That's exactly what happened when Gritty was launched! I remember that for about 1 day, Philadelphians on social media were like "why did the Flyers launch this weird mascot?" After that day, people outside Philadelphia started making fun of it and Philadelphians started to defend it against foreign enemies. The hometown devotion to the mascot was born.

@nate_storm

Жыл бұрын

i’m sure the same thing will happen to the Seattle Kraken’s Buoy the Troll

@matthewmoskovitz7573

Жыл бұрын

Can confirm I would defend Gritty with my life and I know he would do the same for every Philadelphian

@salvadorromero9712

Жыл бұрын

If only the rest of the world had started dragging Santa Claus, Philadelphians would have greeted him with a big hug

@therealCrazyJake

Жыл бұрын

I love Gritty and I’m not from Philadelphia, nor do I even like sports! He just looks fun and is shaped like a friend!

@Mullet-ZubazPants

Жыл бұрын

Philly changed it's mind when the Penguins, on their official twitter, took a shot at Gritty, and Gritty responded back ... “Sleep with one eye open tonight, bird". The threat of pre-emptive violence would earn Philly's esteem forever

JJ another video you could make would be the history of Cars in America. From the early days of Detroit ruling American car market to German cars gaining popularity, to the huge rise of Japanese cars in the 80s, to the modern era of Tesla,Rivian and Lucid once again being American companies making it largely in America

@themeapster5974

Жыл бұрын

It would be nice it he talked with the RegularCars review guys. Weird humor but their jokes are spot on when speaking about cars.

@MKIVGTI1.8

Жыл бұрын

That seems far too broad and detailed of a topic for just a single video, although I would love to see some type of car content from JJ at some point.

@mdj.6179

Жыл бұрын

What about American cars that are manufactured in Canada?

@kaylamarten3872

Жыл бұрын

Being from Michigan we have history classes dedicated to learning about fords factory line. Kinda fail to bring up the antisemitism and that shitty 40 hour a week or else you die thing

@alexanderfo3886

Жыл бұрын

To say really everything about this, one would probably need a whole channel or at least a series, but I would definitely like content about this topic from JJ.

I know you focus on American and Canadian culture, but a video on Japanese Mascot culture would be interesting because everything has a mascot there, not just companies and sports teams, even cities have mascots.

@yogurtcat.9607

Жыл бұрын

I second this! I've been to Japan a couple of times, there is a mascot for almost anything

@wolfpackjew

Жыл бұрын

I would gladly trade every state and city flag for mascots.

@IronCurtaiNYC

Жыл бұрын

@@wolfpackjew Well, New York State already has a mascot, and it's the Statue of Liberty.

@wolfpackjew

Жыл бұрын

@@IronCurtaiNYC good point. And I suppose Washington and Illinois use George Washington and Abraham Lincoln in that same way.

@IronCurtaiNYC

Жыл бұрын

@@wolfpackjew California, Texas, and Florida have so many to choose from. I guess for California, it could be the Golden Gate Bridge or the Hollywood sign; for Texas, it could be the Alamo or Longhorn steer; for Florida, it could be the Sun or a palm tree.

The Canadian government should make a mascot that represents what’s “Canadian enough” for bill C-11.

@gabrielferreira6427

Жыл бұрын

A lobbyist?

@maxwellsings

Жыл бұрын

that's literally JJ lmao

@johnberney6563

Жыл бұрын

@@maxwellsings It should be either JJ himself or a Beaver overdosing on Poutine.

@WHOWHENWHYY

Жыл бұрын

Dude 😂😂😂

@user-ed4ed5ju8r

Жыл бұрын

a racist maple leaf that undersleeps to post canadian propaganda online

NC State is actually a good pick to show how what started as a school dog turned into a need for a mascot. Because they are the Wolfpack, State got a real wolf for football games thinking it would be a good idea. Well it turns out wolves are anxious creatures and they would try to hide and cry when crowds would cheer. So enter wolf costumes. - Fun fact: State would actually try numerous times to have a live Wolf mascot in the 1900s but wolves always provided problems until they found “Lobo III” In the 70s. A perfect wolf which fans loved because of the amount of times it howled during games. Where did they find such a crowd friendly wolf? Well it turned out Lobo III was actually a coyote. A discovery that fans accepted until they had a losing football season and turned on the “fake wolf” that other teams would make fun of. State wouldn’t have a another live mascot until 2010. 21st dog breeding allowed for dogs that are social like dogs while looking almost exactly like wolves. This has led to a retirement of the “Lobo” line of live animal mascots and the start of the “Tuffy” line of “wolves” which currently entertain state fans at Carter Finley stadium.

@jacksonperry8283

Жыл бұрын

go pack

@RandomPerson-lk6cb

9 ай бұрын

Pack 2027 🗣️🗣️

My city (Vigo, Spain) has as its unofficial mascot the "Dinoseto", a topiary shaped like a dinosaur. It appeared one day almost by chance in the middle of a roundabout as decoration, but was pulled down the very same day, as it had been placed by mistake, and an uproar took place demanding for it to come back. It was later placed in the middle of one of the city's landmark areas and became an instant hit with visitors and locals alike. Nowadays there's lots of merch with its depiction, a couple of other dino-topiaries have been created and it's now a mascot for some of the city's campaigns.

@ueblay

8 ай бұрын

Thank you for sharing this! I'd be mad if such cute decor was immediately taken down, too

Your words about sympathy toward amateurish and imperfect mascots resonated with me and my relationship with indie-games, music and films... I've always thought, that it's because you can easily imagine your buddy showing you something, that he worked hard in his garage over multiple weekends... And you aren't, to say, impressed with the quality of work, but it's endearing to see his efforts, and you are grateful, that he opened up to you with his passion... So many warmth feelings between two of you, looking at that hideous green pepper...

