Politically Incorrect
How could the fun go wrong? At the 1996 Summer Olympics in Atlanta, inflated plastic kangaroos pedaled bicycles (with human performers helping) during the games' closing ceremonies.
The cycling kangaroos were intended to promote the 2000 Summer Games in Sydney. But Consul General Ian Wing of Australia, who watched the ceremony from the stands, commented that the pedaling roos, while adding to the spirit of the event, looked "cheap and nasty." Sydney's civic leaders, eager to draw attention to their city's historic and cultural sophistication, were aghast. So, too, were farmers in the nation's outback, most of whom regard kangaroos as sheep-fodder-munching, fence-wrecking pests.
Still, the official put this question to his critical fellow citizens: "What do you suggest would have been more recognizable as a symbol of our country than a kangaroo?" And how did the Australians respond? "I didn't get any answers from anyone," says Wing.