Olympic mascots made in China leave French with red faces, and questions being asked about production of ‘smiling hat’
- Choice of cuddly toy proving hard sell after it emerges that just 8 per cent of mascot will be produced in France
- Minister admits his country ‘no longer knows’ how to manufacture toy on industrial scale
The choice by Paris 2024 Olympics officials to represent the Games with a cuddly Phrygian cap is proving a harder sell than expected, after critics pounced on the fact that French firms will make only a small fraction of the toys.
Unveiled on Monday, the red triangle mascots named the Phryges are meant to symbolise the French Revolution, when anti-monarchists often wore the cap that is nowadays seen on the Marianne icon of Liberty, Equality and Fraternity in nearly all public buildings.
But even though two French toymakers got the contract, the Paris Olympics committee said just eight per cent of the mascots will be made in France – from Chinese-produced materials – and the remainder outsourced to China.
The Ethic business owners’ association denounced “an insult to all French companies” and said there was still time to produce the millions of toys at home.
“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 Veran 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 contrasted the pollution that will be generated from shipping the toys to France with the government’s pledge to take stronger action against global warming.