I think it's actually rather fascinating how Mascots have gone from this unambiguous stable of advertising to this very niche practice only used by toy companies or fast food chains. Really shows us how constant criticism of the marketing to kids and a move to be seen as more professional have shifted the way we view them. Although I have to say I actually miss the times when everyone had a mascot. Like you said there's a lot of charm in a quickly drawn cartoon mouse on the side of a local cheese shop or an anthropomorphic pig on a butcher shop window.

@AileTheAlien

Жыл бұрын

There's still mascots for serious products, though. Mr Clean, Geiko the gecko, the Michelin man - all products that children have no use for! :)

@maxis2k

Жыл бұрын

Sadly, I think the move away from cartoon mascots has more to do with big companies (especially Disney and McDonalds) trying to ditch the kid friendly image. And instead of doing some introspection on their part, admitting they were marketing too much to kids, they just blame animation as a medium. So their answer was to kill animation and do a hard 180 to making only super edgy live action movies/commercials. And they've been stubbornly sticking with this mentality for over two decades. Even when other companies have released animated mascots/products and it's proven successful. But hey. Far be it from me to want Disney and McDonald's to succeed... Go ahead and keep pushing your bad commercials. I'm lovin' it.

@Alex-fv2qs

Жыл бұрын

@@maxis2k McDonald's is promoting that Minion-ish Happy Meal thing really hard

@maxis2k

Жыл бұрын

@@Alex-fv2qs Yeah. In just the last year, they've done a 180 and brought out that "adult happy meal" and tried to revive all their old mascots. But even then, they're not really doing it for good reasons. It's blatant nostalgia pandering. As well, they had to change the mascots to have new weird and ugly designs. For reasons I can only theorize over. But I assume it's to again try to disassociate their old mascots from the kiddy image. "Look guys, we brought back all your old favorites. But now they're weird and edgy!" What's even the point trying to appeal to gen x nostalgia by spitting in their face? You got me. But that's how media in the west has been rolling for the last 20 years.

@benjaminwatt2436

Жыл бұрын

@@maxis2k Yeah, back in my day...haha, i always feel like an old fart in these discussions. not that i disagree, it just comes across as ironic that we complain about older generation and then criticize the knew as soon as our generation is out.

Actually, mascots are kinda coming back here in Chile. Basically, if your product is healthy enough, or if you state that it’s the “original recipe”, you can add in the mascots.

There’s always the fun thing where a company has a mascot who’s always losing (like the Trix Rabbit) or a sort of “anti-mascot” that they use to depict their competitor (like John Hodgman’s PC in those Apple ads) who the public end up feeling sympathy for

@KasumiKenshirou

Жыл бұрын

In the 80s there was an ad campaign where kids could vote on whether or not the Trix Rabbit would get to finally eat a bowl of Trix. Kids voted that he should get to have some Trix, so there's at least one commercial where he finally gets to have some. I remember one stand-up comedian talking about those "I'm a Mac / I'm a PC" commercials, and I agreed with what he said. The "Mac" guy seemed like a hipster douchebag whereas the "PC" guy seems more straightforward and looks like someone who actually knows about computers. Apple users strangely loyal to "their" company than PC users. In college I would always hear from "Mac evangelists", as they would actually call themselves, that Macs don't get viruses and didn't crash all the time. Then one time I was in the school's computer lab, and the Mac I was using crashed while using Adobe Premiere. When I pointed out to one of these people that a Mac just crashed, they said, "no, that was Adobe's fault, so it doesn't count". (In reality, Apple strictly controlled which hardware got to run their OS, whereas anyone could run Windows or even another OS on whatever hardware they wanted, so PCs had more variables to contend with, which could lead to more instabilities, but also more flexibility for their users.) Another person at the school was surprised when I mentioned that I used a Firewire cable to connect a Mini DV camera to a PC. (Yes, this was a really long time ago.) This person, was genuinely surprised (and not making excuses like the previously mentioned person) and thought that only Macs were capable of using Firewire. (Technically, there was some trademark think where only Apple products were allowed to call this interface "Firewire", and everyone else had to use the harder to remember "IEEE 1394" (which I couldn't even remember and had to look up).)

@liimlsan3

Жыл бұрын

One of the most heartwarming things I ever saw go viral on deviantart was some teen who drew her blue fox fursona offering a bowl of trix to the rabbit. "I just thought he should have it, finally."

Mexican here. Despite mascots being banned in the packaging of "junk food", we have plenty of them inside and outside of the food industry. Like the supermarket chain Bodega Aurrera having a luchador mom called Mamá Lucha who is "the champion of low prices", or the chain of pharmacies Dr. Simi, who has a old and big doctor as the mascot. You can find someone in a suit of Dr. Simi dancing outside some local, and even in recent years there is a trend to gift plushies of Dr. Simi to touring artists by throwing them into the stage. Back in the food industry, the Bimbo bakery company has the Little Bear Bimbo, a little baker white teddy bear that is quite beloved by the people, and the ice cream chain La Michoacana having a girl in a traditional michoacan dress having an ice cream.

@pablocasas5906

Жыл бұрын

Spanish-speaker here, though not Mexican, but lately I've been seeing tons of memes about Dr. Simi. Also, I found out that the voice actress who voices Mamá Lucha voiced characters like kid Trunks in DBZ and Mokoto Kusanagi from Ghost in the Shell

@georgedoty-williams2085

Жыл бұрын

But the thing is Mamá Lucha and Dr. Simi aren't designed to appeal to children

@MasterGeekMX

Жыл бұрын

@@georgedoty-williams2085 we mexicans are built different, hermano.

