MUSIC MASCOTS

WHAT IS A MASCOT

According to Oxford Languages, a mascot is "a person, animal or thing believed to be a lucky charm, playing a significant role, especially within communities and organisations. Their greatest use, in fact, has historically been in armies or sports teams. In these areas, superstition is a way of regaining control over reality and the outcome of uncertain events, and at the same time, the creatures chosen as mascots unite groups of people in the affection of a familiar figure. Mascots, however, are also a powerful communicative tool and have been exploited by design in various fields. Mascots give a face to abstract and impersonal entities; they immediately communicate the personality and attitude one wishes to convey. Mascots are closely linked to the world of entertainment: taking their cue from comics and cartoons, mascots create engaging storytelling in which people can identify and empathise, and by recalling the protagonists of children's cultural products, they strike a nostalgic chord and trigger familiar memories. Often the use of flesh and blood animals, either drawn or anthropomorphised, or familiar fantasy creatures, is a way of immediately linking to certain specific characteristics of that species or creature, communicating a clear message. It is therefore effective to convey affection and familiarity with a dog, strength and courage with a lion, grace and lightness with a unicorn. Mascots are often linked to a more childlike and sympathetic communication, think of Hello Kitty, Mr Peanuts, Ronald McDonald, but the mascots of adult products such as Camel, Playboy or Iron Maiden's Eddie the Head show that these characters have infinite facets.

HISTORY OF MASCOTS

The popularity of the word 'mascot' derives from the 1860 work La Mascotte by the Frenchman Edmond Audran, in which a little girl for good luck is fought over by various peasants for her powers. In Provençal, in fact, the term 'mascot' meant spell or witch, and was used by gamblers to refer to their amulets. The term was picked up a few years later by American baseball magazines to indicate the animals and lucky charms of teams. In branding, the first mascots were born in the late 1800s. Large industries had broken the relationship between the local craftsman and the community, and therefore needed to give a more familiar face to their products, hence the emergence of characters such as Quacker Oats, Uncle ben or Aunt Jemmina. As visual communication and representation techniques evolved, post-war mascots became more animated and complex. In Italy, Carosello provided many examples of animated mascots such as Calimero, Angelino or Carmencita, inspired by the cartoons of those years. In the 1960s, inspired by the Muppets, mascots proliferated in sports as masks during events and games. The first such sports mascot was Mr.Met of the New York Mets, but also in the 1960s came Benny the Bull of the Chicago Bulls, Willie the first World Cup mascot, and Schuss, the first Olympic mascot. Sports mascots became, therefore, an indispensable element of every major team, especially in America, and of major sporting events such as the Olympics or world competitions, also inspiring the birth of many brand masks. With the advent of new techniques such as 3D modelling, the development of the Internet and the emergence of new entertainment and social networking platforms, mascots have become increasingly animated, interactive and multimedia, developing more complex and engaging storytelling, becoming cultural icons and protagonists of memes. Today we see an increasing use of this tool in many areas, in a revival of past cultural products linked to nostalgia and affection for familiar characters from the past.

01 - Bibendum, Michelin's mascot, created in 1889, in an Italian poster from 1960. 02 - Mr. Met, New York Mets' mascot, created in 1964, was the first costume mascot in sports history. 03 - Ciao, Italian FIFA World Cup mascot in 1990, designed by Lucio Boscardin. 04 - Pipo-Kun, yuru-chara della polizia di Tokyo created in 1987, with two members of 374th Security Forces Squadron in Yakota, 2021. 05 - Duo Owl, Duolingo's mascot, created in 2014.

MASCOTS IN MUSIC BRANDING

A music project wants to convey emotions, ideas, and stories. Branding is an artistic tool that helps to better communicate the artist's message in parallel with the music. Sometimes the artist tells his or her story without mediation, in a direct and honest way, other times he or she creates fantastic stories, fictional characters, costumes and masks. With the development of the innovative branding of the great British rock bands, between the 1960s and 1970s, mascots began to be used by names such as The Grateful Dead, Led Zeppelin, Black Sabbath, Pink Floyd, Iron Maiden. These characters take their cue from ancient illustrations, paintings and horror comics, give a unified face to multi-member bands, and unite fans in the adoration of easily identifiable icons. Hard rock and metal make the mascot, together with the logo, a fundamental element of the band's identity. In the 1980s and 1990s, mascots expanded to other genres, such as punk, hip-hop and electronic music. In punk, we see more ironic and crude approaches, with characters such as the Circle Jerks' skunk kid representing the band's fans. In the British rave culture of the 1990s, many independent labels had their own mascots, thus unrelated to the individual producer, DJ or artist, but always linked to the label's identity. Rappers, on the other hand, developed different identities and alter egos, sometimes represented through fictional mascots, such as Snoop Dogg, MF DOOM and Qausimoto. With the advent of the Internet, 'liquid music' and social networks, gender aesthetics became more mixed and less identifiable, the use of mascots followed new techniques and arrived in the mainstream with examples such as Zorotl by Eiffel 65, Dropout Bear by Kanye West or Sunshine Kitty by Tove Lo. Despite not being considered a mascot, Gorillaz provides an example of incredible character development and fictional storytelling. Virtual bands often develop very in-depth visual imagery, and in Japan, examples such as Hatsune Miku, K/DA, and Mave show us all the possible developments these characters can have.

MASCOTS IN MUSIC BRANDING

Within the branding of a music project, different types of fictional characters can be identified, and the intent of this research is to define what mascots are among them. A mascot is defined as a character, be it an inanimate object, an animal, a human or a fantastical creature, that accompanies the musical project serially or participates in it, thus remaining unrelated to the physical persons that make up the musical formation. A clear example is Eddie the Head, a kind of Zombie accompanying Iron Maiden albums and performances, or Goz, who participates in the music of Shaka Ponk. When, on the other hand, the character is a direct representation of the artist or the band members, it is called an 'avatar', as in the case of Thasup. Sometimes the character is a costume, a disguise or a 'mask' worn by the artist, as in Kiss or Slipknot. In other cases, however, it is the musical formation that is totally fictitious, i.e. made up of characters designed and unrelated to real musicians: this is the case of virtual bands and virtual idols, such as Gorillaz or Hatsune Miku. This archive catalogues and collects only mascots, in order to map the phenomenon more precisely and provide a research and learning tool for all those designers who want to approach the practice of mascot design for musical projects. Through the creation of filters and categorisation, it is possible to critically explore the archive, finding connections, for example, between periods, techniques and applications, and also highlighting mascot designers, who are often little mentioned and undervalued.

06 - Cover of "Holy Diver Live" from 1983 with Murray, Dio's mascot. 07 - Vinyl of "Dread By Dawn EP" of Silver Fox, Three Scars Records, 1993. 08 - Circle Jerks' mascot, "Skank Kid" designed by Shawn Kerri. 09 - Cover of "Graduation", Kanye West's 2007 album, designed by Takashi Murakami. 10 - Gorillaz.