パリ五輪マスコットに批判 ぬいぐるみは中国製、デザインに嘲笑も

【パリＡＦＰ＝時事】２０２４年パリ五輪・パラリンピックの大会マスコットについて、製造されるぬいぐるみのほとんどが中国製であることに批判が集中している。（写真は公式マスコット「フリージュ」のぬいぐるみ）
　１４日に発表された大会マスコット「フリージュ」は、フランス革命を象徴する赤い三角形の「フリジア帽」をモチーフにしている。
　だが大会組織委員会によると、フランスの玩具メーカー２社がぬいぐるみ製造を受注したものの、国内で製造されるのは全体のわずか８％。残りは中国に外注され、国内製造分も中国産の材料が使われる。
　オリビエ・ベラン政府報道官は１７日、「フランスが数か月で２００万体のぬいぐるみを作るための原材料と織物工場を確保できるよう取り組んでいるが、今のところそれができないというのが現実だ」と説明。大会組織委員会も、フランスで売られているおもちゃの大多数が中国製だと指摘し、批判に反論した。
　ソーシャルメディア上では、マスコットの赤い三角形が帽子よりむしろ陰核（クリトリス）に見えると嘲笑する声も広まっているが、これについて大会組織委員会は公にコメントしていない。【翻訳編集ＡＦＰＢＢＮｅｗｓ】
〔ＡＦＰ＝時事〕（2022/11/18-12:55）

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 percent 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.
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 on Tuesday.
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, he 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.
But they have yet to comment publicly on another issue -- widespread mockery on social media that the red triangles appear to better resemble a clitoris.