Team Mascot - the Beijing Olympics 2008

Since the inception of the Olympic mascot over 36 years ago with Waldi at the Munich Olympics, the mascot has been given the honorable role of representing the culture and history of the host city. This summer the mascots, also known as the five "Fuwa", have been designed to express the playful, child-like qualities of five little friends, each with their own names and representation of China's most popular animals, Beibei is the Fish; Jingjing, the Panda; Huanhuan, the Olympic flame; Yingying, the Tibetan Antelope and Nini, the Swallow. Then when you see the names together: Bei Jing Huan Ying Ni, you read: "Welcome to Beijing."

As with most recent Olympic Games, our furry little friends are being included in the marketing and communication materials for this summer's event. The five Fuwa or "good luck dolls" were presented as the mascots of the 2008 Olympic Games by the National Society of Chinese Literature Studies over two years ago, at an event marking the 1000 day countdown to the games.

The Olympic mascots are historically very popular with children, offering a friendly recognizable face for the games. This year, each Fuwa represents a primary color from the Olympic rings, and carries a message of friendship and peace to children all over the world through the Olympic spirit.

With the mascots being licensed to a variety of Olympic merchandise from keychains to plates (300 items in total) there will be something for everyone to buy this summer, and with a captive audience of over a million tourists expected in Beijing for the event, sales are expected to be good! In fact you can even get ahead of the pack and buy merchandise for the 2010 Vancouver Games!

When it comes to China, however, some might argue that although the Fuwa are cute and friendly, having five icons as one mascot might confuse other cultures. The message, "Welcome to Bejing," does not apply to those who don't read Chinese, nor does the history behind the animals.

Others might also dispute that the greater the number of icons per mascot, the more they take away from the Games itself. Every nation likes to exert its national pride, but since the 1990's the number of icons per mascot per Olympic Games has been growing steadily almost every year. In 1996, there was Izzy from the Atlanta Olympic Summer Games, but in 1998 the number jumped to the four Snowlets of Nagano, followed by the Olly, Syd and Millie of Sydney in 2002. Now in 2008, we have the five Fuwa and by 2020 there could be eight to ten different icons—which is almost an Olympic team by itself!

In effect, countries today are not only competing for gold medals, but also for bigger and better merchandising and licensing options. The Fuwa will surely help generate revenue for China, as host cities get to keep between 10 – 15% of the royalties, helping to offset the cost of hosting the games, which is thought to have cost China an estimated $38 billion.

All revenue and royalties aside, China has opened its gates to the future through the 2008 Beijing Olympics. By launching the new Olympic logo and their friendly mascots, the city is reaching out, inviting people around the world to join in with their dance, experience their culture, and share in their joy at hosting the games, which will commence in August.