On May 8, 2026, which marked World Smile Day, Canon (China) Co., Ltd. launched its “Laughter, Well-being” themed series nationwide. This year, Canon *1 held the “Canon Creates Smiles – 2026 World Smile Day · Laughter Sports Festival” in Beijing as the main venue. Simultaneously, the “2026 Canon Smile Marathon · Joy Arena” started in Chengdu, kicking off the annual series of events. During this period, Canon also organized various laughter-themed activities in cities such as Shanghai and Guangzhou. Through the combination of imaging and sports, Canon aims to bring double joy, inviting more people to add laughter to their lives, relieve stress, and continue to practice its corporate culture of “Canon Creates Smiles.”
Canon has held the “Laughter, Well-being” themed series nationwide for many years, including outdoor sports games, exhibition hall smile check-ins, the Smile Marathon · Joy Arena, and online photo contests for laughter images. On World Smile Day 2026, the “Canon Laughter Sports Festival” opened with great enthusiasm at the outdoor plaza in front of Beijing Guoshou Financial Center. This event, co-organized with Taikang Group Tower, Guoshou Financial Center property, and Jianwai Street Beilang Jiayuan Community, expanded the venue from indoor to public outdoor spaces, creating an open and joyful healthy playground for the public. Centered on “laughter” and “movement,” the festival encouraged everyone to laugh, move, and play in a happy atmosphere. Coaches from the Taikang fitness center led shoulder and neck relaxation exercises, with office workers winding down after their morning shifts, releasing stress through laughter. As the official partner of the 20th Aichi Nagoya Asian Games this year, Canon set up an Asian Games check-in area. Many visitors took photos with the mascots and printed them on-site, taking home unique “laughter souvenirs.” Additionally, there was a Canon product experience zone and a “Laughter Market” with over 20 partners, offering healthy lifestyle products and surprises.
“Canon Creates Smiles – 2026 World Smile Day · Laughter Sports Festival” event scene.
Kanou Mikio, Vice Chairman and Chief Operating Officer of Canon (China) Co., Ltd., joined the event to spread smiles and vitality. The public actively participated in the Laughter Sports Festival, gaining health and joy through exercise. The Canon product experience zone and Laughter Market were bustling with cheerfulness throughout the venue.
The 2026 Canon Smile Marathon · Joy Arena also kicked off in Chengdu on May 8, blending photographic creation with city check-ins into an innovative activity set. This event integrated photography knowledge sharing, shooting practice, and health and energy experiences. Nearly a thousand participants captured urban scenes based on two themes announced on-site: “Best Smile” and “Summer Street Corner.” Unlike traditional competitive events, the Smile Marathon does not compete on speed or physical strength. Instead, it encourages participants to freely create within a limited time, using their lenses to record touching moments in the city. The first stop in Chengdu attracted many photography enthusiasts who roamed the summer streets of Rongcheng, using Canon cameras to capture smiles belonging to the city. A special Canon product experience zone was set up, allowing participants to try out multiple Canon cameras and lenses, experiencing the complete joy of imaging creation—from pressing the shutter to freeze a smile to printing photos as keepsakes, fully enjoying the emotion brought by Canon imaging technology. After Chengdu, the Canon Smile Marathon · Joy Arena will travel to cities like Hangzhou, Shenzhen, Dalian, and Jinan, enabling more photography enthusiasts to feel the charm of imaging through movement and gain health and happiness through creation. The history of the Canon Smile Marathon dates back to 2003, making it a unique imaging creative activity crafted by Canon based on the “Well-being” concept. Since its inception, this event has fascinated Asia with its distinctive appeal. As of 2025, it has covered 14 countries and regions, attracting over 210,000 photography enthusiasts and becoming an influential imaging event.
The 2026 Canon Smile Marathon · Joy Arena grandly opened in Chengdu, attracting many photography enthusiasts. Winning works were selected from over a thousand photo entries.
Canon branches across China, along with the Beijing and Guangzhou showrooms and express service centers, also held various “Laughter, Well-being” themed activities around May 8. Cities such as Guangzhou, Chengdu, Xi’an, and Jinan hosted fan appreciation events, smile check-ins, and laughter badge giveaways. For example, Shanghai launched an employee contribution activity called “Laughter Plus” and made “Smile Button” souvenirs; Wuhan set up a “Squash Troubles” interactive wall. Meanwhile, Canon express service centers in Beijing, Shanghai, Guangzhou, Nanjing, Chengdu, and Hangzhou continued their customer care tradition by offering discounted camera cleaning and maintenance services, along with printing laughter photos for customers to take joy home and share with friends and family.
Canon continues to spread joy and positive energy through the power of imaging, fulfilling its brand mission of “Delighting You Always.” Starting with the “Laughter Action” in 2017, Canon elevated laughter to a strategic level in corporate culture in 2021 with the slogan “Smile Together with Canon.” In 2024, it further upgraded to the “Laughter” corporate culture strategy 2.0 and released the new slogan “Canon Creates Smiles.” Canon has integrated laughter and well-being into both its corporate culture and public activities, in an open, vibrant, and approachable manner, making smiles truly part of work and life scenarios.
*1. For readers’ convenience, “Canon” in this article may refer to Canon (China) Co., Ltd., Canon Inc., or the Canon brand.