Animals have an immense importance in our lives. They create joy in our lives with their innocence and make us smile. No wonder, most sports mascots, military mascots and school and college mascots are animals. By choosing them as our mascots, we give these cute animals and their relationship with us a sort of tribute.
Importance of Mascots
A mascot symbolizes the vision and principle of the institution or team it represents. It builds and promotes harmony among the teammates or students by centering on positive behavioral aspects and features that the mascot signifies. A mascot enhances the morale and spirit of the school, college or team and prepares them to achieve objectives and goals set by their institution or club.
Our society has been formed of people belonging to several religions and ethnicities. A mascot fosters unity among these people of diverse origins. Mascots make us think on the same line, and thus help us make creditable achievements.
A mascot also acts as the integrating force during the major events in schools and colleges, particularly during sporting events that need unity among students as well as teachers.
Mascots are also often considered as symbols for guidance and good luck.
Popular Animals as Mascots
The US military has chosen Bald Eagle as their mascot, while the mascot of the USMC (United States Marine Corps) is the Bulldog.
Several schools, elementary as well as high schools, adopt animals as their mascots like bears, falcons, eagles, cougars, gators, lions, tigers and even dragons.
Display of Mascots
As a mascot is a symbol of pride for the institution, club or organization it represents, it is displayed in various attractive and fun ways. In case of schools and colleges, it is boldly displayed on sportswear and all memorabilia and year books. It is also displayed in the school or college office and in spaces where students may congregate as a common body, like sports ground, gym and also resting rooms.
But the most attractive display of mascots is perhaps at the time of sporting events when a costumed mascot represents the cheer of the audience for the team involved in the sporting event. Often they work with the cheerleaders and give an inspiring performance of funny pitches and acrobatic stances to motivate their team.
Cultural Significance
Mascots stand for the ideals of the institutions which they represent. Educational institutions are the base of the community and so, citizens staying around them look at them as heritage and honor of the town. In such a condition, mascots bring students together and act as a symbol of goodwill. They make students proud for being a part of something great. Once out of school, students often forget what their team scored in interschool football games; but they always remember their school and college mascots. Some people even are driven by their images for the rest of their lives. The mascots provide entertainment; but the memories, pride and driving force they provide are much more important.
Great Aides in Teaching
Mascots need not only be representatives of the institutions during sporting events. They can be great aides in teaching too, for both, children as well as adults. Children take mascots as their friend who is always kind to them and treat them lovingly, while adults are inspired by animal mascots. Studies have even found that mascots help us relax; they amuse us and distract us from everyday problems. Even parents can create their own mascots to teach their children at home and they will find a tremendous improvement in their children’s attention and understanding. Schools and teachers can also consider this fact seriously and introduce mascots which can be helpful for students in learning in a better and fun way. You just have to use your creativity and be imaginative about which mascot will be perfect for specific classes and age groups.
Making Others Remember You
Mascots are also very useful in making people remember you. This is often beneficial for businesspersons who want people to remember them, their company and their product or service. Therefore, mascots are called spokescreatures.
Spokescreatures or mascots don’t age, die or do any unscrupulous activities that may harm your reputation, unlike spokespeople. They are ageless representatives of your institution, club or business that make people remember you and develop a closer relationship between you and people.
Benefits over Human Representatives
As said earlier, mascots don’t age or die and are therefore are your ageless representatives. They also need no funds for maintenance; they don’t go on vacations or fall ill, neither do they get you anywhere in trouble. In fact, they can earn you money when sold as toys or collectibles.
How to Choose a Mascot?
Choosing a mascot for your school, college or institution is tremendously beneficial and so, you should choose an appropriate mascot. But the choosing process is not quite easy. There are so many animals you see around and you love them too. So, choosing one amongst them is often daunting. Let’s consider some things so that you can choose your perfect mascot.
Which creature do you think best represents the fighting spirit of your school, college, club or organization? Tigers, wolves, sharks or bears may be some examples of anthropomorphized animals that can represent the fighting spirit.
However, a mascot need not always represent the fighting spirit. There are many fine examples of peaceful creatures like ducks and geese that have worked best for companies to make them famous and memorable. For example, a 1957 insurance company AFLAC was finding it difficult to make people remember their name. They chose a duck as their mascot and that made a dramatic difference in their company identity, brand remembrance and business. The sweet singing bird mascot of Twitter is another excellent example.
Also when you want a mascot which you want to be fun and engaging for the crowd, like that for your sports team or club, choose fun animals as your mascots like dogs, rabbits or chipmunks.
You can also choose a mascot that has characteristics of your region, e.g. Rowdy, the mascot of the Dallas Cowboys and the New England Patriots’ Colonial mascot.
Animals have served mankind in many ways. And even their images, in the form of mascots, serve us best, to make our life better.