It was all about the children this week when Olympic organizers finally unveiled three mascots for the 2010 Winter Games.
And if the Whistler kids are anything to go by the mascots, Miga, Quatchi, and Sumi, will make cash registers ring for Olympic organizers.
“Miga is really cool, and I like them a lot,” said Hunter Prall, a student at Spring Creek Elementary School.
“I am very excited for the Olympics, I can’t wait.”
Prall, along with other Whistler students in Grade 5 and 6, were bussed down to the mascot unveiling event in Surrey on Tuesday. In all about 800 kids watched and cheered as VANOC showed off the latest faces of the Games in a 35-minute high tech stage show with dance, song, and special effects.
“I really liked the show,” said Lauren Doak. “I like Sumi the best.”
Said Max Peiffer, “I thought it was cool how the mascot from Whistler flew across the stage. I think it is really good that the Olympics are coming to Whistler and I want to go to tons of events.”
Whistler parent Sarah Sladen was also impressed.
“I thought the show was great, very uplifting and exciting,” she said.
“The three different mascots are great and they each have different personalities.”
The mascots, designed by Vancouver-based Meomi Design, draw on aboriginal folklore and B.C. folklore.
Miga is a sea bear, a creature drawn from First Nation legend. It is part orca and part bear, in this case a spirit bear.
Quatchi is a sasquatch who loves hockey, and Sumi is another animal spirit, part Thunderbird, part black bear. He also wears the hat of an orca whale, and is the guardian spirit.
And for the first time in Olympic history the mascots will have a sidekick, Mukmuk, a Vancouver Island marmot.
“The designer, I think, did a remarkable job of looking at the Olympic Games, looking at the region, at the country, at us, looking at past Olympic history and recognizing one clear thing; this has got to be a marvel for children,” said Vancouver Organizing Committee CEO John Furlong.
“They have to feel like they can connect to the characters.
“We really wanted to make sure that there would be no child anywhere who would look at the program and think there is no one there they could relate to...”
Furlong hasn’t got a favourite so far, though he admitted to being partial to Mukmuk.
“I have to say I have a special place in my heart for Mukmuk,” he said. “(He) eats all the time.”
While the audience Tuesday gave the mascots a big thumbs up some websites are carrying criticisms including that they appear very much like the Hello Kitty or Pokemon characters, and that they are not representative of B.C. and Canada. Of the first 128 comments posted on the CBC website on Tuesday afternoon, only 36 were positive.
Furlong, however, was adamant that they represent Canadian values and will tell the B.C. and Canadian story around the world.
While the characters may be all about fun on the surface they have a serious role in the Games: They are to help generate about $46 million in royalties from licensed merchandise sales.
“To reach that we will have to gross at retail about $500 to $600 million, so that is a very aggressive number,” said Dave Cobb, VANOC’s executive vice president of marketing, revenues and communications. “But I think we are on track to do that.
“We have had very good results so far and if the reaction of the children to the mascots today is any indication, I think we will go home today a little bit more confident that we will hit those numbers.”
But Simon Fraser University marketing professor Lindsay Meredith raised some red flags.
“This will resonate with the kids,” he said. “The problem is there is a whole huge market out there of adults who also respond to mascots and it is not resonating there.”
He pointed to Miga, who some thought was a skunk or a panda, neither of which represent Canada. And he said more adults exchange stuffies than kids do.
That means VANOC will have to spend money to tell people everywhere what the mascots are all about.
“(VANOC) just walked into a huge advertising budget problem,” said Meredith.
“They are going to be spending money that I don’t frankly think they had to spend because most of the adults are not clicking on these.
“(With Miga) we have a cross between an orca and a spirit bear and the consumer identifies it as a skunk.
“Some of these are just not well known outside the Pacific Northwest.”
All the mascots contain aboriginal lore. Four Host Nation CEO Tewanee Joseph said that shows how deeply the aboriginal spirit has gone within the Olympic Organizing Committee.
“Each thing that VANOC does is building more and more of the culture that we have here into the Games,” he said.
“That is very positive and I don’t think it has happened at this level in any other Games.
“With the Games Bid Corporation engaging the Chiefs early in the Games process I think this is the result and it shows what can happen.”
Joseph was excited to see the Thunderbird represented. A strong icon in aboriginal culture, it is seen as a guardian.
The mascots will also be looked at by aboriginal communities now, said Joseph, who believes the three new Olympic mascots do respect First Nations culture and stories.
“I think the main thing is to be respectful of our culture and be respectful of our stories and ensure that it is done right,” he said.
“I think that is what we want to make sure that VANOC is mindful of and I think they have done it to this point.
“We will ask our elders, we will ask our children, we will ask our families what do they think of this and do they think it is done respectfully. I think that is important and that is the message we can carry back to our partners in the Olympic and Paralympic Winter Games.”
In the end it will be the sales of the plush toys and all the other Mascot paraphernalia which will tell the real story.
The stuffed animals will start at about $30 and will be sold in Hudson’s Bay and its affiliated stores starting this week. Other merchandising partners will have mascot goods for sale starting in the New Year.
In comparison, Beijing 2008 Summer Games officials have chosen five cartoon mascots. Chinese experts are predicting that they will bring in about $493 million U.S.
A Burnaby company won the right to supply the plush toys, but they will be manufactured in China as Canada does not have the capacity to make enough said Cobb.
“I think they will fit quite nicely (under a Christmas tree),” he said.
