Olympic Mascots…

July 24, 2008 at 1:33 pm | Posted in Advertising, Branding | Leave a comment
Tags: Fuwa, Mascots, Olympics

Why do the mascots for the Olympic Games suck? Most of the the mascots for the summer Olympic games fail to impress me. As a hobby, I follow mascots for various sporting events around the world. The mascots for the 2008 Beijing Olympics are called ‘Fuwa’ – five mascots which represent traditional Chinese elements of fire, wood, water, gold and earth. But I just don’t find these five interesting or cute enough.

This mascot business is a very interesting one for the marketing and branding community. They are veritable brands of an event and can be something which people will remember long after it is over. They are also a super source of revenue, if they can be properly merchandized, riding on the frenzy around such events. But one of the most important factors which will fuel this frenzy is the ‘cuteness’ of the characherts. These characters need to ‘connect’ with people around the world. But most of the time, countries decide to make the mascots represent some deep connection with their nation’s ideaology and in the process end up creating duds. I am not saying that the mascot should not be made to represent the hosting country’s symbolism. After all it is a grest source of pride and accomplishment for the country which hosts popular international sporting event like the Olympics. But, when these mascots become rather esoteric, and something other people around the world cannot connect with (sometimes even in the people in the host country cannot easily connect with), then there is a tremendous loss of an opportunity. 

Now, not everybody shares this opinion about the Fuwa. Many designers and brand consultants in China have expressed that they are mainly aimed at kids and these will attract that demographic. But I disagree. These look just like Pokemon characters and with little differentiation the characters will not remain in the minds of these kids for too long. Apparently, the creator of the Fuwa suffered two heart attacks while creating the mascots. Also in China, people have now started associating the mascots with the natural and man made diasaters which are plaguing their country!

If you ask me, the last Olympic mascots for the games in Athens were worse. I dont even remember the girl and boy called Athena and Phevos who are kids dressed in ancient greek costumes. The Sydney olympics were better with Olly, Syd and Millie all of whom are still relatively famous. Especially Olly the bird. My favorite is the 1984 Los Angeles mascot Sam the Eagle who also has a lot of charisma to this day!