Mascots and advertising
12/03/16 05:13
There are lots of things about contemporary culture that I don’t understand. I grew up in a town where our high school sports mascot was an old sheepherder (really). We didn’t have an oversized costume or anyone dressing up like the old herder. There were a few cartoonish pictures of the old guy and his pipe painted on the walls of the gymnasium and someone was always able to come up with a suitable drawing for the high school yearbook every year, but that was about it. We moved to Chicago four decades before Clark, a “young, friendly Cub” was introduced as the official mascot of the Chicago Cubs. Clark got his name from the street where Wrigley Field is located (at the corner of Clark and Addison). The connection seems nice to me since the church I now serve is on Clark Street. Well, it isn’t actually on Clark Street. The neighbors across the street are in the 1300 block of Forest Hills Drive, but the church address is 1200 Clark Street - a story that probably could take up its own blog.
Anyway, virtually every professional and college sports team now has a mascot portrayed by a person in what appears to be a very hot costume.
Since my 50th birthday, I have been the owner of a gorilla costume, so I’m pretty aware of how hot those things can be. Most of the sports mascots have oversized heads, which must make wearing the costume awkward and tiring.
Still, I sort of understand a sports mascot. Their role is to entertain and stir up the fans, to encourage cheering and in general make the arena, park or stadium a place with lots of enthusiasm for the home team.
So I have no idea why a local income tax preparation service pays teenagers to parade up and down in front of their building in a sort of makeshift Statue of Liberty costume. The costume doesn’t really make the person look like the Statue of Liberty. There is a green crown with spikes and a long green gown with a sash. I think that in years past there was also some kind of torch or lantern held by the character, but I haven’t noticed it much this year. In fact this year the characters have frequently foregone the crown, which makes the connection with the statue of liberty even more of a stretch of the imagination. I try to recall my teenage years, when I had the usual amount of questions about body image, developing sexuality and typical teenage angst. I think having a job parading up and down the street in a green dress would have been humiliating. I’m pretty sure there is no way I would have agreed to the job, even if it had been available. There are some things I won’t do for money. Besides I could get paid for sweeping out the feed warehouse and tipping cans into the back of the garbage truck, both preferable in my mind to the jobs offered to some of the teens in our city.
There is the guy with the big arrow who dances in front of the pizza place, and a few others who are trying to attract interest in various businesses, but the one who garners the most sympathy from me is the guy in the dress in front of the income tax preparation service. I keep wondering how much it would take for him to be able to quit that job.
Another form of advertising that doesn’t seem to have much of an impact are all of the various flag-like items that appear along the street. They are usually made from sailcloth mounted on fiberglass rods or poles and often have a single word or short phrase attracting attention. Some simply say “SALE.” The other day I drove by a local plaza that has a bank on one corner. Placed around the bank on two corners were flags advertising another shop in the plaza. They said, simply, “Vapors.” I think that the store being advertised sells some form of electronic cigarettes. The signs, however, made no sense to me as I drove by on the street. What do vapors have to do with banking. Do they have the ability to sniff out potential customers who might default on loans? Are they describing the interest they are willing to pay on a CD? Are they hinting that doing business with them will make your money evaporate? I couldn’t help but think that if I were working at the bank I’d be tempted to take down the flags, or at least move them farther away from the bank.
Someone told me that our city makes the distinction between permanent and temporary signs in its sign ordinance. I don’t have the desire or the patience to read the ordinance, but it makes sense that it might be so. After all a construction company placing a temporary sign to tell what is being built and advertise their company is different from a business erecting a permanent lighted sign. I did learn when we updated the sign on the corner of the church yard that the ordinance makes the distinction between a symbol and a sign. The sign that gives the name and phone number of the church is a sign. Our cross is a symbol. The cross is also a much better way of giving directions to the church. By the time you can see the sign, you know where the church is located. The cross is visible from several blocks away. If I had to choose between the two, I’d opt for keeping the cross. But I like crosses anyway.
So if our church were to hire a teenager to parade up and down the street to attract people to our building, what costume should we provide? Most pictures of Biblical patriarchs and prophets show relatively long beards. Paintings of Jesus usually picture him with a beard. I guess our costume should include a beard. We could provide a robe, I guess. Robes seem to recall bible pageants.
But a robe might be suspiciously like a dress, when you think of it.
I’m thinking we should stay out of the mascot business for now.
Anyway, virtually every professional and college sports team now has a mascot portrayed by a person in what appears to be a very hot costume.
Since my 50th birthday, I have been the owner of a gorilla costume, so I’m pretty aware of how hot those things can be. Most of the sports mascots have oversized heads, which must make wearing the costume awkward and tiring.
Still, I sort of understand a sports mascot. Their role is to entertain and stir up the fans, to encourage cheering and in general make the arena, park or stadium a place with lots of enthusiasm for the home team.
There is the guy with the big arrow who dances in front of the pizza place, and a few others who are trying to attract interest in various businesses, but the one who garners the most sympathy from me is the guy in the dress in front of the income tax preparation service. I keep wondering how much it would take for him to be able to quit that job.
Another form of advertising that doesn’t seem to have much of an impact are all of the various flag-like items that appear along the street. They are usually made from sailcloth mounted on fiberglass rods or poles and often have a single word or short phrase attracting attention. Some simply say “SALE.” The other day I drove by a local plaza that has a bank on one corner. Placed around the bank on two corners were flags advertising another shop in the plaza. They said, simply, “Vapors.” I think that the store being advertised sells some form of electronic cigarettes. The signs, however, made no sense to me as I drove by on the street. What do vapors have to do with banking. Do they have the ability to sniff out potential customers who might default on loans? Are they describing the interest they are willing to pay on a CD? Are they hinting that doing business with them will make your money evaporate? I couldn’t help but think that if I were working at the bank I’d be tempted to take down the flags, or at least move them farther away from the bank.
Someone told me that our city makes the distinction between permanent and temporary signs in its sign ordinance. I don’t have the desire or the patience to read the ordinance, but it makes sense that it might be so. After all a construction company placing a temporary sign to tell what is being built and advertise their company is different from a business erecting a permanent lighted sign. I did learn when we updated the sign on the corner of the church yard that the ordinance makes the distinction between a symbol and a sign. The sign that gives the name and phone number of the church is a sign. Our cross is a symbol. The cross is also a much better way of giving directions to the church. By the time you can see the sign, you know where the church is located. The cross is visible from several blocks away. If I had to choose between the two, I’d opt for keeping the cross. But I like crosses anyway.
So if our church were to hire a teenager to parade up and down the street to attract people to our building, what costume should we provide? Most pictures of Biblical patriarchs and prophets show relatively long beards. Paintings of Jesus usually picture him with a beard. I guess our costume should include a beard. We could provide a robe, I guess. Robes seem to recall bible pageants.
But a robe might be suspiciously like a dress, when you think of it.
I’m thinking we should stay out of the mascot business for now.