The face of Brisbane 2032?
Some thoughts about our Olympics mascot. Also: a tale of sporting redemption? And: do you remember a time before Myer and David Jones?
The 2032 Brisbane Olympics needs a mascot and, like everything else to do with the Games, the clock is ticking.
The problem, as I see it, is that the mascot can’t be too good. Why? Because they can’t use an existing character — so, no Bluey or Matilda — and whatever they come up with will never be seen again after the Games.
Under IOC rules, mascot are meant to be attached only to the Games and used for no other purpose. So, they are essentially intended to be disposable and forgettable.
Can anybody, without the assistance of Google, name the Sydney Olympics mascots? Don’t say Fatso the fat-arsed wombat, because he was created by HG Nelson and Roy Slaven for their hilarious TV commentary and was never an official mascot.
This raises the question: why would any character designer waste their best efforts on something that they can’t monetise into the future and nobody will even remember?
Nevertheless, animator and art director Catriona Drummond, who drew backgrounds for the first season of Bluey, has put her hand up to do the job.
“If we can’t get Bluey as the mascot, why not the next best thing, which would be the people who designed Bluey?” she told the Brisbane Times.
Good luck to her and to anyone else who wants to give it a go for the good of the Games.
Meanwhile, I asked various AI apps for some suggestions. The ChatGPT and Bing Create (Dall-e) versions are above, and here’s what Gemini came up with:
A stumper
“Is this a tale of redemption or hypocrisy?” So asks a former colleague who points out that a former sporting star who was dropped from a national team many years ago after a brawl outside a nightclub, and subsequently acknowledged having a problem with alcohol, will soon be promoting their own wine brand at an event in Brisbane.
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Keeping up with David Jones
I’ve been thinking about David Jones, only I recently read that the retailer would be offering Qantas points under its new loyalty scheme.
When I was a kid, my Mum had a David Jones charge card and we’d go in there occasionally when we wanted something fancy.
When I was a very young adult, I had a friend who worked at David Jones at Toombul Shoppingtown and I’d pop in occasionally to see her.
But that was a long time ago and I really can’t remember the last time I entered a David Jones store let alone bought anything there. Even when I’ve wanted to make a major purchase and buy a quality product, it’s never occurred to me to look there.
Is that a problem for them or am I the kind of customer they don’t want?
Do you remember what the old David Jones store was originally called? And do you remember some of the other long-gone city department stores that predated Myer and DJs?