Did HBC Holiday Card Inspire Chinese Mall Craze?

We just wanted to spread a little holiday cheer, not kick-start a bizarre cultural craze halfway around the world.

It was last year around this time when we started brainstorming a design for our holiday card.  Given the state of the economy in 2009, an overly joyous card didn't feel right.  What people could really use, we figured, was a release of frustration after a long, tough, year.  And hence our admittedly offbeat holiday e-card was born.  You remember, right?  The one that let you smash a plate into a wall? Actually, we're pretty sure you do remember, because our cathartic holiday card got a great response -- even scoring a mention on Above The Law.

Indeed, given the reaction, we knew we had tapped into something.  And so we had to laugh when, a year later, we saw this story.

Some Chinese shopping mall tycoon has taken our concept to a whole other level.  At a shopping center in Shenyang, there is now a special store, decorated like a home, offering the ultimate catharsis:  after paying an entry fee, women get one minute to go in and destroy anything they want.  Using baseball bats if they like.

They can even hurl plates at the wall.

So, yes, perhaps we were on to something with that card last year.  And don't be too quick to think that the frustrations of the Shenyang people are that much different from ours.  As the story reports, "According to the People's Daily, most were bashing over job hunting and the economy."

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