Why are the Paris Olympics mascots proving controversial in France?
Critics of the official mascots for the Paris 2024 Olympics Games have denounced the fact that only a fraction of the merchandise will actually be made in France.
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Unveiled on Monday, the red mascots – named the "Phryges" – are meant to evoke the Phygrian cap worn by anti-monarchists during the French Revolution and nowadays seen on Marianne, the personification of the French Republic pictured on stamps and in public buildings.
The organising committee said the cap was "a symbol of liberty".
Made-in-China mascot
But though two French toymakers got the contract to manufacture the stuffed toy versions of the mascots, the Paris Olympics committee said just eight percent of the toys would actually be made in France.
The remainder will be outsourced to China, while the materials used will also be Chinese-produced.
The Ethic business owners' association called the decision "an insult to all French companies" and called for the millions of toys to be made in France instead.
🚨 L'énorme coup de gueule de Laurent Alexandre sur la mascotte des #JO2024 à Paris 🔴🎙️💬 "Je ne sais pas quel est le crétin qui a eu l'idée de faire fabriquer la mascotte française en Chine" 👈 pic.twitter.com/kkf38hLx5j
— RTL France (@RTLFrance) November 14, 2022
'Structural problem'
"I would love to, and we're working so that France can have the raw materials and textile factories for making two million dolls in a few months, but the fact is that today we cannot do it," government spokesman Olivier Véran said on Thursday.
"It's a structural problem due to the fact that for years, France has lost its factories," he told France 2 television.
Climate activists also denounced the pollution that will be generated from shipping the toys to France, pointing out the contradiction with the government's pledge to take stronger action against global warming.
France's environmental transition minister, Christophe Bechu, called the decision to outsource "a problem".
"I would like to believe that we still have a few months before the Games begin to rectify this," he told France Info radio this week.
"We're not going to find ourselves, at a time when we're saying we need local distribution networks and re-industrialisation, producing mascots on the other side of the world, especially when we're defending the fight against global warming," Bechu said.
The Paris Games organisers defended the fact that the toy replicas are almost all made in China, "like the great majority of toys sold in France".
(with AFP)
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