London 2012′s Olympic Mascots: Marketing Trumps Design

London 2012 Olympics mascots:
Wenlock and Mandeville for the Paralympics (right)
Although the 2012 Summer Olympics in London is more than a year away, the logo design and mascots have been revealed. In the recent Olympic games, one of the primary reasons that the mascots have been released early is their marketing potential. Over the years, particularly after Sam, the Disney-designed mascot for the 1984 Games in L.A., mascots have become the face of Olympics advertising and merchandise.

Designed by Iris, a company in London, the mascots are a product of surveys of children, conducted by the London Organising Committee of the Olympic Games (LOCOG). The feedback gathered was that children were not interested in cuddly animal mascots — which have been featured in many previous Olympics — but rather mascots with a story behind them.

Wenlock and Mandeville certainly have a story designed for them: LOCOG is planning to release a series of episodes about the mascots, leading up to the start of the Games.

The mascots’ designs seem to be an amalgam of various English features, such as cameras for eyes and taxi-headlight-esque decorations adorning the top of their heads. Their steel bodies are said to be from drops of steel from the stadium. The designs are meant to complement the London 2012 logo, which reflects a digital age.

Yet, the reception of these two mascots has not been strongly positive. The designs have been criticized and deemed to be either the products of a love affair gone awry between a Tele-tubby and a Dalek, or shiny phallic symbols. On the other hand, the mascots have been more positively accepted by children than their loud, adult, and media counterparts. Various products featuring the mascots are searchable online and are selling successfully on the official website.

So, will the designs prove to be avant-garde and grow onto the international world? Or has LOCOG relied too heavily upon marketing motives, and forgone aesthetic pleasure?