Mascot means any person, animal or object deemed to be lucky, or whatever is used to represent a group with a common public identity, such as a school, a professional sports team, a community, a military unit, or a brand name. The mascot is also used as a fictitious and representative spokesperson for consumer products, such as rabbits used in advertising and marketing for the General Mills, Trix's breakfast cereal brand.
In the world of sports, mascots are also used for merchandising. Team mascots are often confused with team nicknames. Although both can be exchanged, they are not always the same. For example, the University of Alabama athletics team is nicknamed the Crimson Tide, while their mascot is an elephant named Big Al. Team mascots can take the form of logos, people, live animals, inanimate objects, or costumed characters, and often appear in team games and other related events, sports mascots are often used as a marketing tool for their teams to children. Since the mid-20th century, costumed characters have given the team a chance to choose fantasy creatures as their mascots, as does the Philadelphia Phillies mascot, Phillie Phanatic.
Mascot costumes are common, and regularly used as goodwill ambassadors in the community for their teams, companies, or organizations such as Smokey Bear from the US Forest Service.
Video Mascot
History
Initially the sports organization first thought of using animals as a form of mascot to bring entertainment and fun to their audience. Before mascots are fictitious icons or people in suits, most animals are used to bring a slightly different feel to the game and to attack the fears on competitor teams.
As the new era changes and time goes on, the mascot evolves from predatory animals, into a two dimensional fantasy mascot, until finally what we know today, a three-dimensional mascot. The incident that led to this change was the invention of Muppet in the late 1960s. The dolls offer something different from what everyone is used to. It allows people to not only have visual pleasure but also physically interact with the mascot.
Marketers soon realized the enormous potential in a three dimensional mascot and took on ideas similar to Muppet. These changes encourage other companies to start making their own mascots, so the mascot becomes a necessity among not only the sports industry but also for other organizations.
Maps Mascot
Etymology
The word 'mascot' comes from the French term 'mascotte' which means a lucky charm. It is used to describe anything that brings good luck to the household. The word was first recorded in 1867 and popularized by a French composer Edmond Audran who wrote the opera La mascotte , performed in December 1880. [3] The word entered English in 1881. However, before this The terms were familiar to the French people as slang words used by gamblers. This term is derived from the word 'masco' which means witch or wizard. Before the 19th century, the word 'mascot' was associated with an inanimate object that usually looks like a hair key or a doll on a sailboat. But from then until today, the term was later seen related to lucky animals, objects, etc.
Choice and identity
Often the choice of mascot reflects the desired quality; a typical example of this is "fighting spirit", in which the competitive nature is personified by warrior or predatory animal.
Mascots can also symbolize local or regional traits, such as the Nebraska Cornhuskers mascot, Herbie Husker: a peasant-style version, because of the agricultural tradition in the area where the university is located. Similarly, Pittsburg State University uses Gus the Gorilla as its mascot, "gorillas" to be an old term for coal miners in the Southeast Kansas area where the university was founded.
In the United States, controversy surrounds several mascot choices, especially those that use human resemblance. Mascots based on Native Americans are highly controversial, as many argue that they are offensive exploits against oppressed cultures. However, some Indian tribes have come out to support these names. For example, Utah Utes and Central Michigan Chippewas are sanctioned by local tribes, and the Florida State Seminoles are supported by the Seminole Florida Tribe in the use of Osceola and Renegade as symbols. The FSU chose not to mention them as mascots because of its offensive connotations. However, this does not prevent fans from engaging in "Redface" - dressing up in Stainotical clothes, Plains Indians during the game, or making banners that read "Scalp 'em" as seen in the Rose Bowl 2014.
Some sports teams have an "unofficial" mascot: individual supporters or fans that have been identified with the team. The New York Yankees have such individuals in Freddy Sez fans. Former Toronto Blue Jays mascot, BJ Birdie is a costumed character created by Blue Jays fans, who were eventually hired by the team to perform at their home game. USC Trojans mascot is a Tommy Trojan riding his horse (and school's official mascot) Traveler.
Sports mascots
- See also: List of sports mascots: Australian sports, Brazilian football, MLB, NBA, NFL, NHL, Olympic and Paralympic Games, US colleges (post-secondary)
- See also: Native American maskai controversy, List of sports teams and mascots coming from indigenous peoples
Many sports teams in the United States (US) have an official mascot, sometimes endorsed by costumed humans or even live animals. One of the earliest was a taxidermy mountain for the Chicago Cubs, in 1908, and then a live animal that was used in 1916 by the same team. They abandoned the concept shortly thereafter and remained without an official "child" until 2014, when they introduced a version that people were dressed in costumes.
In England some teams have young fans become "mascots". This representative sometimes has medical problems, and his performance is a grant of wishes, contest winners, or in other circumstances. Unlike the anonymous actors of the costumed characters, however, their actions can be attributed to the club later. The mascot also includes older people such as the British Master, who was invited by the national sports association to become a mascot for the representative team.
