The white body is matched with a leap posture, creating a vigorous momentum, with different hairstyles on the head. Some are puffy and blown open, some are combed into a high bun, and some are woven into several Fried Dough Twists braids, which are scrawled and casual... Recently, "Ma Biao Biao", which is on display with exhibits in Shandong Art Museum, has attracted many people to buy. His casual and sloppy hairstyle design became popular on the internet due to leaving a wild and unrestrained impression on people. As the Spring Festival approaches, cultural and creative products themed around the Year of the Horse have emerged one after another. Previously, a Year of the Horse doll produced in Yiwu unexpectedly became the top stream on the internet due to its mouth being sewn back, transforming from a "laughing horse" to a "crying horse". Orders skyrocketed by 300% within three days. In recent times, there have been designs with unique personalities such as "pulling horses", "aloof horses", "abstract horses", and "dry rice horses" appearing in the market. These cultural and creative products attract a large number of consumers to purchase with their unique emotional expressions. Why do young people prefer "emotional cultural and creative" to impress consumers? On January 10th, Ms. Zhu from Tianjin ordered a "crying horse" and placed it on her desk upon arrival. The red velvet body is adorned with a golden collar, with large and innocent eyes and drooping corners of the mouth, and embroidered with the words' immediately blessed '. When I am tired from work or encounter unpleasant things, seeing Xiaoma's aggrieved expression, my emotions seem to have an outlet, and I feel more accompanied and resonated psychologically. "Ms. Zhu explained the reason for purchasing. Ms. Zhang from Jinhua, Zhejiang is a teacher leading a study tour. Recently, she bought a "Crying Horse" and a "Laughing Horse" with her students during their study at the Yiwu Global Data Trade Center. "Putting the two together, the wrong version of the 'Crying Horse' looks more real and cute, with a very touching expression. The emergence of 'Ma Biao Biao' is also inseparable from the emotional value it brings. If it's a particularly exquisite cultural and creative product, I may not really want to buy it, but the graceful, free, and sloppy state of these horses gives people a very relaxed feeling, satisfying my emotional needs, so I really want to bring one back. "On January 25th, Mr. Zhang, who visited the Shandong Art Museum from Weifang, Shandong, specially bought a 69 yuan" Ma Biao Biao ". The cute, abstract, crazy, and unrestrained image of the pony is a spiritual portrayal of many young people. The pony's hair also leaves consumers with space for secondary creation, so this cultural and creative product is very popular. ”Liu Xiaoyun, a staff member of Shandong Art Museum, told reporters that after "Ma Biao Biao" became popular online, many tourists came to the museum specifically to see his true face, which led to a rapid increase in exhibition visits. Sun Qianqian, Deputy Director of the Art Management Department at the School of Cultural Industry Management, Communication University of China, believes that the precise capture of young people by the "hot selling ponies" lies in their breaking the traditional paradigm of "refinement and auspiciousness" in cultural and creative industries, and using "imperfect" images to meet the aesthetic pursuit of authenticity and relaxation among young people. At the same time, it has become an emotional carrier for young people to vent their stress and has social sharing properties. The "Cultural Co Creation" Promotes Product Breakthrough. Reporters have learned that among the recently sold products in categories such as "Year of the Horse Mascot", "Zodiac Doll", and "Year of the Horse Pendant", the "Emotional Horse" with a rounded shape and vivid expression has become the mainstream in the market. The "Horse" cultural and creative industry, which has gained popularity with its ugly and cute image, and the "Green Horse" launched by the Gansu Provincial Museum. The prototype of the Green Horse Plush Pendant is the cultural relic "Copper Running Horse" (also known as "Horse Treading on Flying Swallows"), which was loved by everyone as soon as it was launched, and sales reached about 20000 pieces in the first week of sale. Nowadays, "Green Horse" has not only become an abstract IP of Gansu Provincial Museum, but also played the game of "multiple universes of horses", including super sized doll versions, beef noodle horse masters, black horses, doctoral horses, etc. Feng Xiao, the person in charge of the design, production, and sales of "Ma Biao Biao" at Xiaoxiami Soft Pottery Art Research Institute, told reporters that they have been designing for the Year of the Horse since the second half of last year. The main approach is to transform two-dimensional ancient paintings into three-dimensional cultural and creative products using soft pottery clay sculpture. The design principle is to create products that can move people and evoke empathy. In some dialects, 'Biao' means silly or silly. Some people think that the 'Ma Biao Biao' cultural and creative product is popular, while others think it is relaxing. Whether in terms of appearance or emotional expression, it meets the consumption needs of young people. Therefore, at the beginning of the design, we anticipated that it would become popular. ”Feng Xiao introduced it. Sun Qianqian stated that traditional cultural and creative product production usually follows a linear logic of "design production marketing", and the popularity of cultural and creative products such as "Crying Horse", "Ma Biao Biao", and "Green Horse" has broken this paradigm, with the core motivation being the co creation of meaning in the digital age. The popularity of such personalized ponies is not a one-way output of designers, but a cultural co creation completed by netizens through secondary interpretation, fun memes, and topic dissemination. Netizens endow their own life experiences with cultural and creative images, forming cultural connotations beyond the design itself. Consumers transform from cultural receivers to cultural participants. ”Sun Qianqian said that this also inspires cultural and creative product design and producers not only to pursue perfect craftsmanship, but also to capture the emotional needs of the audience, transform non-traditional creativity, and seek new paths to break through boundaries. In September 2025, the Shanghai Youth Research Center and Soul App jointly released the "2025 Generation Z Emotional Consumption Report", which showed that nearly 60% of young people are willing to pay for emotional value. It is predicted that the size of China's emotional consumption market will exceed 2 trillion yuan by 2025. The rise of emotional consumption, from daily small items to professional services, reflects the contemporary emphasis on spiritual needs and also hides the business code for businesses and consumers to get along with each other. Liu Xiaoyun said that at Shandong Museum of Art, the demand for the "Ma Biao Biao" cultural and creative product is often in short supply. "Due to the fact that the clay sculpture version of this cultural and creative product is entirely handmade, only a few dozen can be produced every day, and after production, it will be prioritized for offline channels. Online stores often run out of stock, so many netizens say 'it's hard to find a single horse'. Since the rise of "Ma Biao Biao", the Xiaoxiami Soft Pottery Art Research Institute has urgently increased its manpower. "Previously, only about 30 people participated in the production, but now there are 50-60 people. On the one hand, they hire soft pottery clay sculpture experts from all over the country to support, and on the other hand, they invite surrounding residents to participate in some simple production processes." Feng Xiao said that in order to ensure supply, the masters now work overtime every day to produce. Regarding the logic behind the explosive popularity of cultural and creative products such as "Crying Horse", "Ma Biao Biao", and "Green Horse", Sun Qianqian analyzed that the core lies in the synergy of key points such as "emotional resonance, personality expression, viral dissemination, and industrial mechanisms". Firstly, anchor collective emotions or cultural needs; Secondly, the expression should have differentiation, whether it is the imperfection of 'crying horses' or the labeling of personalized horses, they must have high recognition and be able to be quickly remembered by consumers; Once again, to adapt to social media communication, it is necessary to have meme attributes and social communication value, which can enable netizens to spontaneously share and fission; Finally, the industry should establish a mechanism of 'systematic insight+agile trial and error' to quickly capture emotional trends through user psychology research, while avoiding short-term games of chasing traffic. ”Sun Qianqian said. (New Society)