No hats off for Paris mascot as Brisbane Olympic Games search for a soul in 2032
The Paris mascot is a hat which looks like a heart. What it lacks is a soul. Bring on Bluey.
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Stay strong Bluey. Brisbane may need you.
Or one of your clan.
There’s a lot to instantly love about the Paris Olympics, but the Games mascot, known as a Phryge, is a long way from sharing the podium with the likes of the Eiffel Tower and Roland Garros.
It’s more than two years since Games organisers launched its mascot, a red hat with legs. The design comes from the headwear worn by freedom fighters the French Revolution and it is seen as a universal sign of liberty.
That sounds rousing in theory, but it’s still a hat … which, in a weird way, looks like a transplanted heart.
When launched it was publicised as having “an alluring charm’’, but it hasn’t exactly had the masses swooning. No Paris merchandise shop is yet to report doors knocked off hinges due to a Phryge frenzy.
Which brings us to Brisbane and Bluey. It’s quite possible there has never been a more natural fit to a games and mascot than Brisbane and Bluey, the Blue Heeler whose animates television series has swept the globe.
Everything the other mascots lacked – charm, warmth and widespread popularity – it has in spades.
Bluey’s producers even approached the Queensland government two years ago to design the mascot for the 2032 Games.
The obvious inference was that it was to be a character other than Bluey.
But guess what? A few months ago the Olympics signed a licencing agreement with Warner Brothers. If Daffy Duck and Bugs Bunny can be seen on Olympic kit why not Bluey?
Maybe, as former Olympic gold medallist and Brisbane Games organising committee member Nat Cook points out, Bluey can play a role in introducing the mascot.
“It could be epic if Bluey, through his show, stumbles on the mascot and you could introduce it world wide audience a few years before the Games,’’ Cook said.
Good idea. Australia’s Olympic powerbroker John Coates says he still favours getting the public involved. “If I am still involved you would have some sort of competition a few years out so kids could get involved,’’ Coates said.
Whatever happens, Brisbane does not have a lot to beat.
The low bar for mascots is still considered to be Whatizit from the 1996 Atlanta Games.
Whatizit was the first mascot not to be created by an animal, person or mythical creature and was roundly criticised as being basically a little ball of nothingness.
It had such little natural charm it’s name was changed to Izzy in a bid to make it more endearing and it underwent the mascot equivalent of emergency surgery to remove a bottom rung of teeth and make it more marketable to children.
When you have to pull a mascot’s teeth out you know you’ve got the wrong mascot.
Bring on Bluey!
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