Company mascot
Mascots or ad characters are very common in the corporate world. Identifiable mascots include Chester Cheetah, Keebler Elf, Fruit from Loom Guys, Mickey Mouse, Pizza Pizza Guy for Little Caesars, Rocky the Elf, Coca-Cola Bear, NBC Peacock, and Eddie Eagle's NRA. These characters are usually known without having to refer to a company or brand. This is an example of corporate branding, and gentle company sales. Mascots can act as brand ambassadors in which ads are not allowed. For example, many company mascots can attend nonprofits, or sports and promote their brands while entertaining the crowd. Some mascots are just cartoons or virtual mascots, others are characters in ads, and others are actually made as costumes and will appear alone in public at trade shows or events.
School mascot
Most American schools have mascots. Middle schools, colleges, and even high schools and elementary schools usually have mascots. Most of them have their mascots made as costumes, and use these costumes at sporting or social events. Examples of School mascots include UNC's Rameses the Ram, University of Kansas' Big Jay and Baby Jay, University of Tennessee at Chattanooga's Scrappy the Mocking Bird, Western Michigan's Buster the Bronco, Temple's Hooter the Owl, Villanova's Will D. Cat the Wildcat, MIT's Team the Beaver , Boston University, Rhett the Boston Terrier, and St. Joe's "The Hawk".
International mascots - Olympics and World Expositions
The mascot used for the Summer and Winter Olympics is a fictional character, usually a native human or animal figure holding the Olympics that year. This mascot is used to captivate the audience and bring excitement and excitement to the Olympic festival.
Sam and Seymore D. Fair from 1984 are examples of some of the first mascots used at the Louisiana Summer Olympics and Louisiana World Exposition, respectively. Originally from 1968, the city hosting the Olympic Games every two years has the task of designing a mascot that fits the culture of the country and is an iconic symbol for the nation's values. The latest Summer/Summer Olympic mascots include Miga, Quatchi, Mukmuk (Vancouver, 2010), Wenlock and Mandeville (London, 2012), Bely Mishka, Snow Leopard, Zaika (Sochi, 2014) and Vinicius and Tom (Rio, 2016) have all gone on to become iconic symbols in their respective countries.
NASA mascots
Camilla Corona SDO is the mission mascot for NASA Solar Dynamics Observatory (SDO) and helps the mission with Education and Public Outreach (EPO).
Military mascot
Mascots are also popular in military units. For example, the United States Marine Corps uses the British Bulldog as its mascot, while the US Army uses the donkey, the US Navy uses the goat, and the United States Air Force uses Gyrfalcon.
Goats at the Royal Welsh are officially not mascots but rank soldiers. Cpl. Two William Windsor retired on May 20, 2009, and a substitute is expected in June. Several British Army regiments have a live animal mascot that appears in the parade. Parachute Regiments and Argyll and Sutherland Highlanders have Shetland ponies as their mascot, a ram for the Mercian Regiment; Irish Wolfhound for Irish Guards and Irish Regiments; horse drums for the Royal Hussars Empire and Royal Scots Dragoon Guards; an antelope to the Fusiliers Kingdom Regiment; and a goat for the Royal Welsh. Other British military mascots include the Staffordshire Bull Terrier and a pair of ferrets.
The Royal Guard of Norway adopted a king penguin named Nils Olav as his mascot on the occasion of a visit to Edinburgh by his regiment band. Penguins (very large) stayed at the Edinburgh Zoo and were officially promoted by one rank on the occasion of each subsequent visit to England by a band or other detachment from Guard. Sergeant Major, Olav, was awarded the Norwegian Service Medal and the Behavioral Medal at a ceremony in 2005.
In music
Some bands, especially in the heavy metal genre use mascot bands to promote their music. Mascots are usually found on album covers or merchandise such as T-shirt bands, but can also make appearances in live performances or music videos. A famous example of the band's mascot is Eddie from the British heavy metal band, Iron Maiden. Eddie is a zombie-like creature personified in various forms on all the band's albums, mostly singles and some promotional merchandises. Eddie is also known for making live appearances, especially during the song "Iron Maiden". Another famous example of the mascot in music is Skeleton Sam of The Grateful Dead. South Korean hip hop band B.A.P uses a rabbit named Matoki as their mascot, each rabbit has a different color that represents each member. Although the rabbit has an innocent image, BAP provides a difficult picture. Kanye West's hip hop artist used a teddy bear called Dropout Bear as his mascot; Dropout Bear has appeared on the cover of the first three studio albums in the West, and serves as the main character of Western music video, "Good Morning".
See also
- Car mascot
- Fursuit
- List of mascots (lectures, computers, commercial, sports, public services, television and movies, computers and video games, political parties)
- Lucky charm
- Mascot Hall of Fame
- National symbol, National personification, National animal
- Totem
- Costume
References
External links
- Mascot Database - database of searchable team names
- List of Free and Open Source software mascots
- The Benefits of Brand Mascot in Business
- The Benefits of Mascot Design in Brand Recognition
- Unique University Mascot and History Behind it in The History Tavern
Source of the article : Wikipedia
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