Let's be honest it a novelty item that people may have in their bag....the hype surrounding it has firmly placed mongoose at the forefront on the cricket market and got them recognised which is hard to do as a new brand without offering something different I.e the mmi ....fair play to them in my books!
We did the same by changing the shape of a helmet from the norm and shape of pads and the in-fl-8 gloves without something new or innovative you would have to spend a fair bit to get recognised and take up a share of the market....blackcat are now looking to do similar with their innovation in the joker etc.
Would people talk about them so much if they had released a normal looking bat?? Prob not IMO and would fade away into the abyss with other brands competing for the same market