Proudly SA, but not very local
Proudly South African’s new mascot is big and bold, but the shoes are not representative of South African footwear.
Johannesburg, Gauteng, SA (21 June 2023) – Proudly South African, the joint state-private sector association which promotes ‘buy local’ campaigns to encourage job creation, has had a more-than-life size mascot made to promote its message.
Named Lolo (an abbreviation of “Love Local”) Warona (“ours”) it was made by Cape Town company Mascots SA from an illustration provided by Proudly SA.
Clothing and footwear are among the locally made products encouraged by Proudly SA, but there perhaps wasn’t enough attention to detail with the mascot’s design. The only true-to-life part of the mascot is its outsize and brightly coloured shoes – impossible to miss – but they’re not representative of the footwear made in SA.
Athletic trainers have been made here – though probably not currently – but several other types would have more claim to being representative.
Hands up which of those clever marketing people is going to offer to make a new pair of shoes for Lolo Warona?
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