????IN the annals of television history, China’s Tmall Double-11 Night Carnival might go down as the watershed moment when 21st century retailing geniuses first truly fused online shopping and entertainment into one awe-inspiring juggernaut of consumerism. ????Created by e-commerce behemoth Alibaba and featuring celebrities such as 007 actor Daniel Craig, “House of Cards” star Kevin Spacey and singer Adam Lambert, the program was directed by famous Chinese film director Feng Xiaogang to stoke interest in “Double 11,” a newfangled Chinese holiday also known as Singles’ Day. ????The Nov. 11 event, which originated in the 1990s as a sort of anti-consumerist Valentine’s Day for the singles set, has quickly become China’s biggest shopping day of the year, thanks to a blitzkrieg of publicity efforts by Alibaba starting in 2009. ????But in the last two years, the company known for its online shopping platforms, including Taobao, has moved beyond e-commerce and payments and aggressively into the entertainment space. ????It has launched its own movie and TV production arm, Alibaba Pictures, purchased the online streaming video site Youku Tudou, created a film crowdfunding service called Yulebao, started an Ali Music division and begun selling set-top TV devices called Tmall magic boxes. ????Alibaba also has invested in Hollywood films, starting with Paramount Pictures’ “Mission: Impossible — Rogue Nation.” ????The Double 11 Carnival is essentially an edgier version of the Spring Festival Gala variety shows that have been a fixture on State-run TV for decades on the eve of Chinese New Year. ????But unlike the staid CCTV broadcasts, which aim to please everyone from children to the senior set, this week’s Alibaba show took an edgier, hipper approach. It targeted young, tech-savvy shoppers accustomed to buying online and using their mobile phone wallets to pay for almost everything and often using Alibaba’s own Alipay system. ????The program kicked off with a Taiwanese singer performing alongside barely clothed foreign male models wearing women’s high heels. Up next was a “Star Wars” segment featuring R2D2 and Storm Troopers, a plug for Disney’s upcoming movie launch. ????The swaggering Hua Chenyu, dressed in all black, delivered an angry rap unlikely to be music to the ears of a Chinese granny: “If you don’t like my song, you can shut your ears!” he blared. “Now I will penetrate your eardrums without mercy, to reach the bottom of your soul to make you admire me!” ????Celebrities relentlessly urged viewers to buy, buy, buy, modifying the lyrics of well-known songs into odes to shopping. “Who is telling me 50 percent off only happens one day [a year]?” Hua later sang. “If you don’t have a computer, use your phone; if you don’t have wi-fi, use 4G!” ????In the final segment, Craig appeared alongside Ma, who poked fun at his own sometimes-awkward appearance with a rap that went in part: “I have something to say today ... Everyone says I’m ugly but actually I’m very handsome.” ????Meanwhile, the hosts fawned over “Mr. Bond” and reminded viewers to “go out and support 007!” Tickets for the latest James Bond film “Spectre” could be bought on Tmall for about US$3, an unusually low price for a Hollywood blockbuster. ????At its peak viewership, the program generated nearly a 30 percent audience share, according to tracking site Kuyun.com — a rating equal to or higher than CCTV’s new year galas. At midnight, with the long-touted online deals finally live, millions of viewers turned like pumpkins into shoppers, reaching for their mobile phones to hastily click for limited-quantity discounts on everything from clothing to wine. ????By morning, the conversation on social media turned to picking apart the show’s highlights (Spacey) and shortcomings (off-key singing), and comparing who landed the best prices on coveted goods. ????“This is like a new tradition for us,” said Zenabo Ma, a thirtysomething woman who works at a Beijing investment firm. “It’s more fun than other holidays; it’s for young people.” ????“It’s possible that in 10 to 20 years, this holiday will have accumulated more ‘cultural heritage’ and it will be a holiday for everyone in China, regardless of whether they shop or not,” said film director Feng. ????Music producer and Alibaba Music Group Chairman Gao Xiaosong, who appeared as a host on the program, agreed: “Maybe in a few years, many old holidays will be lost,” he said. “But the ‘Double-11’ will survive, because this is a holiday from the grass roots.” ????(SD-Agencies) | 