A nightmare with Want Want in Taiwan China Times

Want-Want (Image
Source: Want-Want)

Written By: Chui Chi Lau

Do you know who Want Want is? He is the mascot of a snack brand. There are a wide variety of Want Want snack: QQ Jellies, Senbei Rice Crackers……We love Want Want because he was our childhood. We can recall lots of memories with our friends. However, if Want Want appears in your world every time and every moment, what will you think?

After I visited China Times, a newspaper company in Taiwan, I have learnt nothing but the power and the annoyance of Want Want. Once we stepped through the entrance, we could already see a Want Want statue raising his hands as always, like saying “Hello” to us. Looking at the happy face of this gigantic Want Want, I was speechless. A question came into my mind: why did the company need to make Want Want as the god of this place? I then took out a tissue to wipe the sweats on my forehead.

Want-Want and Chui.

When I was back to myself, we were already in the conference room of China Times. The host gave us a dish of refreshment, yes, Want Want again. Biting a packet of Want Want Bun, we were going to watch a promotional video of China Times. The content was boring, mainly saying how great China Times was. Actually, Want Want Holdings Limited purchased China Times in 2008. All of a sudden, we came to an understanding of why there were so many Want Want.

However, as time went by, our eyes started to shut because of the boredom of the video. “Want Want!” Suddenly, we all were back to the reality by this frightening yelling by our dearest Want Want. We were speechless again: how come a video could contain such a weird sound? While we lost focus with the video again, “Want Want!” The character shouted once more. In the following 10 minutes, I guessed there were over 20 shouts from Want Want. I looked at my friends, and we rolled our eyes simultaneously, considering that it might be an awesome idea to set Want Want as the alarm ringtone so that we would never be late to school again.

L-R: The “Chinese New
Year” and the original
versions of Want Want.

Waking up by Want Want, the host brought us to an office tour. We could see a lot of Want Want statues again. Someone suddenly suggested an interesting game: Let’s count the number of Want Want! All of us nodded and held our thumbs up secretly. Game started! We went to the office of editors. Oh my God, there was a Want Want figure on every desk of every staff! We were extremely speechless. Not only could we find Want Want on the desks, we discovered that there were posters, and even the “Chinese New Year” version of Want Want figures too. Looking at the sea of Want Want figures, I raised a white flag in my heart, thinking that it was really impossible to win the game. Nevertheless, some of my friends, still, struggled to count the number of the Want Want God there. “China Times aims at providing readers a fair news report……” I could not focus on the words of the host any more because I was brainwashed by Want Want. It seemed the only thing left in the world was Want Want, Want Want and Want Want.

“Want Want!” We were back to the conference room again. Chewing a QQ jelly, I felt relieved. I could finally escape from the world which was controlled by Want Want. “Any Questions?” the host asked. We looked at each other, waiting for a volunteer to ask that question. “How many Want Want statues and figures are there?” someone asked. Taking a deep breath and swallowing saliva slowly, all of us were very nervous. The host smiled grimly, leaving the following words, “Sorry, I don’t know.” We were absolutely disappointed because we were all waiting for this moment!

As a compensation, we went to the first Want Want statue to take a group photo. We raised our hands, opened our months and yelled “Want Want!” together. I hope this was the last time I saw Want Want because I thought I have already seen the total amount of Want Want in my life today.