Big eyes, rouged cheeks, yellow feathers and most importantly, exaggerated facial expressions – this pair of what seems to be chickens looks funny and naughty. But wait…if you take a closer look, you’ll see these birds are actually parrots.

Known as the No.1 newly emerging web celebrities of 2017, the Poinko Brothers have been widely used on Chinese social networks at the start of the Year of the Rooster during the Chinese Spring Festival period, as they are mistaken for a pair of chickens by most people.

As of Feb 9, the characters were a hot topic, discussed 27.33 million times on the Sina Weibo platform, a Chinese version of Twitter, and won the favour of an overwhelming number of domestic netizens.

“They have replaced Kumamon as my new favorites. Every time I post my status to show my current mood, I will attach a picture of them because they can bring more likes from my friends,” Weibo user Po Xiaohai said online.

Origins of the parrot brothers

As they are so hugely popular, you might wonder about the origin of the emerging stars.

Actually, they are the newly released mascots by NTT DOCOMO, Japan’s largest telecommunications company, to attract customers and promote products.

They belong to the Poinko family. The parrot with a long face and three hairs is the elder brother while the one with the round face and one hair is the younger brother.

The elder brother loves his younger brother very much and likes to tell many jokes to amuse him. The younger brother loves sweet food and tries to lose weight but always ends in failure.

They are the most famous characters, but do not represent the whole Poinko family. Other members include 20,086-year-old Poinko Master, Poinko Sister, who is crazy about love and Poinko Doctor, who has 10 hairs on the head.

They were created in December 2015 and were featured in many eye-catching advertisements for the company throughout 2016. In addition, their dancing has gone viral on Japan’s internet.

Reasons behind the success

Zhang Jian, a famous commentator in China, thinks the Poinko family’s huge popularity is not by chance, but a successful marketing strategy.

“First of all, their dumb yet cute farcical expressions will steal the hearts of many people. Second, they speak very briefly and naively, a good way to promote their own style in a short and effective way. Third, they have shot many advertisements with Japanese stars, gaining entertainment and commercial value, little by little.”

Chinese columnist Xu Fengwen adds that the Poinko Brothers craze has a close relationship with the arrival of Chinese lunar new year.

“Their introduction coincides with Spring Festival in the Year of Rooster. Also, thanks to photoshop gurus, they have been used as a series of emojis. For a majority of people, the chicken-shaped parrots are the perfect choice to send New Year’s greetings to others,” Xu said.

At the same time, many business people have released related products to further promote Poinko culture. They have been made into stuffed toys, phone screen protectors, bottles and T-shirts and sell well on the internet.

Messenger to promote culture

Reputed to be followers of Kumamon, the Poinko Brothers are just one of the many Japanese web stars in China.

In the past several years, quite a few Japanese mascots have successfully entered the Chinese market and gained a massive number of fans.

Among all of them, the most famous one is Kumamoo. Created by the government of Kumamoto Prefecture, the black bear was born for a campaign to draw tourists to the region after the Kyushu Shinkansen line opened.

At first it was just a mascot but then became a cultural phenomenon.

According to the New Straits Times, the Bank of Japan estimates that in the two years 2012-2013, Kumamon generated $1.10 billion (S$1.6 billion) in revenue.

At the same time, some made-in-China cultural products were entering the Japanese market. For instance, a series of “funny” emoji-based bolsters have attracted the attention of Japanese customers through Amazon Japan for its funny shapes.

“Be it cartoon character or emojis, they are turning into the cultural messengers of the nation to promote popular culture

and will continue to do so. And it is expected to be a trend,” Chen Shuhua, a senior school teacher of Chinese, said.

Almost a year and a half after two of the worst disasters in haj history, Saudi Arabia has yet to fulfil its commitment to victims of the tragedies, including Indonesians killed and injured in the collapse of a crane at the AlHaram Grand Mosque in Mecca.

Twelve citizens of Indonesia, the country with the world’s largest Muslim population, were killed and 49 injured when the crane collapsed on Sept. 11, 2015, days before the haj officially started.

The kingdom had pledged to the Indonesian government that it would provide 1 million riyals (S$379,000) in compensation for every dead or permanently disabled victim and 500,000 riyals for the less badly injured, but nothing has been received by the victims as of today.

Zulfitri Zaini, 58, a pilgrim from Solok, West Sumatra, lost her right leg and had her left hand paralysed in the crane accident.

