You may have seen him/her/it. With big round eyes, a chubby head and a string of small frog balloons in hand, the frog stalks the streets and alleys with a lol of the head. Just who started this latest on and offline sensation? A lady in Nanjing, that’s who.
Since last summer, these froggy characters have appeared on the streets of major cities across the country, jokingly referred to as “Baby Frog Seller” (卖崽青蛙) and becoming a top new trend.
Meet Ms. Tong, specialised in frog design, one of whom’s videos has had over 2.1 million likes. Tong also now finds herself with over 100,000 online fans.
It’s a sensation which came about by both circumstance and need. Now 32, Tong had twins in 2019 and resigned her post as teacher at a vocational college to look after them.
Last year, the twins started going to kindergarten but Tong could not find any suitable employment, reports The Paper.
A graduate with a graphic-design major from Nanjing University of the Arts, Tong based her design on a red toad in the 1980s animation, “Hulawa” (葫芦娃).
With her matching costume to drum up some trade, she began by selling the little frog toys on Yunjin Lu in Nanjing’s Jianye District. And she attracted a lot of attention.
With Tong running around in a crazy manner, she also found she was providing entertainment, with videos of her going viral on the internet. She admitted to reporters that she was somewhat shocked to see herself as the unwitting star in a video with 400,000 likes that had been filmed just the day before.
Fast forward to today and Tong now has a WeChat group of Baby Frog Sellers from all over the country, members of which are earning around ¥2,000 per day.
Tong also receives many private messages from her viewers. “Some of them are unemployed mums like me, and some are people unsatisfied with their work and seeking a part-time job”, she said.
Being first to the party, Tong applied to trademark the image of Baby Frog Seller early on. According to the registration certificate she received, her froggy look is officially named, “Guaxixi Image” (呱兮兮形象).
But for her, it’s not about the money. “I don’t care about copyright issues”, said Tong. “I’m just very happy that my celebrity frogs can help people start a business.”