@ComradePilas

Жыл бұрын

@@MasterGeekMX we built different, wey

@georgedoty-williams2085

Жыл бұрын

@@MasterGeekMX Us Mexicans. But anyway, I just wanted to point out that having mascots for certain stuff while banning them for children's products isn't hypocritical

An old cereal called Quisp had a weird alien-looking guy with a propeller on his head. There are mascots for public service campaigns as well, like Smoky the Bear for forest fire awareness or the old "Give a hoot, don’t pollute" owl. It’s interesting how we went from animals to all sorts of strange mascots. The Spanish word for pet is "mascota"😀✌️

@JJMcCullough

Жыл бұрын

Amazing. I believe in French the root comes from a word relating to witchcraft or something.

@Annie_Annie__

Жыл бұрын

Most local electric companies for a long time would have mascots (usually a lightning bolt, lightbulb, or firefly) that taught kids about power line safety or reminded adults to call the city before digging in the yard. Those have always fascinated me.

@KasumiKenshirou

Жыл бұрын

You can actually still get Quisp, but you have to order it online. Re: "the old 'Give a hoot, don’t pollute' owl": That was Woodsy Owl. They redesigned him at one point, changing him from a cute round character to basically a human body with an owl head, which looked terrible. I'm not exactly clear when this new design happened or if they're still using it, but it looks/looked terrible.

@StephanieJeanne

Жыл бұрын

@@KasumiKenshirou Haha! Yes, Woodsy!

@seanmyster6

Жыл бұрын

@@Annie_Annie__ As a Minnesotan, the one that most readily comes to my mind is Reddy Kilowatt, a cartoon man with a body made of red lightning bolts, and a head with sockets for ears and a light bulb for a nose.

The Kellogg soil brand mascot was designed by Walt Disney as a gift after the company advised him on how best to save the plants he had in his jungle cruise ride. Disney had previously used a lot of synthetic fertilizers and soils without organic matter that resulted in poor displays of sick and dying plants and Kellogg advised him to use organic heavy amendments to buffer the plants against heat stress. Apparently it worked so well that Disney cranked out their little mascot as a thank you

@dsxa918

Жыл бұрын

Where I come from, 'cranking' relates to starting the original cars, or masterbation.

JJ you should make a video talking about where the most common English sayings (like "He's got some skeletons in his closet") and how their meanings have changed overtime.

This might be a bit different than your other mascots, but I love the mascot of Anne of Green Gables for Prince Edward Island. Despite her character not being made to sell anything other than the books about her, the province of P.E.I. has completely adopted her as a mascot. Local brands will put her face on their packaging as a simple way to convey their locality. On top of all the tourist shops that are brimming with dolls and postcards featuring this character. You can even sometimes see someone dressed up as Anne during community events or parades. One of the most interesting thing about this is that it has essentially become a publicly owned mascot. The government does not own her likeness, nor has she ever adorned any official public document. But it is quite clear the role she plays in selling island culture. The fact that her character is a person puts her on a different level than other regional iconography such as the maple leaf or a lighthouse; one that makes her more akin to a mascot than a partiotic symbol.

@nedisahonkey

Жыл бұрын

Well that's basically all that island is know for right? Plus early confedration of Canada stuff and a long bridge that isn't really aesthetically interesting.

Several years ago there was a controversy in Chicago about a painting called The Last Pancake Breakfast. It was a last supper scene featuring a host of beloved American product mascots with Aunt Jemima presiding. I think it was meant as a commentary on how much we get attached to these icons as real characters.

As a professional mascot costume character performer I’m pretty excited you decided to cover this topic.

@elijahculper5522

Жыл бұрын

Have you ever been Gritty?

@dsxa918

Жыл бұрын

It's a slippery slope, from there to grimey, m8

@PuppetsByPalmieri

Жыл бұрын

@@elijahculper5522 sadly no 😔

There's a pizza restaurant in Gainesville called Italian Gator, and that weirdly drawn mascot of a gator with a chefs hat and Italian mustache led me to choose them over the competitors more than I care to admit

Ever since I discovered the idea of Olympic mascots a couple years ago, I found one mascot that I really liked and that is Vučko, the mascot of the Sarajevo'84 Winter Olympics. There is something so simple and graceful about the design of Vučko, he kind of reminds me the classic cartoon characters made by companies like Fleischer & Disney from the 1920s-1940s.

@JJMcCullough

Жыл бұрын

Agree!

Watching the video as a study break and then seeing the building I'm literally sitting in (at 2:09 ) is a huge trip

@JJMcCullough

Жыл бұрын

Amazing!

The most interesting mascot to me is probably the Duracell bunny. I was in the UK a while back and saw a commercial for Duracell with a pink bunny and I became super confused. Where I live, Energizer uses a pink bunny while Duracell doesn’t have a mascot. Turns out the Duracell bunny came first and then the Energizer Bunny came along to parody it. Due to legal reasons the Energizer bunny is only seen in the United States and Canada while the Pink Duracell bunny is seen elsewhere. In other words if you ask some one “what battery company uses a pink bunny” you can get two completely different answers depending on where they are from. 🐰🥁🇺🇸🇨🇦

@JJMcCullough

Жыл бұрын

Wow that’s wild

@TomJohnson67

Жыл бұрын

What's more, I've heard people in the UK refer to "the Energizer Bunny" even though it doesn't even exist here!

@KasumiKenshirou

Жыл бұрын

A similar thing happened with the Cadbury Bunny. In America, the Cadbury Bunny is a real bunny that says "buck buck buck" like a chicken. In the UK it's a "sexy" female cartoon bunny. I was very confused when I first heard people from the UK talking about the Cadbury Bunny. I thought they were one kind of pervert, but they were actually a different kind of pervert.

