Guess Who?

Mascots are cute. Mascots are stupid. Mascots are supposed to be representative of a brand personality.

Jollibee, the red bumble bee, is wide-eye cute. Ronald McDonald is funny. He is a clown afterall. Wendy is your typical old-fashioned American country girl. Colonel Sanders used to be a colonel in army, now he is wearing an apron. Maybe he wasn't really an army army guy, maybe he just cooked for the army? Whatever version of mascot, it really is trying to say something and how the audience perceive it will also vary. But generally, mascots only give you two kinds of feelings: happy kind of giddy and ewww kind of terror.

Quoting this from another blog (which is quite popular in the industry) --

Scene: Raul and a couple of AEs are having a ciggie break in the outdoor caf.

Raul notices that AE Guy is obsessively smoothening his shirt.

Raul: Kanina mo pa ginagawa yan. Parang feel mo talagang hawakan ang dibdib mo ha!
AE Girl: Actually, gusto niya lang mag call ng attention sa boobs niya! Hahaha!
Raul: Bakit, malaki ba talaga? Sige nga, tumalon ka para makita natin.

AE Guy does the unthinkable. He jumps in place.
The macho art directors who are smoking nearby shake their heads in disgust.

Raul to the Art Directors: O, I’m sure ayaw ninyong tumitingin dahil baka tigasan kayo! Bwahahahaha!

And the Art Directors are thinking: now if only it were a girl…

That AE must have felt like he is a mascot. And yet again, for another instance, that AE was asked to dance because other people found it amusing and entertaining. And still on another instance, that AE had a cult following on clients' side for that AE's notorius dancing skills. For the heck of it, he could replace Tessie Oreta's performance in the Senate.

Now this AE experienced another round earlier today. He was asked to dance before an audience. This time more creatively. Dance like its Friday. Dance like its Saturday! uhmmm, that poor AE was again the subject of unwanted attention.

Well, those guys mean well. They are not out to make that person feel bad or ridicule him. They are really just smitten by that boy's charm, good looks and sunny personality. And hey, his mission is to make people smile too. That's not bad.

But those guys seriously need to stop it. He has a business to run and reputation to keep. Oh well.

Come to think of it, had that AE didn't want attention, he wouldn't have worn a yellow belt on black form-fitting long sleeved shirt and lowrise jeans, now would he?

Who's that AE?