She also suffered hearing impairment that has prevented her working as a teacher in a junior high school and is now struggling to cover her medical expenses.

Since arriving home on Oct. 2, 2015, she has had to pay all her medical expenses, including using her own savings to pay Rp 28.5 million (S$3050) for a prosthetic limb and Rp 19 million in other expenses that her limited health insurance could not cover.

“I spend most my time in bed now. Sometimes, like once a month, I ask my relatives to take me to school, which is two hours’ away from my house, just to make me feel like I am able to work again,” Zulfitri, who used to teach math told The Jakarta Post on Thursday.

“I was praying at the Grand Mosque when the crane smashed into my left hand and right leg. Then I passed out,” Zulfitri said, recalling the painful experience.

She had to undergo two additional operations on her left hand and right leg.

“The wound is still fresh even today,” she said.

Tired of waiting, she asked for help from the Padang Legal Aid Institute (LBH), which filed a complaint to the Saudi embassy in Jakarta and the Religious Affairs Ministry on Jan. 13.

However, the reports have gone unanswered.

“We called on the Indonesian government to be more proactive urging the Saudi government to pay the promised compensation,” LBH Padang director Era Purnama Sari said.

Saudi began renovations to expand Al-Haram in 2013 and cut back the number of pilgrims who could perform the haj every year because of the construction around the mosque.

The year 2015 saw two haj tragedies.

After the crane collapse, which claimed the lives of 111 pilgrims from various nations, more than 700 died later in a stampede during the stoning ritual at Mina, located near Mecca.

Along with the compensation, Saudi Arabia also promised that the heirs of dead pilgrims and the 49 injured victims could perform the haj last year.

But none of these commitments were realised.

Subandi bin Ahmad Sarbini, a pilgrim from Maros, South Sulawesi, said the falling crane hit his head and left arm.

The officer with the Maros Police said his left hand had been left paralysed and he was forced to use only one hand.

The injuries also affected his nervous system leaving half his face paralysed.

Although the accident badly affected him physically, he tries to continue working as usual as a police officer in order to support his family.

“Thank God, I was transferred to the office [away from beat duty] at the human resources division. So, my activities now are not as hard as in the past,” said the 51-year-old.

He added that if he eventually received the compensation money, he would use it to go to Mecca again with his wife.

“My wife and I want to go to Mecca again,” he said.

Religious Affairs Ministry spokesman Rosidin said the ministry had tried its best to push the Saudi government to pay the compensation but to no avail, adding that the ministry had submitted the data on the victims to the kingdom in 2015.

“The latest response we got from Saudi was that they were still collecting the data on the victims worldwide before it moves to pay compensation simultaneously to all affected countries including Indonesia. The Indonesian government will always encourage the Kingdom to make good on its promise,” Rosidin said.

Saudi Arabia cut the haj quota for Indonesia from 211,000 to 168,800 for safety reasons when it started the expansion of the mosque in 2013.

Doctors in India separated a baby born with four legs and two penises from his parasitic twin last week.

Barely two weeks old, he underwent corrective surgery at Narayana Health City (NHC) in Bangalore, CNN reported.

A team of 20 doctors, nurses, and technicians operated on the infant for over three hours.

The baby suffers from the genetic disorder polymelia, where a child has extra limbs due to an undeveloped twin.

Since the parasitic twin did not have its own heart and circulation, it leeched its blood supply from the surviving twin, Dr Sanjay Rao from NHC explained.

This greatly endangered the baby’s life, and he once had to be resuscitated after making the 460km-long journey from his hometown of Karnataka to Bangalore for treatment.

After his vital signs were stabilised, doctors studied the baby’s blood vessels and blood supply and also checked if there were any shared organs.

He was placed under observation for a few days before doctors deemed him strong enough to be wheeled into surgery.

Although his 23-year-old mother had a normal delivery on Jan 21, the baby needed specialised medical attention soon after birth, the Times of India reported.

“It is God’s gift to us,” the woman said as she initially intended to raise the child as he was.

But she later agreed to send him for further treatment after medical counselling and learning that the NHC had offered to treat the baby for free.

The parents, who are both farmers, were unable to afford medical treatment for their son.

Although there is no official record of the number of polymelia cases, Dr Rao said that it is an uncommon condition.

NHC had previously treated three other cases, of which the case of a baby girl born in 2007 with eight limbs was most prominent.

According to Bangalore Mirror, the baby boy has recovered well and is expected to be discharged from hospital next week.

minlee@sph.com.sg