@patriciov.catricura3074

Жыл бұрын

Strange, here in Chile the Energizer mascot has always been the battery itself (Mr. Energizer), the pink Bunny has been always associated to Duracell

I don’t know if this counts as a mascot but the current county I live in was the longtime home of Peanuts Creator Charles Schulz. This has lead to the his characters being used as pseudo mascots for various local government institutions, nonprofits, and agencies along with the airport (which uses Snoopy in his flying outfit). You will find various statues of the characters all around the county and a museum dedicated to Schulz as well.

@JJMcCullough

Жыл бұрын

I think that’s a somewhat distinct phenomenon of “place known for exactly one thing.”

@Conradd-O-Lantern

Жыл бұрын

I've heard that the hometown of Garfield's creator Jim Davis also uses Garfield and Odie in a similar fashion.

@infamoussphere7228

Жыл бұрын

that would be similar to how in Finland, Moomins are everywhere. There are moomin mugs and plates (of course), but also moomin tea, moomin biscuits and moomin juice. Everyone has moomin mugs in their house at the very least. I can't think of an equivalent ubiquitous set of characters from my home country (Australia.) The closest would be Snugglepot and Cuddlepie, who are anthropomorphized gum blossoms, but they're very old fashioned nowadays and certainly aren't ubiquitous to the point of everyone having a piece of snugglepot and cuddlepie merch in their house.

I never thought I would hear anyone talk about Beaver Lumber. That store has such a Canadian story and deserves to be remembered more.

As someone who lives near Philly, I can tell you we LOVE Gritty. He's a huge hit.

You should've mentioned the Pink Panther! How the cartoon character got a second life as an insulation mascot and wound up on the van of your local tradesperson.

@shinyagumon7015

Жыл бұрын

The Pink Panther also started out as simply the mascot of the film series before making his leap to becoming an actual.

@Gmackematix

Жыл бұрын

Here in the UK he appears on packets of pink wafer biscuits.

You have no idea how much people love the Buck-ee's mascot, Buck-ee the Beaver here in Texas, I see someone wearing a shirt featuring him almost every single day. People who have driven through or visited Texas have told me that it almost feels like worship with how we even have statues of him.

@srdxxx

Жыл бұрын

@@CallieMasters5000 I can't agree. Buck-ee has a large and loyal fanbase as a mascot, while Whatabuger is a (very popular) brand.

Brutus the Buckeye, although created just for The Ohio State University football team, has since become a really defining character for the state of Ohio as a whole. I dare to say that almost everyone here owns something Brutus related, especially if they've been to OSU. He's about as synonymous with the OSU name as the actual name/"brand" itself, if not moreso. He's loved even among those who don't care about college football or sports in general, such a "beloved" character

@Yallan

Жыл бұрын

(Of course, as a Columbus'ite I'm definitely not biased at all 😉)

@pghrpg4065

Жыл бұрын

I have a picture of myself sitting on a bench with Brutus.

@davidmehling4310

Жыл бұрын

In October I saw what I thought was an inflatable Santa in front of a house in Fremont Ohio. Turned out to be a Brutus the Buckeye

@JJMcCullough

Жыл бұрын

Do kids have him at their birthday parties?

@jeffnicholas6342

Жыл бұрын

@@JJMcCullough most definitely as a sanctioned Ohio State representative celebrating a Buckeye’s birthday would be included in their day to day duties

The comment you made about the Victorian era and post war era is very interesting. I think within the next decade we will be able to trace back cultural significance to the 90’s and early 2000’s as well. The computer has changed our society indefinitely.

@JJMcCullough

Жыл бұрын

It’s true, that could be a good idea for a future video

@tannerwilson4843

Жыл бұрын

I have been seeing a bunch of merchandise from 90’s animation recently. Shows like early The Simpsons, early South Park (recently celebrated their 25th Anniversary) A BUNCH OF Beavis and Butthead (especially with how well done the recent revival was done). No joke, I saw someone wear Beavis and Butthead Pajamas recently at a coffee shop for example. Other shows like Daria I’ve also seen a surge of merchandise.

@benjaminwatt2436

Жыл бұрын

@@tannerwilson4843 I think that has to do with the fact that people who have money are in their 30-40s and those same people grew up in the 90s. Companies are aware of this, so they are just pandering to their audience.

Interestingly, my highschool mascot had fallen out of use by the time I was going through school, so we only had legends of it being a tasmanian devil which you could only find hidden as a logo on old school merchandise.

Love seeing Mr Wuf in the thumbnail! GO WOLFPACK!

I love how JJ can just jump from talking about the intricacies of Canadian politics one video to another video talking about mascots the next while still keeping it entertaining

JJ loves mascots so much he made himself one in his profile pic! ☺

i actually have a habit of getting attached to website mascots in particular. my favorite ones are the newgrounds mascots (the logo guy is named john, pico was on the rating icons until 2016) and the deviantart mascot fella :) my other favorite one is ptt era charles entertainment cheese

I always love the mascot for a local pancake place. His name was "Chip: The Pancake Prince". He was just a pancake with noodly cartoon limbs and gloves, eyes were connected into one blob akin to Sonic the Hedgehog and had the goofiest grin you can think of. He wore a crown tilted to the side of his head(?) and held a spatula scepter. The commercial for that restaurant played constantly on many kids channels in my area for a few years. So often that the jingle that accompanied it still gets stuck in my head randomly from time to time.

