Recommendations for future research
Although there has been little research on human interaction with virtual characters or
mascots, Van Vugt et al. (2006), clearly Olympic mascot designers have attempted to
design mascots which reflect a techtronic age. The authors do suggest that the recent
crop of Olympics mascots fared reasonably poorly using a traditional semiotic
framework in terms of their ability to convey the spirit of the Olympic movement,
themes of a particular Olympic Games, and the distinctive geographical features,
history, and culture unique to the host city relative to some of the most successful
mascots in the past. However, the dearth of research on semiotic frameworks
specifically designed to analyze human interaction with virtual images makes a full
assessment of the effectiveness of current mascots somewhat problematic. Further
research in this specific realm is badly needed not just for Olympic mascot’s designers,
but for the global advertising and communications industry as a whole.