A mascot comes in all shapes and sizes, although not all of them ended up being lovable, and thus, didn't succeed as one. Based on observation, the most successful mascots tend to be animals, and one could glance at the Olympics to see that the most well-liked mascots tend to be animals while the less-liked ones are usually not animals (e.g.: Izzy, the metal drop twins from London 2012). Obviously that does not include the Olympics, for we have animal mascots that endured. Characters like Sonic the Hedgehog (SEGA), Mickey Mouse (Disney) and Snoopy (Peanuts). To cover another base, human characters are excluded as well because there is a notable amount of successful human mascots. Mario is the most obvious example, but there are also the numerous cute girl mascots in Japan that encompassed this example. For the sake of completeness, this includes monsters that are very animal-like, because they embraced the appeal of being an animal while being original. For this type, examples include Pikachu (Pokemon), Doraemon and Agumon (Digimon).
What I am basically getting at is that if a mascot is not animal-like, there is a smaller chance that they are lovable, probably because they are not as relatable. However, that's not to say that there aren't any. There are a couple of examples that come to mind:
Dragon Quest's Slime monsters are an atypical type of mascot because they are clearly based on a water drop, but they inspired an entire monster species, right down to be called "slimes", which is to say that it's understandable why the Slime is chosen as the mascot. Kirby requires little explanation, but the gist is that he's a mascot because he can do anything, even over their other characters like Lolo.
To make it less stringent, mascots that are based on microorganisms and plants can be included in addition to the object-based ones, so for example, if you want to go there you can consider Sunflower from Plants vs. Zombies as one. What are other examples of object-based (including plant-based) mascots?
Thank you for reading.
What I am basically getting at is that if a mascot is not animal-like, there is a smaller chance that they are lovable, probably because they are not as relatable. However, that's not to say that there aren't any. There are a couple of examples that come to mind:
Dragon Quest's Slime monsters are an atypical type of mascot because they are clearly based on a water drop, but they inspired an entire monster species, right down to be called "slimes", which is to say that it's understandable why the Slime is chosen as the mascot. Kirby requires little explanation, but the gist is that he's a mascot because he can do anything, even over their other characters like Lolo.
To make it less stringent, mascots that are based on microorganisms and plants can be included in addition to the object-based ones, so for example, if you want to go there you can consider Sunflower from Plants vs. Zombies as one. What are other examples of object-based (including plant-based) mascots?
Thank you for reading.
