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From a marketing point of view the Beijing Olympic organizing committee so far seems brilliant in its positioning of the Games. There are no overt political slogans or themes. Just "One World, One Dream".
This slogan is plastered everywhere and after a week of seeing it on taxis, on buses and subways, I long for another sign: "Just Do It".
The symbolic choreography for the Olympics, charted by the committee, addresses a wide set of objectives. As carrier and amplifier of the Message the committee chose "FUWA". To the untrained eyes these fuwa or mascots look like cute, cuddly stuffed animals that a two-year old would suffer a tantrum for…a scene I witnessed on more than one occasion. So there is one domestic constituency happy with the choice.
But the two-year old and I are missing the full narrative: these cuddlies represent serious business in China. According to the official web site (http://images.beijing-2008.org) the mascots serve as a metaphorical extension of the five Olympic rings, and carry a message of peace and friendship to children around the world.
By further extension the mascots represent the playful qualities of little children. They embody four of China’s popular animals: the panda, fish, swallow and Tibetan antelope plus, of course, the Olympic flame.
Huanhuan the flame & Beibei the fish
(Joyce Careswell)
The fuwa embody the dreams and aspirations of people all over China, depicted in the various headpieces. The engaged soul will sense the five elements of nature: water, metal, fire, earth and wood, all rendered in a manner that suggests Chinese folk and ornamental art. Each fuwa signals a different blessing culminating in "One World, One Dream".
My guess is that there were poets, historians and anthropologists on the Beijing Organizing Committee along with Party officials. Few outside of China will understand all these association so the message must be for internal consumption. Even here the committee might be asking too much.
From a marketing point of view this symbolic family works very well. Whether you understand them or not, these mascots are worth stuffing into a suitcase -- I have. They will have the desired effect of softening the face of China to the outside world. And to the children in China Beibei will always be a very best friend.
Some might ague that this is ‘symbolic overload’ with the organizing committee trying to embrace too many constituencies. Perhaps…but the Games are an opportunity for China to market the "One World, One Dream" theme to a vast, diverse and sometimes fractious nation. And this is also high-stakes global politics rendered in anthropological garb. A country has a right to its own narrative, which China is writing for all the world to see. Look for the poetics of the mascots in the opening Olympic speeches.
Whether all this symbolic architecture works is another matter. Symbols and archetypes can be said to work when they resonate deeply within the individual and national psyche.
That story China will write.
Charles McCullagh
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