The image of a blond surfing character named Mundi (pronounced moon-dee) flashes the shaka sign on a series of stickers selling fast for a company based in Puerto Rico.

That's right, Puerto Rico. In a news release, a company called Mundi International explained the inspiration for the sticker did come from Hawai'i-born President Obama. Sort of.

"Ever since the president's daughters, Sasha and Malia, flashed the 'shaka' sign during the inaugural celebration a few months ago, Mundi stickers have become an instant worldwide phenomenon," the news release said.

Each sticker at the Web site www.mundistickers.com depicts the little Mundi character holding his surfboard with a different flag for different parts of the world. Among the various stickers is one representing Hawai'i, with a state flag.

"The response has been overwhelming, and thanks to its affordable price of only 99 cents, the Web site has been working overtime to satisfy the demand," the Mundi company statement reported.

José Villa is publisher of Hawaii Hispanic News and found out about the Mundi stickers through the Hispanic PRWire News Service.

Villa, who has lived in Hawai'i for 23 years, said it's interesting that the president's daughters created worldwide interest in the shaka.

"I think it's good fun and a tribute," Villa said. "It symbolizes Hawai'i — and Hawai'i's special mystique — all over the planet."

Villa added, "I think it's great that even in another tropical tourist destination like Puerto Rico, they are still fascinated with the Hawai'i brand."

But a Kailua business that specializes in brands isn't quite that charitable about the use of a Hawai'i symbol by a competing visitor destination.

Business consultants Brook Gramann and Gloria Garvey run The Brand Strategy Group and see the shaka symbol as "one of the most powerful expressions of aloha."

They note that shaka symbols have lived in stickerdom in Hawai'i for a long time — and as a kind of insiders' symbol of recognition connected with Hawai'i.

"So when our president and his daughters brought it to the world's attention as the Punahou marching band went by the grandstand, it was great for those of us who live in and all of us who love Hawai'i to see the symbol and feel like he was giving the state our special 'high five,'" Garvey said.

"The Puerto Rican firm which has developed the Mundi stickers saw the advantage of selling it around the world," Gramann said.

And while the Mundi company clearly recognizes the shaka symbol as belonging to Hawai'i, "their commercialization of it is all too obvious on their site, where they give Hawai'i no recognition whatsoever," Garvey said.

Gramann and Garvey would have liked to have seen some credit to the symbol's Hawai'i origin. In reality, the shaka can't be sold, any more than aloha can, they said.

And Gramann added, "let's hope no one thinks they can trademark it." That has happened in the past when transplants to the Islands lay legal claim to such local expressions as "chicken skin," a local description of the goose bumps that show up in spooky situations.