‘Big Lug’ from the Lansing Lugnuts (minor league baseball) definitely has a ‘Gritty’ sort of mascot vibe and is one of my favorite mascots of all time

One of my grandfathers was a professional illustrator working for an advertising firm back in the mid-20th century. And throughout my entire childhood I remember being told that he had created the character King Ding-Dong for Hostess. It was later clarified to me that he was not the artist who first drew him, but rather he was part of the team that designed him. I don't know how successful of an illustrator he was, but I know that he had been retired for several years by the time I was born in 1990.

School mascots have always been so interesting to me, like a physical embodiment of the school's culture itself. My elementary school's mascot was a cardinal named Keslar and we had a whole song and dance dedicated to him. It feels like a good representation of our school spirit! pls share your school mascots id love to hear them :)

jeez man, I dunno how to put it into words, but you have a deep emotional insight into inner-workings of society and have such an awesome characteristic type of charisma. I've never heard someone speak so well put about the pop culture and its impact on our psyche. You not only present so well the dry facts, but also instantly follow that description with how that fact affected the world around us, which makes it so compelling to listen to and also actually makes us learn something both on factual and emotional level. Idk if anything made sense, I'm tripping balls right now. Gotta get some sleep, bye

Actually in Japan they're really common. Like every single prefecture has its own mascot maybe even more than one. And I remember the video you mentioned something about the charm of it being amateur, which is actually part of the appeal with these local ones because of because each of them are designed usually by competitions of local people celebrating what they love about the places that they live in

@williamswonderland3636

Жыл бұрын

Oh and look at that. He mentioned it in the video

Seeing all the Vancouver memorabilia while hearing you talk about mascots made me think of the 2010 Winter Olympics and its four mascots roughly based on real animals and with vaguely indigenous names/aesthetics. Comparing them to the very zany and almost sci-fi/corporate-looking mascots of the 2012 Summer Olympics, it makes me wonder what the whole point was, trying to make a memorable icon for a relatively short event that repeats every four years and is already ubiquitous in our culture.

@JJMcCullough

Жыл бұрын

It’s a good point. The fleeting relevance of an Olympic mascot cannot help but make them feel cheap.

@freakishuproar1168

Жыл бұрын

What amazes me is just how unremarkable Olympic mascots tend to be. It's like, they had FOUR YEARS to come up with something!

J.J., if you’re ever in Iceland their discount grocery store, Bónus, has the ultimate awkward, bizarre lazy-eyed mascot pig. It’s amazing. Worth looking up!

@freakishuproar1168

Жыл бұрын

Reading your description, I just had to look that up. He's marvellously dopey looking xD (thank you for bringing him to my attention)

I feel like the blockbuster bat that they had in some stores in the late 2000s was super underappreciated even by the corporation. Can't even find a picture of him online today.

Its funny to me how mascots can be seen so loved by some and absolutely hated by others. When you mentioned the flyers mascot Gritty it made me think about other mascots in the league. Mascots like Gritty and the Al the octopus are so loved by most hockey fans. I think it's because both feel authentic to hockey culture. Hockey fans are very traditional and are very protective of the sport and its culture. Al the Octopus is the Detroit Red wings mascot because it is a call back to the old fan tradition of throwing live a live octopus on the ice for good luck (Yeah Hockey fans are weird). I also think this is why Gritty was so accepted an beloved by hockey fans, he was different and weird and his personality at games felt authentic and his appearance went well with philly sports culture( look at the Phillie Phanatic). Just like philly he was loud, brash and entertaining. He also reminded me of Youppi! the Montreal Canadiens Mascot. Youppi! like Gritty is an unexplained monster with fur. But he is loved by fans and has a historic tie to the culture and the city. A Mascot that was received poorly from hockey fans was the Mascot the Seattle Kraken just released. Seattle is a brand new franchise and just introduced there new mascot...Buoy? (no idea how to pronounce that) Buoy is a troll, with blue hair and kind of looks like a life size troll doll toys from the 90s accept it is wearing clothes. Fans absolutely hate this Mascot and find it too creepy, too weird, and too corporate. It has no charm like gritty or connection to the city or the team like Al the octopus, or Youppi have with their teams. It just a weird unrelated mascot. It looks fine. It looks cute enough like a mascot should. Yet people hate it, maybe it's too corporate for the traditional hockey culture. Myself im a New York Rangers fan. The rangers are a very old and traditional team. They never change their Jerseys or colors or logo and have kept a large following of die hard fans. And sticking with that tradition The rangers are the only team in the league without a mascot. No cartoon, no guy in a costume, not even a live animal (except that one puppy that sometimes wears a rangers jersey). We just don't have one. Part of me would like to see a mascot get added, and some people have made efforts to make the rangers a mascot. But the true fan in me likes being the only team without a mascot. Almost as if a mascot would lower the respectability of this nearly 100 year old hockey team. Although maybe it's a New York thing because the Giants, Yankees, Knicks and Jets all have no mascots. I think sports fans in general are an interesting group to look at when talking about American culture as a whole because of how passionately they protect the teams traditions and the sports culture as a whole. For example you can't expect a new mascot to receive the same reaction from sports fans as you might from the general public If anyone actually reads this thanks for reading my rant. And if JJ is reading this, Hi love the content.

Here in New Zealand, I have seen several mascots for all kinds of different things: car mechanics, plumbing, sports equipment, etc. But they're almost always the same creature: a kiwi. I mean it makes sense why we have so many things with a kiwi mascot, they're the national bird and the most famous internationally. But I always felt that it makes a lot of them kinda generic since none of them stand out in a significant way, at least in my eyes. Come to think of it, one bird mascot that stood out to me was when the cereal brand 'Hubbards' introduced a mascot of their own: Kahu the Kea. I still remember that old logo that featured Kahu eating a berry and that there was also a competition for the naming of said mascot, which is why he's named 'Kahu'. I think it was around 2012 when they retired the mascot (don't take my word for it), but they still reference keas on one of their granola blends that features raspberries (love that granola BTW). Miss you, Kahu!

