The Yellow Man arrived on the scene in December 2006. Conceived by telecommunications company DiGi together with its advertising agency Naga DDB, the mascot is part of a promotional campaign by Malaysia’s second largest telco to promote its nationwide coverage. The chubby chap has been steadily touring the country on numerous roadshows and on-ground appearances, while his yellow mug has been plastered on numerous television spots, accompanied by a reworded version of Petula Clark's 1962 hit 'Chariot (I Will Follow Him)'.

And in the past five months, his popularity has been, to say the least, immense. Malaysians have openly warmed up to him. Kids adore him. Grandmas remember him. He pops up at wedding receptions, birthday parties, school assemblies and F1 races. His Friendster account has almost 1,000 friends and 200 testimonials. Heck, the fat bugger even has an album.

Yet beneath the Yellow Man's stratospheric rise, an eerie vibe has developed. While the mascot's inventors claim that the Yellow Man is merely a friendlier, cheekier version of the Incredible Hulk, there is something uniquely ogre-ish about this physiologically disproportionate creature. Amidst the winds of buzz and hype, a gentle breeze constantly whispers to us that the sum of his adorable parts might not give the complete picture of a murkier whole.

DISSECTING THE YELLOW CREATURE
The first thing to recognise about the Yellow Man, is that, well, it is not a man. It is not a woman either. The creature’s original name is the Yellow Coverage Fellow, or YCF. The closest it gets to resembling any type of masculine 'fellow' is the tiny bulge at its crotch area (which, evidently, could very well be a cup protector to aid the YCF in repelling any crotch-kicking young bullies).

And indeed, this androgyny is most perplexing, not to mention unsettling. While the thought of a mildly effeminate, mostly asexual being strutting around town might normally have triggered mass incidences of protest letter writing and parental petitioning, the YCF's sexual ambiguity has been cleverly disguised by its hefty midsection, thus making it instantly huggable. It has also adopted a series of jovial dance steps that seem to pay homage to Big Bird. How could anyone be prejudiced against a round, bouncy mound like that?

But 'cuteness' carries a definition almost as cryptic as the YCF's taxonomic designation. And herein lies our suspicions: that the YCF is not even human. The YCF could have been birthed after a drunken tryst between a Tellytubby and some random woman. Or perhaps, it is a byproduct of some mad scientist's malevolent experiments involving interspecies copulation. Hence, it possesses the oversized hands and torso of a cartoon character, together with all the lumbering qualities that stuffed entities of this ilk are usually associated with. Yet where most walking soft toys have cartoon heads to match their exaggerated bodies, the YCF’s face is… a human face. All eyes and ears and mouth and nose.