China’s Olympic committee has pledged to increase production of merchandise after unexpected demand from people looking for a way to get involved in the Games led to shortages of the local mascot.
The official mascot, a panda named Bing Dwen Dwen wearing a transparent snow suit, has featured across the Games events and promotions. A large dancing Bing Dwen Dwen appeared in the opening ceremony, while plush toys have been held aloft by athletes on the podium.
Its popularity has led to shortages of merchandise across retail outlets, exacerbated by factory shutdowns across the lunar new year holiday period, according to officials and state media, which have reported hours-long queues of people outside shops. On Monday, the Beijing Olympic Committee said it was working with factories to increase supply.
At one flagship store, the Tmall Olympic, 50,000 mascots had been sold already, according to local media, while an online store sold out within 15 minutes. Other outlets were instituting limits of one per customer, and “one Dwen at each family” became a trending topic on Weibo, with more than 10 million viewers in 24 hours.
Analysts from Shanxi Securities estimated the total revenue from official Olympic merchandise could reach 2.5bn yuan (£291.4m).
Olympic mascots and associated merchandise are often hit and miss. Some remain largely unrecognised even during the Games, as was the case at the 2016 Rio de Janeiro Olympics with Vinicius or the 2002 Salt Lake City trio of Powder the hare, Copper the coyote and Coal the black bear. London’s 2012 mascots were described at the time as “phallic bugbears”, while at Sydney in 2000 the trio of native Australian animal mascots were upstaged by an unofficial wombat named “Fatso” on a late-night comedy TV show about the Games.
But in Beijing, the furore around Bing Dwen Dwen has provided a way for people to feel more involved in an event they are blocked from attending.
Strict pandemic protocols mean few Chinese fans can attend events, and those who do must quarantine for weeks before and after entering the dedicated Olympic bubble. Instead, people have gathered at homes and in bars and restaurants, crowding around TV and phone screens to watch a competition happening in their capital city.
“It is such a shame that I can’t watch the Winter Olympics in Beijing when it is happening so close to me. However, I got my Bing Dwen Dwen today!” one Weibo user commented.
Mr Tang, an employee at the Olympics media centre inside the bubble, said he was among many locals and foreigners lining up to buy one. After he posted pictures of his Bing Dwen Dwen on his WeChat, he received about a dozen offers from people wanting to buy it from him. The mascot’s popularity was “beyond [my] imagination”, he said.
Additional reporting by Xiaoqian Zhu and Reuters
