Mascot mix-up causes stir

VANCOUVER (NEWS1130) – A cartoon bear, that’s become a mascot to shame online pedophiles, was mistakenly published in a Polish newspaper as one of the Winter Olympic mascots.  The character is known as ‘Pedobear,’ a beady-eyed teddy bear.

Last July, Vancouver artist Michael Barrick placed the bear next to the regulars Quatchi, Sumi, Miga and Muk-Muk on his blog, as a critique that showed the similarities between all the mascots.  The Polish newspaper Gazeta Olsztynska published the image of the four characters together in a feature about the Olympics.

Barrick says he’s getting a lot of reaction.  “I just had a comment on one of my blog-posts, and the gist of it was to have some fun, you’ve just made the whole world laugh. What else can I do but laugh along with everyone else,” chuckles Barrick.

The image also comes up when googling Vancouver 2010 mascots.  For complete Olympic coverage, click on News1130.com/2010.