The mascots have been unveiled, here they are, Wenlock and Manderville. These mascots have been created out ofchildren and family focus groups, to connect young people with sport.

Lord Coe commented, “we’ve created our mascots for children,” and gee, doesn’t it seems like the kids started to designed them, colour them in and then just abandoned  them.

Of course it is important for people to be reminded of the history of the Paralympics and Olympics but, apart from their names, is it really clear that these two represent anything?

No doubt, the London Olympic Committee (Locog) has tried hard to avoid the controversy which surrounded the unveiling of the Games logo in 2007. Where there was widespread criticism of the £400,000 emblem designed by the Wolff Olins agency.

Backed up with extensive research there must be a reason why we have blobs as mascots!

The two characters are named after the village of Much Wenlock in Shropshire - which hosted a precursor to the modern Olympic Games in the 19th Century - and the birthplace of the Paralympic Games, Stoke Mandeville hospital in Buckinghamshire.

Each has small details, which are meant to represent London and the games including; Wenlock’s Olympic ring bracelet, and Mandeville's head reflects aspects of the three crescent shapes of the Paralympics symbol. Then there is the supposed homage to London taxis as each mascot has a yellow light on its head.

Now, those cynical people out there, may suggest that a yellow taxi light is not representative of a Black Cab, and in fact could be any cab in the world – but who are we to judge?

The choice of the silver and gold colours is of course the two winning colours, but considering the Olympic rings are so bright, why choose such bland colours to entertain the main target audience – children!

The whole marketing strategy behind these two is aimed at children, the animated TV series –developed by author Morpurgo – and the merchandising.

For those that have children, they will know that the blandest toys are left at the bottom of the box. But that is ok, because the background story is meant to guarantee a commitment to the characters and to encourage sales of the toy?

The animated series is the one push that will make or break the campaign; the story begins when two drops of steel are taken from a factory in Bolton by a retiring worker who fashions characters out of the metal for his grandchildren.

Since their unveiling, the mascots have served up a mixture of emotions including: 

 “Very British if you ask me!” VeganVal

“This is Gumby and Cyclop’s love child” Christibubbles

“I think they are extremely odd looking but who knows - maybe they are trying to be futuristic?” Lauren Finn Designs

“I really like the idea- they are both bold and innovative designs rather than simply trying to cash in on a cute/fluffy image. Well done to the designers for showing a willingness to put so much effort into something to take us through the games!” Red-Rover

“I think the Mascots are very funky, modern and stylish.” Richard Green

Whether or not they are a hit, they have achieved their goal of getting people talking; now all they need to do is get people buying!

What do you think of these new characters?