Shortage of Mascot - funny.

This article really made me laugh, especially the part about how surprised officials were with the popularity of the Sumi mascot. Most host Olympic cities seem to have one mascot, but Vancouver 2010 has three. I guess they figure they can make triple the $$ by producing 3 different ones. Or if you don't want to fork over the $90 to get all three, maybe at least one of them will be "cute enough" for you to purchase.

At the time of their release last month, my first impression was, they looked like Pokemon, a big brown ugly square paper bag, and the third one, Sumi (pronounced Sue Me - as in what happens if you even think of the Olympic symbol without paying royalties to VANOC) which I thought was slightly better than the other two. Although, after seeing previous Olympic mascots, I think these could be much much worse. Type in "olympic mascots" in Google and click on images to know see for yourself.

Okay, now to the funny part. They tested public reaction by showing these to grade school children in order to classify the marketability. I understand that children do have a lot of sway on what their parents buy, but last time I checked a second grader doesn't have the final say. Especially if your buying a souvenir for a friend or a Christmas present for a child. Now they are shocked that they are out of the Sumi because they assumed he wouldn't sell like the other two simply because some elementary kids told them so. I know if I were to buy a souvenir for someone it wouldn't be some $45 sasquatch in the shape of paper bag - it would be Sumi.

Which Olympic mascot do you like the best? You can see them at this site.