Before you think I have gone all perverted, stop. These are actual mascots of events. From top right clockwise:
* 1996 Atlanta Olympic mascot “Izzy”
* 2008 Spain World Expo * 2010 Shanghai World Expo
* 2009 Hong Kong East Asian Games

Having lived through and participated in the 1996 Olympics in Atlanta I heard all the “blue sperm” jokes you could imagine. After that I thought, “ok mistake over, now back to lions, tigers, and bears, oh my.” Nope. I just saw the Shanghai mascot last week. Not only is it ambiguous but it is also blue! Then this week I arrive in Hong Kong to the “white sperm twins” for the East Asian games. Those three alone would have been enough for this article, but then I find the 2008 Spain expo mascots. Posis? Negas? Are you serious? What is Posis even doing to Negas on the bottom right? Do people really want to see this? Please tell me I am not the only person who feels this is wrong.

I only have a few questions:

1. What’s wrong with an animal? Starbucks can dress up the same bear 6 ways to Sunday, but these events can’t manage a new animal look? What about the lemur? When was he a mascot? Or the moth? For that matter, they might as well put Alabama’s dung beetle up as a mascot given this company.
2. Why Blue or White? If you made them brown then… oh…I get why not brown.. but orange or green? What about black? Why can’t we have a “black” mascot, hmm? HMMMM???
3. Why so close together? We have gone from 2008-2010 and all three look very close. STOP COPYING CHINA! The problem with being ambiguous is you can be anything and when you are anything you are also nothing which is what they tend to end up. I think I need to report these and collect my reward to China’s new porn policy: http://bit.ly/7yQ5cw

Now most of these were designed using children’s imaginations and focus groups. The problem with children is that they don’t even know all the animals yet, so of course they sneeze on a paper (or worse) and someone calls it “Izzy!” Please, please, please, to the next event planner, find something with legs, a pulse, and a defined neck and NOT something that looks more like what people in Asia spit on the sidewalks.

Posted via email from beuk’s posterous