The Power of the Mascot

by Michelle Douglas

Reading: The Fire in Fiction by Donald Maas

Watching: Pillow Talk (Doris Day)

Listening to: Cher (don't ask)

Making me smile: the jasmine in my backyard

Ever since I was a little girl and accompanied my dad to watch the local footy team, I have been aware of the power of a mascot. My local football team’s mascot was a Goanna. I had a stuffed goanna that duly came along to every football game and was waved madly in the air whenever my team scored. I became very superstitious of my mascot. If he was ever forgotten and left at home, I was convinced my team would lose the game.

But mascots aren’t just for sporting teams. Let’s fast forward many years to when I started working in a call centre for a bank. My husband made me my very own mascot. Here’s a photo:

We called these guys The Complaints Department. They sat on my desk at work, and during challenging phone calls they could usually make me smile. Some of my work colleagues took to borrowing The Complaints Department when they were having a bad day. See? The power of the mascot.

It appears that man has used mascots since the dawn of time. Ancient tribal people would dress up in the likeness of animals to incite goodwill from them in the hope of ensuring successful hunts and good harvests. And there’s no denying that mascots have personality. There is even a Mascot Hall of Fame for US sporting teams – created to honour mascots who have positively impacted their communities.

So it only seems right and reasonable that I should eventually find my very own LoveCats’ mascot. This is his picture:

He’s perfect! Orange is my favourite colour, plus he’s carrying a book bag. I took him all the way to the Melbourne conference to sit on the table during our LoveCats’ panel. Unfortunately, I forgot to take him out of my room—oops. But he was there in spirit. :-)

Although he has personality, my LoveCat mascot doesn’t yet have a name and he most certainly needs one. So I’m throwing it out to you, gentle reader. What do you think would be the perfect name for my LoveCat? And just to entice you all to play, I’m offering one of my backlist books to whoever comes up with the best name.