One interesting thing about mascots in America is that some iconic cartoon characters have come to exist _primarily_ as mascots, despite not starting how that way. Most notably Fred and barney flintstone. They started off as iconic cartoon characters in their own right, and to an extent they still are, but they are also closely associated with a brand of cereal which is the primary use of the characters today.

@JJMcCullough

Жыл бұрын

Yes that is a good insight. Supposedly the first example of this happening was with the comic strip character Buster Brown, who endorsed a shoe brand and is now mostly associated with shoes, and not his Victorian era comic strip.

@SchwarbageTruck

Жыл бұрын

Don't forget the vitamins. It's funny to see children growing up today have no idea what the Flintstones is even about taking Flintstones chewable vitamins

Fandoms always seem to spark a weird "possessive" instinct in people and I would argue that mascots fall under this umbrella. It'd help explain why more local and niche mascots still work and why more abstract and less defined mascot characters resonate more strongly as you can project more of yourself on to them.

Was not expecting to see Tuffy in a JJ thumbnail but will not complain. Great video and go Wolfpack!

When Mexico banned mascots, a lot of people were sad about the Osito Bimbo (Bimbo little bear) no longer appearing on the packaging of Bimbo pastries anymore. Many people grew up with him on TV and I even had a stuffed toy version of him. I also remember other kids having toys of him or patches of him on their clothes. It really shows you the power of mascots over children. Also, it's funny that children in the 40s didn't recognize Santa Claus. I guess it took Coca Cola to make Santa their mascot to get him on children's minds again.

@diegog1853

Жыл бұрын

Yeah... I get that it is sad, but that is kind of proves how influential they can be. Companies making people (particularly children) attached to something that is not good for them.

One of my faves is for the British small supermarket chain called Netto. Very nice dog with a shopping basket. Always made me feel like it was a lot more homeley and a smaller business than it was.

@CharmCorgi

9 ай бұрын

We also have Netto in Poland. it's also one of my favourites.

My school Texas Tech mascot was originally based on the Spanish inspired architecture with a matador as the mascot but changed due to a random newspaper article about the Red uniforms we wore hence becoming the Red Raiders. Though we still use the Matador for everything

Thank you thank you thank you for making this video! I've been doing my own research about mascots for the past few years and have had trouble tying together the disparate threads of sports mascots, brand mascots, etc. This is a really great historical synthesis.

Great video as always J.J., the variety of topics you discuss on your channel never ceases to amaze me!

Another great exploration into American Material Culture, J.J.! I'll have to remember this video for use in some of my classes. The student's would love it.

JJ should be the mascot of KZread.

@modmaker7617

Жыл бұрын

KZread should turn the play button into a minions ripoff like McDonald's with the Happy Meal.

@caustichyena5906

Жыл бұрын

JJ is too smart to be the mascot of youtube. It would be a patcularly vapid vlogger or huckster

I was wondering why the Michelin Man wasn't covered in the video since he is one of the oldest mascots still in use. So after doing a bit of research, I just found out today that he is French.

I am kind of surprised by the awkward Japanese mascots but also not because they really seem to like the 'underdog who always works hard' narrative there. That seems to also be the type popular in the Japanese idol industry,cute and bumbling and imperfect idols are much beloved there and fans encourage them as opposed to the Korean idol industry where the idols have to be perfect at everything and every mistake is heavily scrutinized. Interesting to see the different reactions to similar stuff in different cultures.

@kadennelms8419

Жыл бұрын

This reminds me of an American Dad B plot. Tuttle was hugely popular in Korea as a reality show. Now I understand why.

@TheAlexSchmidt

Жыл бұрын

I wonder if it's just that idols have been around longer in Japan, so the public may just have gotten tired of the edgeless idols in a way they haven't yet in South Korea.

Holy shit that Gritty pratfall on the ice is one of the most naturally accidental looking falls I've ever seen. Dudes a pro!

I find this topic relatable to graphic design and how we become numb to good graphic design because it's everywhere now. When we see an ad that is purposely made poorly it actually stands out more and gains more attention.

So I'm quite sure I've watched just about all of your videos at this point. No matter how obscurely Canadian they are! However, this video is my absolute FAVORITE! So many legit "lol" quips and jabs. But as usual very informative on the subject. Being a massive sports fan and lover of junk food cereals....so I know me some mascots! Haha Cheers from New Bedford, MA man!

@JJMcCullough

Жыл бұрын

Aw that’s awesome!

Great 'tent as always. I had no idea some of these mascots are quite old, specifically the cereal ones. Interesting example how cultural icons are shared among generations of people without people realizing it.

as a mascot nerd and a longtime viewer, this video was an awesome surprise!!! theres something fascinating about the crossroad between marketing, art/design, and pop culture osmosis. even small mascots can end up having a lot of influence and recognition, just by design alone i live in the denver area, and one of the things i would consider a local mascot to an extent is I See What You Mean. its a statue of a blue bear peeking into the denver convention center, but its a very noticeable and fun presence in the city!! my only thing is that i dont think ICWYM isnt marketed *enough*. the bear has a lot of special symbolic meaning (its a brown bear and blue, both important traits to the Utes tribe), so i think if it was just like, on more merch or branding or even more of a highlighted art piece around the city (theres surprisingly a lot of art in downtown denver), ICWYM could be much more of a impactful mascot of denver and colorado as a whole, i think

When I was a kid my school mascot was Grover from Sesame Street. I'm not even kidding. They stole a popular muppet character and renamed him Ocean Grover, based off my elementary schools name of Ocean Grove. In middle school we had four houses based around crocodiles of all things. There was the Caimans, the Crocs, the Salties, and the Gators. Our school slogan was "crocs rock!" with a generic green crocodile mascot. High school we had a wolf head for the sports team called the Timberwolves, based off the school name of Timberline.

great video as usual! i am from philadelphia a city that has been kinda blessed with some iconic mascots like the phanatic and gritty maybe even swoop we once had hip hop the bunny for the sixers i liked it. as you can imagine the liberty bell is often used as a logo in this area as well as a cartoon version of ben franklin.

