Thursday, 10 January 2008

Year of the Rat Cake

Animation matters. Animation shapes our lives and culture. Apparently, it influences our Chinese New Year cakes, too.2008 is the Year of the Rat on the Chinese calendar. Crown Bakery, a bakery franchise in Korea, has created the "Crown Mickey" to celebrate the New Year. There is Disney influence all over this cake.

Firstly, the name "Crown Mickey" directly refers to the worlds most famous mouse. Secondly, the design of the rat on the cake must be inspired by the Pixar film Ratatouille. Don't you agree?
Here is the the neatest Disney influence. The cake advertisement features a young woman done up as Minnie Mouse.

The Crown Mickey cake and it's advertisement draw heavily on Disney animation for inspiration. It proves that animation influences how we live, even if only in a small way. In this case, the cake we eat for the Chinese New Year.

Update (January 15th, 2007): Whoa! Here is a very similar advertisement from Paris Baguette, a chief rival of Crown Bakery. I wonder which advertisement came first?

4 comments:

Unknown said...

Don't forget Japanese influence on that poster as well... "Hello Mickey" sounds a lot like "Hello Kitty".

Midodok said...

Oh yeah! I didn't catch that one. Good observation.

Anonymous said...

They are promoting Hong Kong DisneyLand by calling it the "Year of the Mouse".

Anonymous said...

According to the popular legend, the Rat was the first to arrive to a dinner hosted by Buddha (but only after hitching a ride on Ox’s back and then jumping over the finish line) so this is why the Rat is the first sign of the Chinese zodiac. It signifies new beginnings. 2008 is therefore an appropriate time to commence new ventures, including new ideas, directions, and ways of doing things. There will be ample time to see your projects through and opportunities for you to achieve success. However, keep in mind that your actions may have long terms effects, so be wise with your decisions.

The Rat’s fixed element is Water. Although Earth has a negative relationship with the Water. This is not entirely a bad thing, but it does mean that you should not be relying as much on luck this year.

The combination of Earth and Rat is extremely positive in terms of achieving results. The Rat is a risk taker, while Earth is associated with practicality and stability. Therefore there is a good balance which in turn can lead to good profits, increased productivity and accomplishments in many areas of life. And, under Earth's stable influence there could be fewer scandals than in other, Rat years.

The year of the Earth Rat is also a good year for intellectual activities as well as art related activities such as design and graphics.