Canadians Afraid of New Mascot Thingies
After weeks of speculation and CSIS-like secrecy, the Vancouver 2010 committee released it’s mascots Tuesday, to the complete delight of a room of more than 800 schoolchildren.
Out of the shadows of the stage curtains at the Bell Centre in Surrey lumbered anime-esque creatures ‘Miga’, ‘Quatchi’, and ‘Sumi’ - the official 2010 Olympic Mascots.
And the Canadian public gasped.
Gone are the stereotypical Polar Bear, Moose and Loon. Not even a Maple Leaf, a Hockey Puck or a Beaver to be seen. For the love of God, couldn’t VANOC have approached Molson and asked for sponsorship of an “I Am Canadian” Beer Can? Or perhaps we could have dressed an eight-year-old in a hockey jersey and introduced “Bruiser the Bully” as our national Olympic icon?
Now THAT would have been worthy of national adoration.
The backlash has already begun. CBC.ca reports that their site has been ‘flooded’ with comments, mostly negative, from frightened Canadians everywhere screaming - among other profanities - ‘what are these things?’, ‘the world’s going to hell in a handbasket’ and ‘Oh Dear Lord, the Apocalypse is Nigh!’
Not since the switch to metric have we seen so much public outcry. Who knew that three cuddly little people dressed up in furry costumes would be cause to incite an otherwise meek Canuck public to riot?
Sure, on the surface these three mascot amigos may not look too ‘Canadian’, but dig a bit deeper and you’ll find interesting AND commercially viable backstories for these characters.
Miga - part sea-bear and part orca whale, is inspired by the First Nations’ legends of the Pacific Northwest. Quatchi - a shy and gentle Sasquatch, is meant to conjure the mystery and wonder associated with Canada’s wilderness. And Sumi - an animal guardian spirit, who flies with the wings of the thunderbird, is described as “a natural born leader with a passion for protecting the environment.”
Call me crazy, but I feel proud. This is commercial multiculturalism at one of its finest moments! Combine Japanese anime cartoon style, First Nations mythology and European capitalism and you get these three amazing characters that deserve their shelf space at Toys ‘R Us just as much as the next Bratz doll. Canada has officially entered the 21st century!
Newsboards at the two national broadcasters are abuzz with video clips documenting the ‘initial response to the mascots’. Otherwise news-hardened reporters are taking on the fuzzy job of ‘meeting the mascots’ and asking of course, the all important question ‘how much do the mascots need to earn in order to be successful?’
And while Canadians everywhere may bitch and moan about the lack of Canuck iconography in these characters - you take a close look at the first Canadian Olympic mascot, Montreal’s beaver “Amik,” or “Hidy” and “Howdy” the ‘88 Olympics’ pair of cowboy hat-wearing polar bears - and tell me that those mascots were any better. Embarrasingly Canadian? Yes. Doing much to change our international image as ‘The Great White North?’ Probably not.
These creatures have been created as a money making venture for what history has shown to be an otherwise money-losing venture. And if marketing straight to the kids is good enough for McDonald’s, then dammit, it should be good enough for us.
November 30th, 2007 at 8:15 pm
12:14pm Nov 30
Roz:
I can’t decide if you’re being facetious or serious Roz…I’d really like to know which native myth these little characters borrow from. I’d have had no problem with a Raven (trickster) for this boondoggle.
Think of those wonderful birds playing with snowballs on the side of a snow-covered ski hill.
A thunderbird soaring (eagle-like) off the ski jump; a salmon-figure rushing down the skelton run.
The problem with these characters is their de-natured and disconnected nature - out of keeping with either Canada, British Columbia or the Olympics.
As studies in iconography they are worse than pointless - as marketing devices?
Well we’ll see. I expect the negative reaction you saw at the CBC website is pretty widespread and universal - We could have done a lot better and I personally hope that sensible Canadians will say No! exactly the way they’re saying no, increasingly, to the targeted and pervasive marketing of corporate kleptocrats like McDonald’s
These things are symbols of the problem - and little more.
December 3rd, 2007 at 2:58 am
Hey Garth - I suppose it’s a bit of both. Facetious and serious. Seems it’s the anime aspect that’s bothering most people for sure… but it is nice to see Vancouver 2010 embrace something other than typical iconography. From a marketing standpoint I think it’s brilliant - one look at the kids’ faces from the Surrey ‘reveal’ speaks volumes.
Love your ideas about raven and thunderbird btw - why weren’t you on the mascot committee?!
December 3rd, 2007 at 6:30 am
I loved you article, and I loved how you put a positive perspective amongst all the negative feedback! With that being said…
I personally wasn’t too impressed with the mascots. Yes, BC is filled with different ethnic backgrounds, and yes, native is exactly that, our native, but, what about the province itself, not the people? We claim to be ‘the most beautiful place on earth’, so where is that going to fit in with the hustle and bustle of the 2010 Olympics?
I feel like Canada lacks character, personality, and diversity, from all the other countries in the world. We just assume the identity of the people around us. We as a country are comparable to the girl at the bar with low self esteem that thinks she can’t dance, so she just imitate everyone around her! To me being Canadian is something that we should feel proud of, but instead, as usual we just follow every other influence instead of creating our own!
I guess I just wish (we) Canada as a country, would dance ‘like no one watching’, and be our true to ourself, not always trying to please or impress evey other culture - I was hoping that we might be able to change that perspective with the Olympics!
December 3rd, 2007 at 7:05 pm
I feel a little sad really, when I heard there was 3 different characters , i also assumed they were by different creators.
I realize there is a huge Asian community, but i was hoping for something more then anime type characters.
It could of been worse- we could of had “innie” the inukshuk.
The only other comment I’ve heard was that “Quatchi” should of been carrying a bong to truely represent the BC culture.
December 3rd, 2007 at 8:26 pm
Hey L Thomas - yes it all comes back to that traditional argument - are we a mosaic or a melting pot? I know I’ve interviewed a lot of Canadian celebs who can’t tell me what it means to be Canadian. I’m not sure that I know, either! I do know that we tend to define ourselves by what we aren’t… so maybe then the mascots are a good thing?!
December 3rd, 2007 at 8:27 pm
Hey Alpha - I second the motion on Quatchi. LOL!
December 4th, 2007 at 4:46 pm
Bill murray said it best in the movie “Stripes” We’re all very different people. We’re not Watusi, we’re not Spartans, we’re Americans. With a capital “A”, huh? And you know what that means? Do you? That means that our forefathers were kicked out of every decent country in the world. We are the wretched refuse. We’re the underdog. We’re mutts.
I love being canadian.
December 6th, 2007 at 2:07 am
I’m shocked at these “mascots”!
Are you kidding me?
Canada…seriously…a lil more effort please…
Whomever is watching the Olympics is going to be saying.. ‘WTF are those little creatures and what are they doing here’?
Canada is full of diversity, culture and creativity… I think that the committee surely could’ve raised the bar a wee bit higher…
peace out,