When I was a kid growing up in central Texas there was a regional pest control company called ABC Pest & Lawn, whose mascot was this cute cartoon aardvark that I always liked. They also had a super catchy jingle that still gets stuck in my head from time to time. They've since changed their name to ABC Home & Commercial Services, which doesn't roll of the tongue nearly as well, but they kept the mascot and the jingle (even though its meter no longer fits the name of the company, but that's neither here nor there).

The local mascot I have a strange fondness for is a nameless blade of grass with a little face and arms, always flexing his muscles. He was for a lawncare company and I used to drive past a big billboard with him every day while carpooling to work with my friend. It became an inside joke for us that he was some sort of all powerful badass. Our appreciation for him was ironic at first but clearly no longer is

I cut the roof of my mouth just looking at that box of Captain Crunch. The dog mascot from the dog treats, "Snausages" & "Snausages In a Blanket" was one of the very basic cartoon drawing that we use to make fun of from 1984 because of the very fact it was so well...basic! Nearly 40 years later my friends and I still fondly remember it.

I found Joe Camel super creepy as a child. I really couldn't bear to look at any merchandise that featured him.

In St. Louis the mascot for the local Jesuit University and it's associated all-boys high school is the "Billiken" a "good luck" creature that appeared in the dream of a teacher/illustrator that I don't know much about personally. But besides being a professional illustrator's creation, it is also a being very close to the original definition of a "mascotte" as well! Also there's a high school in the town I went to college in with a mascot called the "kewpies" which is a reference to some kind of old doll craze? Like a "kewpie doll" used to be a thing iirc? Oh btw it's a huge headed scary baby doll, and the mascot is also often depicted naked lol. Very strange. Columbia-Hickman is the name of this second school, and St. Louis University is the name of the first institution (the high school is called SLU High )

@birgbirg111

Жыл бұрын

Hello Papa Jugashvili

@dasdiesel3000

Жыл бұрын

@@birgbirg111 hello comrade

Who could forget Bert the Turtle from the 1951 PSA film "Duck and Cover", helpfully explaining to children what to do in the event of a nuclear strike.

I just suscribed after watching like 6 of your videos, you are a great mediator between knowledge about cultural and material modernity and mass audicences, including me. Keep the good work!

Very interesting video as always JJ, the underdog theory gave me something to think about.

mascots kind of existed before hand as patron saints, be it the saint of a city or of a profession

I always learn so much from your channel, thank you!! Your subject matter is interesting and your perspective comes across as measured and thoughtful ✨👌

There is actually a very old mascot for the city of Hagerstown, Maryland named "Little Heiskell" who adorned the city hall weather vane. He is emblematic of a Hessian soldier, and back in the 1920's had a children's book and merchandise in the form of iron doorstops

Thanks for making another awesome video, JJ! This is my favorite style of content you put out; analyzing historical and cultural tendencies of western phenomena, and their context in the world at large.

@JJMcCullough

Жыл бұрын

Thank you, my friend! These are some of my favorite videos to make as well

@sempersuffragium9951

Жыл бұрын

@@JJMcCullough Hope you make a video about what was added to the american cultural canon in 2022, like you did for the past two years

@JJMcCullough

Жыл бұрын

@@sempersuffragium9951 way ahead of you! I’ve been taking notes for it all year.

@sempersuffragium9951

Жыл бұрын

@@JJMcCullough Good ol' JJ never letting us down!

I had a Dutch girl live with me for a couple months. She was a bit confused about mascots, as there are not as many in Dutch culture at all. School mascots were the most confusing of them all to her, for some reason

@seanolaocha940

Жыл бұрын

I've always been bewildered by American school mascots too.

Love to see my NC State Wolfpack getting love

Great video! I remember when I was a kid, my local gas-station had a massive bird statue, and I loved it

JJ - I am a career mascot performer with several Major League teams, and I serve on the executive board of the "Mascot Hall of Fame" in Whiting, Indiana ... I found this piece to be quite informative and entertaining with a fun perspective, too. I will share this with my peers. Excellent job (As always)

It's an interesting story of how a penguin became the mascot for Linux. Linus Tarvolds (creator of Linux) was on vacation in one of the Scandinavian countries and was bit by a penguin. Thus Tux the Linux mascot was born.. )^_-)/

@taleseduardolima

Жыл бұрын

Hahahaha, penguins in Scandinavia!

@geotechmore8855

Жыл бұрын

@@taleseduardolima Yeah that's the story from Linus.. )^_-)/

Me and my friends have this thing called the funky lil guy phenomenon The weirder, dimmer, and more akined to a pothead you make a character, the more people will like it. A good recent example of this is with Jerma

When I was in undergrad my University paid some outside marketing firm millions of dollars to come up with a mascot. The school wound up choosing...none of the above, then tried to market it as "We don't need a mascot." But since all things vintage must make a comeback there's now a push to bring back a Bison mascot the school had in the 60s.

Absolutely banger video JJ. I mean I love all your stuff but this one is a brilliantly insightful look into the fascinating world of postwar consumerism.

