Thursday, May 20

Wenlock and Mandeville

Well, get used these strange alien dudes who are now, officially, the mascots for the 2012 Olympics joining the games' worst-ever logo. London is a world-leading media and creative city and here is the best we can come up with. Bunk. A mascot is supposed to be instantly accessible and stir national pride or, at least, offer a universal recognition of something, anything, relating to the host or the event (Is it possible, dear reader, that I am suddenly on the other side of a generation gap? The Olympics are, after all, largely a celebration of yuf. Still: I use the Internets. I have a Facebook account. I blog.) No, I think Wemlock and Mandeville designed by a bunch of guys who wanted to create something digital and modern - you know, for the iphone era - and will have excluded the vast majority of their audience. Under 20s will approve, I suppose, and this group a major reason for hosting the Olympics - to get the youngsters into sports and off the Big Macs - so maybe I am being too critical. Yet I wonder: what would Churchill think? (Now we just know that Lady Di would be euphoric). Photo from the Telegraph.co.uk