While several agencies have offered Taipei Summer Universiade mascot Bravo a position, Taipei Mayor Ko Wen-je (柯文哲) yesterday said the city government will need some time to discuss the options.
The Universiade provided a platform to promote Taiwan internationally, including Bravo, whose “next move” has raised questions.
As part of the city government’s Universiade campaign, it posted an “unemployment diary” for the mascot on social media at the conclusion of the Games on Wednesday.
Photo courtesy of the Southern Taiwan Science Park Bureau
The post began with the mascot thanking everyone who supported the Games in the past year, adding that now the Universiade is finished: “I am out of a job.”
Bravo, who was introduced in 2015, has 64,000 fans on social media, some of whom wrote messages such as: “Please come and hibernate at my place,” “Do not disappear” and “You are the best athlete,” with hundreds of companies, social groups and government agencies using official accounts to comment, offering the mascot a job.
On Saturday, two photographs of the mascot standing at a Taipei City Employment Service Office, with a caption saying Bravo was looking for a new job, were posted online.
Photo courtesy of the Southern Taiwan Science Park Bureau
A modeling agency has offered to promote Bravo as a fashion icon; a television show has invited the mascot to go on TV; mascots of companies have invited Bravo “to play together”; and the National Palace Museum has invited it to become a part of their special exhibition.
The Ministry of Science and Technology’s Southern Taiwan Science Park Bureau yesterday unveiled a poster aimed at recruiting Bravo, saying “We want u [sic] Bravo” and listed employment benefits, such as three barrels of honey, 3,000 salmon, free accommodation, two months hibernation and help finding a partner.
“The Taipei City Government will handle this as special case. City government departments have their own mascots and we have too many,” Ko said.
He said the city government would need about two months to discuss the issue and integrate the logos.
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