A mascot is a brand's talisman. Some mascots, like the Michelin Man, have been around for over a century. But every mascot, even a brand new one, has its own, and often very interesting, story. We'll tell you 10 interesting facts about famous mascot mascots.
10. Snoopy is NASA's safety mascot.
After the disastrous failure of the Apollo 1 mission, NASA took on a major responsibility to rehabilitate its image. The agency approached Charles Schulz, creator of the Peanuts comic strip, and asked permission to use Snoopy as a safety mascot.
It was a tough call for Schultz, because if one of the new Apollo missions failed, the reputation of his beloved character would also be at risk. But according to his son Craig Schultz, Charles believed that if astronauts could risk their lives, he could risk his characters.
After Snoopy became the NASA mascot, many new comics about his space adventures appeared. One of the original sketches of astronaut Snoopy with his fishbowl helmet became the prototype for the silver pin. It has been worn by American astronauts since 1968 during their missions. Upon their return, they present the pin as a token of gratitude to the people who contributed to the safety and success of these missions.
The Apollo 10 mission adopted Snoopy as its official mascot. Before the spacecraft launched, the crew stroked the mascot's nose as a sign of good luck. Even two modules of the spacecraft were named after Peanuts characters. The Commander's Service Module was named Charlie Brown, and the Lunar Module was named Snoopy.
9. Android Mascot
Another interesting fact about mascots is related to the cute green robot that artist Irina Blok created for Google in 2007. And the source of inspiration for her, according to various versions, was:
- Pictograms on the toilet door.
- A character from the 90s game "Gauntlet: The Third Encounter".
- R2D2 from Star Wars.
The Block's design was simple enough to become iconic, attracting a much wider audience than the developer community it was originally aimed at.
After its release, the cute Android mascot started popping up everywhere with all sorts of weird variations, including ninjas, pirates, and even cats. One of the funniest pieces of art featured the Android mascot biting the famous Apple logo.
Google's mascot doesn't have an official name. For a while, it was called Andy, possibly after Android creator Andy Rubin. The Android team simply called the robot Bugdroid.
8. MGM Lion Mascot
Nowadays, with the widespread introduction of computer graphics, it is difficult to believe that the lion that roars at the beginning of the films of the Hollywood film studio MGM is actually real. But it is. And it is not the same lion!
In fact, there were a magnificent seven lions who "served" MGM. The seventh lion was a real veteran of the film industry. He has appeared in MGM films from 1957 to the present.
But the most interesting fate is that of Jackie the Lion. He participated in the filming of the title sequence from 1928 to 1956. And he starred in more than 100 films, one of which was the original "Tarzan".
Jackie is also a lion who survived. He has survived five major catastrophes. Two of them were train wrecks, one was an earthquake, and the fourth was an explosion in the studio itself. During the fifth catastrophe, Jackie was on a plane when the plane crashed and crashed in the Arizona desert. Jackie and the pilot stayed there for almost four days, surviving on the last of the water and a few sandwiches. This earned the lion the nickname "Lucky".
7. Ronald McDonald – McDonald's mascot
Funny to some, scary to others, the clown is one of the most famous mascots in the world. He is known as Ronald McDonald. In his book, The Joy of Living, legendary TV host, actor, and comedian Willard Scott stated that he created the character at McDonald's request. He even played the role of Ronald on a regular basis from 1963 to 1966 and intermittently until 1971.
But he was later replaced because McDonald's was concerned that Scott's excess weight would damage the brand's image.
6. Penguin for Linux OS
Whenever someone talks about Linux OS, the image of a penguin immediately comes to mind. This funny mascot named Tux was created thanks to Linus Torvalds, the creator and founder of Linux, and his "penguinitis".
Torvalds once joked about being bitten by a penguin and said that the bite had caused him to become infected with "penguinitis." He even added that the disease made a person stay awake at night and develop a great love for penguins.
This gave Larry Ewing the idea to create Duck as the brand's mascot. The name was first used by James Hughes, who said it was an abbreviation for (T)orvalds(U)ni(X).
5. Michelin Man - the mascot of the tire manufacturer Michelin
One day, the founders of the tire empire, Edouard and Andre Michelin, came across a stack of tires of different sizes, which gave the impression of a person. All that was missing was a pair of hands.
Years later, French cartoonist Marius Rossillon showed them an image of the king he had created for the brewery. When the Michelin brothers saw the image, they asked Rossillon to replace the king's image with a man made of tires. Rossillon came up with a poster in which the tire man (called Bibendum) drank a drink made of nails and broken glass. The poster read: "Now it's time to drink! For your health, Michelin tires drink up obstacles." Because of this, Parisians, who are not without a sense of humor, nicknamed the Michelin man "the road drunk."
Do you know why the "tire man" is white? Because tires were originally gray-white or light-colored. Only after 1912 did tires become black, when carbon black was added to rubber as a preservative and strengthening material.
4. Sad dog – VKontakte mascot
The author of the logo, which depicts a sad dog of an indeterminate breed, is the creator of VKontakte himself, Pavel Durov. He created it during a charity auction for children from an orphanage. Later, professional artists began redrawing the dog.
And in addition to the actual role of a mascot, the dog, who was named Spotty, played another good role. 100% from the sales of merchandise with her went to help orphanages and children's homes.
And in 2018, during the large-scale battle between Roskomnadzor and the Telegram messenger, Spotty became a symbol of “digital resistance”
3. Alien - Reddit symbol
Reddit co-founders Alexis Ohanian and Steve Huffman created the code for the "Front Page of the Internet" — Reddit — in just three weeks. Ohanian personally drew the site's logo, a baby alien. And he wanted to call the site "Snoo," short for "What's New?"
But the domain name Snoo had already been purchased by someone else. Ohanian and Huffman contacted the domain owner, but he refused to sell it. So the friends decided to temporarily call the site Reddit (and as they say, there is nothing more permanent than temporary). And they compromised by simply calling their alien mascot Snoo.
2. FireFox – the mascot of the browser of the same name
Who do you see in this picture, a fox or a panda? Oh, there have been many a spear broken in internet battles over this topic! The very name Firefox or "fire fox" is a literal translation from Chinese, (火狐). This is what the Chinese sometimes call the red or small panda.
But this famous mascot looks very much like a fox, so decide for yourself who is in front of you - a cute red panda or an equally cute little fox.
1. Mi Bunny – Xiaomi mascot
One of the most famous mascots in the world is the mascot of the Chinese corporation Xiaomi, a white rabbit in a fur hat with a red star and a red tie. It seems that all he needs is a nuclear reactor and a bear next to him, and it would be a great logo for some Russian company.
In China, the hat worn by the Xiaomi bunny is called the hat of Lei Fen, a Chinese orphan raised by the PLA who posthumously became a model for national propaganda glorifying altruism and loyalty to communist ideals.
In Chinese mythology, the white or moon rabbit works day and night on miracle potions that cure illnesses and grant longevity.
So the Xiaomi hare is an active, devoted to communist ideals, altruistic pioneer mascot, always ready for new exploits.
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