Hua was reportedly appointed Chengdu’s honorary tourism ambassador in April and is estimated to bring in about 1,075 yuan (US$148) income from every visitor she draws to the centre.
The success of South Korea’s Fu Bao has also led the owner of Everland, the country’s largest theme park, to register a trademark in view of the panda’s growing popularity.
Last year, Samsung C&T applied to the Korean Intellectual Property Office for the “Bao Family” trademark, which refers to the family of five giant pandas, all with the Chinese word for treasure, “Bao”, in their names.
The trademark listed 21 categories as designated products including: clothing, shoes, and hats; non-medical cosmetics and toiletries; life-saving and educational equipment; beer and non-alcoholic beverages; precious metals and their alloys; and recreational equipment and toys.
The amusement park offers 400 different types of panda merchandise, while Fubao stickers on the popular messaging app Kakaotalk rose to the top of the ranks after their release.
Bao Family collaborations with food, clothing and stationery brands were sold out within minutes of their release, thanks to the popularity of the giant pandas.
As early as 2013, Taiwanese authorities quickly stepped on trademarking female baby giant panda Yuan Zai after her birth.
The Taipei City government registered the term “Giant Panda Yuan Zai” and Yuan Zai’s image as trademarks for commercial merchandising and other future business arrangements.
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