Advertising, merchandising, and Olympic mascots
Games mascots are promoted in public relations material and Olympic educational
programs. For example, many cities promote their particular Games through the
incorporation of mascots into their school curriculum in a wide range of subjects from
social skills to mathematics (Hackney Schools eportal, 2012). This may be incorporated
into other cities and countries’ curriculums and activities. Mascots are also used in the
Games educational material produced and distributed by the IOC. This has the effect of
pervasively distributing the commercial visual focal point for each Games through
non-commercial channels, which works to the economic advantage of TOP partners
and the IOC. This, however, raises questions regarding the role of such commercial
devices in an educational setting; an issue that sport sponsorship has had to address
previously. This is notwithstanding the fact that modern Games require significant
levels of funding, much of which can only be derived from commercial sponsorship and
endorsement programs following the funding difficulties and partnerships originating
with the 1984 Los Angeles Summer Games. One potential future source of both direct revenue and enhanced brand identity derived directly from the mascots of future Games
may be provided by the growth of advergaming, as discussed in the next section.