If You’re Happy And You Know It … Push the Button

Are you happy, Beijingers? Beijing and Carlsberg want to know. Exactly one week ago, bus stops across the city were fitted with a “happiness index,” allowing commuters to indicate their mood by high-fiving the kaixin “happy” button or the bukaixin “unhappy” button while they wait for their bus.

A tally above the buttons shows how many Beijingers have selected the smiley face or the frowny face so far and Beijing hopes to analyze the happiness levels of commuters at the ten different locations.

The high-tech campaign is linked to Weibo, and a screen at the station displays microblogs from across the city tagged #北京不准不开心 (Beijing is not allowed to be sad). If you Weibo at @冰纯嘉士伯 (Carlsberg) you are automatically entered into a lucky draw for a mystery prize–fingers crossed it’s a lifetime supply.

The campaign will last until August 2 and includes stations Dongsishitiao East, Dongzhimenwai Dajie, Hujialou North and Renmin University.

When we checked out the one at Hujialou North last Wednesday, we found it to be already malfunctioning. After pushing the kaixin button over and over to no effect, we switched over to the unhappy side, but it also refused to record our feelings (maybe this is why it takes us so long to get to work). The tally at the station was blank, kind of like the faces of the people around us waiting for the bus. Does your bus station have a working happiness index? Are you a happy commuter? Can Carlsberg make Beijing happy? Let us know.