The U.K. is “in the grip of a modern financial crisis” and with less than 100 days before the London Olympics begin, the country is “spending almost $15 billion (and counting) to host” the Games, according to Sarah Lyall of the N.Y. TIMES. U.K. Prime Minister David Cameron in November doubled the budget for the Opening and Closing Ceremonies to about $125M in an attempt to "showcase the best of Britain to a massive global audience." But that message “has not been universally popular in a place where the government is trying to cut, not spend, its way out of financial trouble.” While some Britons are approaching the Olympics “with excitement and pride, others think that in a time of retrenchment and pain, the last thing the country should be doing is splashing out on what is essentially a 17-day party for the rest of the world.” Lyall notes “griping about the Games’ cost is so common among citizens of host countries that it could almost be its own Olympic sport.” The current estimate for the U.K. to pay off the cost of hosting the Games is “close to $15 billion,” more than $10B greater than its original bid. U.K. Minister for Sport & Olympics Hugh Robertson said that “much of the Olympics money was spent before the recession took hold.” Still, pre-Games “grumbling has characterized nearly every step of the process.” Critics have compared London’s Olympic logo “to a bad drawing of male genitals, said that the mascot looked like an insane alien, groused about the ticket-allocation process and worried endlessly that once the Games come, Londoners will be sucked into a transportation-and-security nightmare.” Polling firm YouGov Dir of Political & Social Research Joe Twyman said, “It’s one of those things that you would describe as ‘being British.’ People don’t get massively enthusiastic until the time comes, and even if the whole country’s not on board, enough people are enthusiastic enough to make it a memorable event” (N.Y. TIMES, 3/28).
THE MAKING OF A MASCOT: In N.Y., Mary Pilon writes London Games mascots Wenlock and Mandeville entered the “modern-day wilds of photo-editing software and a flourishing culture of online snark.” The comments made of them often are “not appropriate for a family newspaper.” LOCOG officials selected the work of the design agency Iris Worldwide “from more than 1,000 submissions.” Iris Regional Creative Dir for Asia Grant Hunter said that the process of creating Wenlock and Mandeville “took 18 months.” Lexicon Branding Founder & President David Placek said that LOCOG officials are “going to face increasingly difficult challenges in designing logos and mascots.” He added, “People can manipulate things easier today, there’s no question about it.” Pilon notes Deadspin “invited readers to submit parodies of Wenlock and Mandeville.” Deadspin writer Barry Petchesky, who organized the contest, said the mascots are “hideous” (N.Y. TIMES, 3/28).
