Hello, um, kitty? Tmall officials on March 29 introduced the shopping website’s new logo/mascot to match its new Chinese name, Tianmao (Skycat). What was unveiled was not the felicitious flying feline one might have anticipated. What we got instead was more of a T-square-shaped alien with a bad case of walleye. Seriously, not kawaii. Children cannot be expected to willingly dangle miniature plushies of thisthing from their backpacks.They’ll be scared by the possibility of large ones hiding under their beds. If you had askin growthshaped like this, your doctor wouldinsist thatyou have it removed immediately.

Remarkably, thisis the winner of a Tmall-sponsored design contest. We can only guess at what the losers looked like. But marketing moves in mysterious ways, and the darndest things can catch on. Certainlythis skycatisn’t any less memorable, although it may be even less adorable,than these mascotty monstrosities.

Tmall let its creepy cat out of the bag during a three-day event (March 29,30,31) at the Beijing MasterCard Arena. Called “E-magine the Future,” theevent highlighted some cool augmented-reality (AR) shopping experiences (check out a video below) and included a fashion show with impressive special effects involving a flying catperson with a normal head. Some of the big brands participating in the fashion show included Levis, Forever 21, Mango, Andrew Marc, and Izzue. Tmall shopowners all.