双语新闻阅读：盘点十大最惊悚公司吉祥物
  McDonald's (MCD, Fortune 500) new mascot, Happy, has been called "terrifying." And so it is, at least to some observers, what with its oversized, human-looking teeth; its crazed, bulging eyes; and its freakishly attenuated arms. But it's disturbing on another level, too： it was clearly the work of a focus-group-driven corporate bureaucracy trying to satisfy a lot of internal constituencies, as opposed being the original work of a creative team.
  麦当劳(McDonald)的新版吉祥物Happy一直被戏称为“太吓人”，至少在一些观察家看来的确如此：拟人的大牙齿;疯狂凸出的大眼睛;还有纤细得有些怪异的胳膊。而这个吉祥物的另一面也令人担忧：这很明显是焦点小组驱动的公司官僚机构为了满足内部支持者们的产物，而不是来自一支创意团队的原创作品。
  麦当劳(McDonald)的新版吉祥物Happy
  Obviously inspired in part by Spongebob Squarepants, it's easy to imagine that Happy w
as tested and retested, subjected to the scrutiny of a battery of consultants, and tweaked and retweaked until nobody was offended. That was until it was unleashed on the public -- at which point nearly everybody was offended. But as horrifying as Happy might be, he's got lots of company. See who else makes consumers squirm.
  吉祥物Happy明显受到海绵宝宝的启发，不难想象，它肯定经过了一遍又一遍地测试，接受了一系列顾问的严格审查，并且持续调整，直到没有人感到被冒犯。但这仅仅在它未公开亮相之前。Happy公布以后，几乎所有人都感觉不舒服。但令人恐惧的Happy并不不是一个人人。让我们来看看还有哪些令消费者不寒而栗的吉祥物吧。
  The Jolly Green Giant
  快乐的绿巨人
  The Jolly Green Giant was such a popular character that the company he represented, the Minnesota Valley Canning Co., took his name in 1950. But in his earliest iterations in the '20s and '30s, the Green Giant didn't always seem so jolly. In fact, it was the future ad
wizard Leo Burnett who in 1935 added the "Jolly" to the Green Giant's name and who took the first steps toward making him less terrifying in print ads, in part by replacing his scowl with a smile. In the character's first TV spots in the '50s, though, the giant was scarier than ever. Finally the by-then-thriving Burnett agency discovered that by downplaying the his presence, he was not only far less frightening, but also far more effective.
  快乐的绿巨人
  快乐的绿巨人深受人们喜爱，所以明尼苏达山谷罐头公司(Minnesota Valley Canning Co.)1950年注册了这个名字，用他作为代言人。但在上世纪20年代至30年代，早期的几代绿巨人形象似乎并不快乐。事实上，直到1935年，未来的广告奇才李奥贝纳才在“绿巨人”的名字前面加上了“快乐的”三个字，并开始采取措施改变印刷广告上绿巨人令人恐惧的形象，主要做法是用笑容取代了绿巨人的怒容。但在50年代，这个角第一次在电视上出现时，他的形象反而更加恐怖。最终，当时蒸蒸日上的贝纳广告公司(Burnett)发现，通过简化绿巨人的形象，不但使它不再那么令人恐惧，而且效果更佳。
  Mr. Mucus
  鼻涕先生
  We all complain about TMI ads that spend 30 seconds focused on some distasteful body function or embarrassing malady. But hey, products for gross stuff deserve marketing too. Enter Mr. Mucus, which can most accurately be described as an anthropomorphized glob of snot. He is the villain in a series of spots for Mucinex, the expectorant originally marketed by Adams Respiratory Therapeutics. But Mr. Mucus might soon meet his demise： Reckitt Benckiser, which acquired Adams in 2007, is reviewing its advertising and might end the phlegmy foe's 10-year run.
  鼻涕先生
  有些广告会用30分钟描述一些令人不快的身体机能或令人尴尬的疾病。我们往往会抱怨这种信息量过多的广告。但别忘了，针对令人恶心之物的产品也应该有展开市场营销的机会。让我们看看“粘液先生”吧。准确地说，粘液先生是一滴拟人化的鼻涕。在祛痰药物Muc
inex的一系列广告中，粘液先生一直扮演大反派。这款药物最初由亚当斯呼吸道药品公司(Adams Respiratory Therapeutics)销售。不过，粘液先生的使命或许即将结束：亚当斯呼吸道药品公司于2007年被利洁时集团(Reckitt Benckiser)收购。后者当前正在评估亚当斯呼吸道药品公司的广告，或许将终止这款祛痰药长达10年的系列广告。
  Wenlock and Mandeville
  文洛克与曼德维尔
  The pre-jolly Green Giant proved that original, creative ideas aren't always good. But as McDonald's "Happy" shows, soulless, systematized, bureaucratic approaches to mascot development (and most other kinds of development) almost never produce anything worthwhile. It reportedly took 18 months and 40 focus groups to come up with Wenlock and Mandeville, the cycloptic creatures that represented the 2021 Olympics in London. One critic decided the pair was the result of a "drunken one-night stand between a Teletubby and a Dalek."
  文洛克与曼德维尔世界上最恐怖的笑容
  之前的“快乐的绿巨人”证明，原创的、有创意的设计不一定总是好的。但麦当劳的新吉祥物“Happy”却表明，在吉祥物创作(和几乎其他绝大部分类型的研发)过程中，缺少灵魂的、系统性的、官僚主义的方式基本不可能诞生出有价值的作品。据报道，有40个焦点小组历时18个月才想出文洛克和曼德维尔——代表2021年伦敦奥运会的两个独眼生物。一位批评家表示，这两个生物是天线宝宝(Teletubby)和戴立克(Dalek)酒后的产物。
  Mr. Six
  6号先生
  Imagine Uncle Junior from The Sopranos dancing wildly while in the deepest throes of a month-long meth tweak, and you have Mr. Six. The mascot for the Six Flags theme parks was introduced to the public for some reason in 2004. Although creatively speaking not much above a rappin' grandma, Mr. Six proved to be effective, especially among kids, and has been widely parodied. Nevertheless, when Washington Redskins owner Daniel Snyder purchased Six Flags in 2005, he announced the very next day that Mr. Six would be deep-sixed. He was brought back in 2005, prompting Time magazine to wonder： "Wh
y Is Six Flags Targeting Kids with a Creepy Old Guy?"