It all started with this campaign by POSB’s Smiley the Squirrel to gather all of Singapore’s mascots together as part of its National Day Reunion. Smiley is probably the most famous bank mascot in Singapore. An animal known for squirrelling food away for rainy days, the squirrel was chosen in 1983 to encourage children to save money.
Most of us would scratch our heads trying to remember some of these mascots. Representing all sorts of Singaporean entities from banks to government agencies, here are some of those that ‘RSVP’d’ to Smiley’s invite:
Singa the Lion | Singapore Kindness Movement
Singa is perhaps Singapore’s most famous mascot who’s been around for a while – you’ve seen him around bus stops, and he even has his own souvenir shop (and a bunch of new relatives). He also made headlines when he threatened to quit his job in 2013 after working for over 30 years.
Pan and Ally | People’s Association
The PA has not one, but two mascots – two white bears named Pan and Ally. Not much is known about them except that their uniforms are red. Separately, PA also has two mascots for their Project Blue WaVe – a hawksbill turtle called Bobby, and an otter called Ottie the Otter (coincidentally, there’s an Ottie the Otter which happens to be a t-shirt shop mascot based somewhere not in Singapore).
Sharity | Community Chest
The Community Chest’s mascot is a pink elephant… because elephants live in communities and help each other out. There’s a whole webpage dedicated to him, containing his bio (he loves peanuts and his birthday’s on Children’s Day), videos, and games. He also does a lot of outreach events for kids.
Captain Green | National Environment Agency
Captain Green began as a mascot for the Clean and Green Week campaign in 1990, because frogs are sensitive to changes in the environment. Since then, he’s evolved to appeal to children, and has been starring in a number of books and an animated series under the title Captain Green.
Blood Buddy | Singapore Red Cross
Having been around since 2005, Blood Buddy – an anthropomorphic blood drop – pops up between five and 10 times each month to encourage people to donate blood to the Blood Bank. He replaced a little-known mascot called Champ, who was inexplicably a tortoise.
Suzy | Cerebral Palsy Alliance Singapore
You may have seen a slightly creepy-looking Suzy, a plastic figurine-on-a-donation-box who’s usually found beside supermarket checkout counters. A life-sized girl wearing a blue dress and leg brace with a teddy bear in one hand and a donation box in another, she represented the organisation that used to be called The Spastic Children’s Association of Singapore. These days, she’s gone online and donations can be made via the CPAS website.
The Thoughtful Bunch | LTA
You’ve definitely seen this bunch of characters around your everyday commute, from Bag Down Benny to Hush Hush Hannah. They’ve been on stickers, hoardings, banners, animated series, and appeared as figurines and life-sized mascots. They’re practically local celebrities – only you probably didn’t know that they’re collectively known as ‘The Thoughtful Bunch’.
Titoy and Morchoo | Gardenasia
This obscure pair of mascots actually represent something pretty obscure – a nature resort area that’s known for its farmstay villas. Both mascots are geared towards their children’s programmes, and are said to be ‘3 pebbles tall’; Titoy likes sports and painting, while Morchoo likes music and fashion.
Ang Ku Kueh Girl (红龟粿女孩)
The only mascot to not officially represent an institution or company, Ang Ku Kueh Girl is a character that’s inspired by our local pastry. She’s more of a Singaporean product, with merch ranging from bags to badges and books. She also has other friends like Roti Prata Boy and Kueh Lapis Girl.
Xing and Jaan | DBS
You may have noticed these two characters on red packet designs from DBS, but did you know they’ve been around for over 10 years? This pair of mascots look like a guy-girl version of the fu lu shou dolls – the bank is also trying to lure people into making new deposits by giving them gold-plated Xing and Jaan figurines.
Mighty Savers Mascots | OCBC
Simon and Sally are the two mascots of OCBC’s Mighty Savers programme which is aimed at children to help them learn about the importance of saving. Oddly, they’re dressed in space suits, presumably to go where no mascot has gone before. Both of them are sometimes accompanied by (presumably) their child.
Tabby | Maybank
Tabby may sound like a cat name, but it’s actually a tiger because it’s not only representing their logo but also because the bank subscribes to the TIGER value. This guy has even posed with famous mascots like Manchester United’s Fred the Red.
Octo | CIMB
If you’re wondering why a bank would have an octopus represent them, it’s because according to them, and octopus represents intelligence and the ability to multitask. Octo also claims to be a cousin of Paul, the World Cup match predicting octopus.
While some mascots are more famous than others, there’s no denying that there are more mascots out there that weren’t on that list. For example, what about PUB’s Water Wally (remember this blue droplet of water?), STB’s Merly, and Parliament’s new mascot, Parley (an intellectual chubby winged lion)?
Did you know that Campus magazine also has mascot called Ah Boon?
