CY vs Psy in creative face-off at the fair

The chief executive is not the most popular man in town right now, but one stallholder at the Lunar New Year Fair in Victoria Park reckons he's just the face to pull in the crowds.

She has come up with smartphone cases depicting Leung Chun-ying crossing his arms in the gesture of defiance used by anti-national education campaigners.

And with a cheeky reference to fears of brainwashing children under the failed plan to introduce national education lessons, the cases also bear the warning: "Do not wash."

Faye Chui said she and her friends who came up with the design for her company Diff thought that Hong Kong people showed their unity when they stood up against the plan. "Our wish is that he will stand on the same frontier with us and listen to us," she said.

"There was so much public discontent last year because of the government. We did not deliberately vilify [Leung]; we just want to make it funny and make people happy," she said.

Chui will also sell socks featuring cartoon drawings of Leung. The idea came from "villain-stepping" socks to stomp away bad luck, popular in Taiwan.

Another stand at the fair, which opens on February 4, has gone for more of the hero of the past year rather than the villain.

A group of students from the University of Hong Kong decided that the face of South Korean rapper Psy could make their T-shirts a big hit at the fair. Of course, he is also holding a snake - and if there's any loud music on, then sound-sensitive, battery-operated lights turn on.

Students from Lingnan Secondary School in Heng Fa Chuen are hoping sales are going to be high to help cover rising costs. They will be selling bags and cushions at their stall, which cost HK$24,000 to rent - HK$7,000 more than what they paid two years ago.

"We need to sell our products at three to four times the cost to break even," said Form Five student Martin Fong Ho-yan, who is in charge of the stall. "We bargained very hard with the manufacturers."

They will be attracting shoppers' attention with kazoos, a little humming instrument which they believe will prove a bestseller at the week-long fair.