If someone asks you how do you describe Dony and Ami, the official mascots of the East Asian Games Hong Kong, what comes to your mind first?White vegetables? Octopuses? A pair of hairy teeth? If you find it difficult to determine, you're not alone. And it's not only that. Even if you guessed it right (it's actually lion and fire), that's not helping sales of these mascots. Shops have reported disappointing sales figures that paled in comparison with sales of Beijing Olympics merchandise.
David Leung Pak-keung, who designed the mascots, defended his work. "The mascots are lion and fire," he said. "The idea might be abstract, but they represent the spirit of Hong Kong people clearly."
Many people who were asked what do Dony and Ami stand for have various descriptions that stuck with common finding that they don't represent Hong Kong at all; heck, some are unable to distinguish who is the boy and who is the girl!
It's indeed unfair to pin the blame to the "ugly" mascots for low sales turnout at shops or even sales of tickets (I have a post at SEO Hong Kong related to this). SCMP reported on 30 Sep that "nearly 60 per cent of the 330,000 tickets for the East Asian Games have been sold, two months before the opening ceremony". Another reason could be that there has been lack of promotion in the part of organizers. The East Asian Games in December may have been marred lack of publicity (schools and taxis have now been deployed) so I posted things to do to help promote it in the city in April.
While it is too late to replace the official mascots, it's not too late to generate sales as the Games is still about two months away. There are ways that can be done to prevent further disappointment in the cash registers.
Photo credit: RJ Prescott
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