Nation cuddles up to Olympic mascots
(China Daily)
Updated: 2005-11-16 06:46

The Beijing Organizing Committee for the 2008 Olympic Games (BOCOG) launched a worldwide contest in August last year and competition had been hot.

Dozens of artists and designers negotiated to cut the initial 662 entrants to 56 and finally to six, with the final choice being made by BOCOG. The International Olympic Committee (IOC) approved the choice in August.

It is the first time that more than three characters have shared Summer Olympic mascot duty. The 2000 Sydney Games featured three animals Olly the Kookaburra, Syd the Platypus and Millie the Spiny Anteater.

"We decided to produce five mascots instead of one, because we think no single figure could embody China's profound and diverse culture," said Han Meilin, chief of the mascot designers' group.

"China is so lucky to have so many beautiful animals to represent the Olympic spirit," IOC President Jacques Rogge said in a statement read at the ceremony.

"I love them all. And I am delighted that they will carry traditional Chinese blessings all over the world."

Booming business

To capitalize on the mascots' publicity, Beijing is launching an intensive marketing campaign.

Last Saturday, postage stamps and more than 300 other licensed products went on sale at 188 authorized venues across the country.

Anxious crowds huddled outside major department stores in Beijing waiting for the doors to open.

"It's a great idea to have five mascots because the Chinese believe in 'wufu' (the five happinesses)," said a senior citizen surnamed Yu. Yu left his home in the northwestern suburbs of Beijing at 5 o'clock in the morning to buy a full set of the mascots at one of the city's oldest department stores in the downtown Wangfujing shopping street.

Nanjing, a booming city and provincial capital of East China's Jiangsu Province, has ordered air shipments of the stuffed toys from Beijing to meet customer demand.

"On Saturday and Sunday, we sold 400,000 yuan (US$50,000) worth of toy mascots," said Li Qiaosheng, general manager of the Xinbai Department Store, one of the biggest in Nanjing.

The first Olympic mascot was Schuss the skier at the 1968 Winter Games in Grenoble, France. But Schuss was not official. The first official mascot was Waldi the Dachshund at the Munich Summer Games in 1972.

Mascots, the most marketable symbols in the Olympics business, are now considered a vital part of the Games. Sales of licensed mascot branded goods help cities recoup the cost of staging the Olympics.

Prices for souvenirs carrying the Beijing mascots' image range from US$1 for a pen to thousands of dollars for a medal.

"The launch of the mascots will push sales of Olympic products to new heights," said Lai Ming, deputy director of BOCOG's marketing department.

Phevos and Athena, the big-footed sibling mascots of last year's Athens Olympics, generated profits of over US$200 million. Host cities keep 10 to 15 per cent of the royalties.