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A mascot is any human, animal, or object thought to bring luck, or anything used to represent a group with a common public identity, such as a school, sports team, society, military unit, or brand. Mascots are also used as fictional, representative spokespeople for consumer products.
In sports, mascots are also used for merchandising. Team mascots are often related to their respective team nicknames. This is especially true when the team's nickname is something that is a living animal and/or can be anthropomorphism. For more abstract nicknames, the team may opt to have an unrelated character serve as the mascot. For example, the sport teams of the University of Alabama are nicknamed the Crimson Tide, while their mascot is an elephant named Big Al. Team mascots may take the form of a logo, person, live animal, inanimate object, or a costumed character, and often appear at team matches and other related events. Since the mid-20th century, costumed characters have provided teams with an opportunity to choose a fantasy creature as their mascot, as is the case with the Philadelphia Phillies' mascot: Phillie Phanatic, the Philadelphia Flyers' mascot: Gritty, the Seattle Kraken mascot: Buoy, and the Washington Commanders' mascot: Major Tuddy.
Costumed mascots are commonplace, and are regularly used as good faith in the community for their team, company, or organization.
As time went on, mascots evolved from predatory animals to two-dimensional fantasy mascots, and then to what is commonplace today: three-dimensional mascots. Stylistic changes in American puppetry in the mid-20th century, including the work of Jim Henson and Sid and Marty Krofft, soon were adapted to sports mascots. It allowed people to not only have visual enjoyment but also interact physically with the mascots.
Marketers quickly realized the great potential in three-dimensional mascots and took on board the costumed puppet idea. This change encouraged other companies to start creating their own mascots, resulting in mascots being a necessity amongst not only the sporting industry but for other organisations.
Mascots may also symbolize a local or regional trait, such as the Nebraska Cornhuskers' mascot, Herbie Husker: a stylized version of a farmer, owing to the agricultural traditions of the area in which the university is located. Similarly, Pittsburg State University uses Gus the Gorilla as its mascot, "gorilla" being an old colloquial term for coal miners in the Southeast Kansas area in which the university was established.
In the United States, controversy surrounds some mascot choices, especially those using human likenesses. Mascots based on Native American tribes are particularly contentious, as many argue that they constitute offensive exploitations of an oppressed culture. However, several Indian tribes have come out in support of keeping the names. For example, the Utah Utes and the Central Michigan Chippewas are sanctioned by local tribes, and the Florida State Seminoles are supported by the Seminole Tribe of Florida in their use of Osceola and Renegade as symbols. FSU chooses not to refer to them as mascots because of the offensive connotation. This has not, however, prevented fans from engaging in "Redface"—dressing up in stereotypical, Plains Indian outfits during games, or creating offensive banners saying "Scalp 'em" as was seen at the 2014 Rose Bowl.
Some sports teams have "unofficial" mascots: individual supporters or fans that have become identified with the team. The New York Yankees have such an individual in fan Freddy Sez. Former Toronto Blue Jays mascot BJ Birdie was a costumed character created by a Blue Jays fan, ultimately hired by the team to perform at their home games. USC Trojans mascot is Tommy Trojan who rides on his horse (and the official mascot of the school) Traveler.
In the United Kingdom, some teams have young fans become "mascots". These representatives sometimes have medical issues, and the appearance is a wish grant, the winner of a contest, or under other circumstances. Mascots also include older people such as Mr England, who are invited by national sports associations to be mascots for the representative teams. One of the earliest was Ken Baily, whose John Bull-inspired appearance was a regular at England matches from 1963 to 1990.
University of Miami quarterback Gino Torretta told ESPN, "Even if we weren't bad boys, it added to the mystique that, 'Man, look, even their mascot's getting arrested.'"
As of 2024, five high schools in the United States use Midget for their mascots. Advocates working with Little People of America have been campaigning to change it because of its common usage as a Pejorative against disabled people.
Since 1968, nearly all of the cities that have hosted the Summer or Winter Olympic Games have designed and promoted a mascot that relates to the culture of the host country the overall "brand" of that year's Games. Recent Winter/Summer Olympic games mascots include Miga, Quatchi, Mukmuk (Vancouver, 2010), Wenlock and Mandeville (London, 2012), Bely Mishka, Snow Leopard, Zaika (Sochi, 2014) and Vinicius and Tom (Rio, 2016) have all gone on to become iconic symbols in their respective countries. Since 2010, it has been common for the Olympic and Paralympic games to each have their own mascots, which are presented together. For example, the 2020 Summer Olympics in Tokyo is represented by Miraitowa, while the 2020 Summer Paralympics are represented by Someity, and the two often appear together in promotional materials.
The goat in the Royal Welsh is officially not a mascot but a ranking soldier. Lance Corporal William Windsor retired on 20 May 2009, and his replacement "William Windsor II" was captured and formally recruited on June 15 that same year. Several regiments of the British Army have a live animal mascot which appear on . The Parachute Regiment and the Argyll and Sutherland Highlanders have a Shetland pony as their mascot, a Domestic sheep for The Mercian Regiment; an Irish Wolfhound for the Irish Guards and the Royal Irish Regiment; a drum horse for the Queen's Royal Hussars and the Royal Scots Dragoon Guards; an antelope for the Royal Regiment of Fusiliers; and a Domestic goat for the Royal Welsh. Other British military mascots include a Staffordshire Bull Terrier and a pair of .
The Norwegian Royal Guard adopted a king penguin named Nils Olav as its mascot on the occasion of a visit to Edinburgh by its regimental band. The (very large) penguin remains resident at Edinburgh Zoo and has been formally promoted by one rank on the occasion of each subsequent visit to Britain by the band or other detachments of the Guard. Regimental Sergeant Major Olav was awarded the Norwegian Army's Long Service and Good Conduct medal at a ceremony in 2005.
Another notable example of a mascot in music is Skeleton Sam of The Grateful Dead. South Korean hip hop band B.A.P uses rabbits named Matoki as their mascot, each bunny a different color representing each member. Although rabbits have an innocent image, BAP gives off a tough image. Hip hop artist Kanye West used to use a teddy bear named Dropout Bear as his mascot; Dropout Bear has appeared on the cover of West's first three studio albums, and served as the main character of West's music video, "Good Morning".
The question of whether a "hype-man" can legitimately be considered a hip-hop organization's mascot is currently an active subject of debate within academic Hip-Hop circles. However, local polling in relevant regions suggests acceptance of the "hype-man" as a legitimate organizational mascot.
Another example of a cartoon mascot on television is the Sir Seven knight character on Wisconsin's WSAW-TV.
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