Do you know Bé Sen?
Bé Sen (right) welcomes tourists to Đồng Tháp. Photo via Pháp Luật.
The playful smiling baby lotus flower is the official mascot of Đồng Tháp. It appears on various signs, information materials, and a few products in the delta province. But unless you have traveled there, you probably are unaware of its existence. This nearly anonymous presence reveals a missed opportunity for Vietnam.
Bé Sen merch for sale. Photo via Bé Sen Đồng Tháp Facebook page.
I first learned of Bé Sen when a colleague was placed in Đồng Tháp for a fellowship year, and it immediately called to mind yuru-kyara. Japan is notorious for these cute, anthropomorphized characters that represent cities, towns, events, companies and organizations. Drawing inspiration from local cuisine, flora, fauna, traditional arts, and historical events unique to the areas they hail from, wacky examples include a towering strand of natto, a melon-bear hybrid, and a carton of soy milk. Tooyooka-shi, where I lived for two years, has three yuru-kyara: a cuddly endangered stork named Kou-Chan; Ou-Chan, a giant salamander; and a lump of granite named Gen-San who is said to have originated 1.6 million years ago in the nearby Genbudo Caves. Their popularity and shenanigans were covered in a must-watch episode of Last Week Tonight.
Tooka-shi's yuru-kyara. Photo via Kinosaki tourism site.
Yuru-kyara are not just enjoyable amusements, they are powerful branding initiatives that encourage tourism and cohesive identity development. Creating a mascot requires an examination of a locale’s unique gifts and a concerted desire to share them. They act as ambassadors that compel people to explore the nation, and because we cannot avoid the caustic tentacle-grip consumerism has on our modern world, they can be commodified, slapped on products, and shared on viral brain rot to entice travel with lucrative spillover to other industries.
This brings us back to Vietnam and the recent announcement of province consolidations. It represents an ideal time for the introduction of unique mascots for the new provinces alongside cuddly, charismatic representations of old towns, neighborhoods, and regions. There could be local contests to raise awareness, beauty pageants, flags and phone case stickers. Tourists would want to travel to meet them all and collect limited edition gewgaws that will put to shame all the lines for Babytree and Labubu.
As Vietnam continues to explore tourism efforts in a seemingly random “throw shit at the wall,” why have mascots like Bé Sen not been piloted? Perhaps even Saigoneer should develop one.