Hey JJ. Speaking of Mascots, would you ever consider doing a series of shorts based on talking about some of the random toys, posters, statues, etc. that you have in the background? A quick what it is and where you got it. There's some stuff back there that I can't quite identify, and i find it distracting not knowing what it is whenever i watch your videos ;)

@JJMcCullough

Жыл бұрын

That’s a fun idea!

once again JJ making me want to know the answer to something I never thought I needed to know

The University of Central Florida is formally the Knights, but has a lesser known secondary mascot called the Citronaut which is literally an anthropomorphic orange wearing an astronaut helmet. The mascot was originally introduced in the 1960's and was meant to represent the major industries of Central Florida at the time, namely citrus agriculture and NASA. The university distanced themselves from it for decades but it has recently come back into fashion so heavily that there is a growing sentiment among students and alumni to make the Citronaut the primary mascot and get rid of the Knights.

@PixelatedH2O

Жыл бұрын

The Citronaut is the second best anthropomorphized food mascot I've ever heard of. The best is the Fighting Artichoke, of Scottsdale Community College, in Arizona.

Mascot story of my own: A long time ago someone on a high school sailing team I was on found a Listerine Bottle floating along in the river. He swung the boat around, picked it up, and cleaned it. He brought it back to the club and placed it in our Bathroom, where it has been residing as our mascot ever since. Purple Listerine is now a joke amongst the club.

My favorite mascot is the "Jreg" mascot on the J.J McCullough channel

Wally the Green Monster, the mascot for the Boston Red Sox, is a great example of a weird, slightly grotesque creature creating a sort of bond with consumers for his weirdness. He's basically the baseball cousin of Gritty.

Great video JJ! Very interesting topic to dive deep into. The whole topic of making characters purposefully flawed sounds like an interesting conversation in itself!

The Kite Man for Pacific Power in Portland, Oregon was really weird and fun. It was a guy inside a kite who would talk about kite safety around power lines.

I may not always align with your political views but watching your videos is worth it for the journey (or dare I say evolution) of your hair style

@JJMcCullough

Жыл бұрын

I don’t know why people always have to say things like this. You are not obligated to agree with everybody’s political views. That’s not expected in this life.

@Loeffellux

Жыл бұрын

​@@JJMcCullough I get what you mean because the "I don't agree with everything you say, but ..." is found under so many of your videos. But that's why I used that same format for my comment's joke. It was not meant to be taken seriously.

*Even with the current dip in Nfts I'm still happy with my portfolio of $87,420 built from my weekly NFT minting , I'm having my 4th withdrawal in 10business days.☺️*

@briangreco292

Жыл бұрын

I'm glad I got into NFTs when I did because it’s been a turning point for me financially, been my best decision so far

@alanfoss8990

Жыл бұрын

It won't be a surprise if NFTs overtake both the stock and crypto market in going bullish 🤑🤑

@nickd.2253

Жыл бұрын

I have made over $47k flipping nfts, bought some very nice rare NFT collections recently with great value.

@jacquelineday9942

Жыл бұрын

Flipped my $4800 (4eth) valued floor price NFT to $69k using my auctioneer Mr Frank's helps. He is an expert NFT creator.

@Isabella..hiogbo

Жыл бұрын

@@jacquelineday9942 I'm surprised you mentioned auc. Frank's name here, I recently bought some rare Ape NFT Collections from with his help including zero charges and gas fees.

This is why I love your stuff. Both an original and interesting idea fill of charm.

There's a big franchise of every handyman services in Australia which is called "Jim's." Jim's Plumbing, Jim's Electrical, Jim's Tiling.. Jim's Dog Wash. All of them have the face of Jim just giving a big happy smile, which falls under what you'd call "Honest Mascot." Jimspotting is a common pastime for people, where people take pictures of Jim-franchised vehicles and collect them, it's kind of like a more urbanised birdwatching. For more niche stories, In my primary school they had made a mascot naming competition for a Bilby character to promote reading with a naming competition. We had to read one book each time we wanted to add a new name. Me and my friend tried to game the system to add as many names as possible to win it. Me and my friend were obsessed with the character and free fan art of it, given enough time I am CERTAIN I could redraw it.

Cus funny sentient

Two mascots that I always found endearing were for two of my hometown's hockey teams. The Dayton Gems were a minor league hockey team back in the 60s and 70s that garner a lot of nostalgia around here. The mascot was just a regular looking dude named Blade that was drawn in a very 60s cartoon style. The first time (of three) that the team was disbanded was after a gas explosion in the arena. In 2012, a team called the Dayton Demonz started playing at the same arena. Their mascot was Bonez, a skeleton, and it was a sort of a joke that Bonez was the skeleton of Blade after the gas explosion. Sadly the arena has been torn down and it's unlikely that Dayton will ever have a professional hockey team ever again. Although the Demonz were only around for three years, those games were easily the most fun sporting events I've ever attended.

Excellent topic! Love it. Thanks JJ

Me and my brother were obsessed with MukMuk, the mascot sidekick from the 2010 olympics when him and me were 7 and 11, repectively. He was just so adorable! There was a video of him going to cheer on the other mascots in their olympic events, and makes this weird "oooo!" sound when he watches Miga speed skate. Anyways, we visited Disneyland and my brother was imitating that sound while watching the fireworks and my parents were like, "What the heck are you doing!?" After we explained the backstory it became an inside joke that you make that sound when you see or someone mentions fireworks

Great choices on Tile town and Beaver Lumber. I love looking through old yearbooks and seeing strange mascots from the 50s for electrical companies or pizza places. My favourite defunct mascot is Pizza Pieman from Victoria. Still have a coin from them.