Creepy brand mascots we can’t unsee

2025 may be the renaissance of the mascot, but not everyone can recreate the uncanny magic of Duolingo’s ironic, death-defying owl—charming nihilistic Gen Z-ers all over the globe. 

To create a great mascot, you have to know what people actually find funny. And what people LOL about is not some safe, cutesy corporate wannabe, but a character that lives on the edge and performs its most complicated emotions with sass and gumption. 

Think of the Geico Gecko’s dry wit, the Kool-Aid Man’s chaotic property damage or even the existential dread of M&Ms about to be—gulp—eaten by human beings. These mascots work because they lean into a level of absurdity that would be downright scary for any boardroom to approve.

Below are our three mediocre mascots that have already haunted the hallowed walls of Instagram and TikTok for far too long.

No. 3: Sarah V

CeraVe had the world’s biggest advertising win when it pretended the internet joke that Cerave was named after Michael Cera was real. But then they tried to invent an internet joke, and this is where everything went wrong.

Because fans were calling them “The Greatest of All Time,” CeraVe created Sarah V (The G.O.A.T.) in May 2025. It would be one thing if “The G.O.A.T” was a new idea, but it’s been popular for decades. Just like your aunt thinks “raising the roof” is a new phenomenon, CeraVe launched an anthropomorphized goat with a vacant expression, hoping it would play into the younger generation’s sense of irony. But irony is a game for insiders. Just watch Sarah V. awkwardly play an influencer’s #1 girlie and a dermatologist’s best friend. Put a nightmarish soundtrack over that and you’ve got your next A24 hit.

No. 2: Bellboy

Bellboy feels the need to tell us “He’s a bell. He’s a boy. He’s Bell Boy!” as if we can’t already tell from his metallic, bell-shaped body. When he sings he sounds like a nerdy teenager, and when he talks he sounds like a slightly posh version of the Geico Gecko. This is from the makers of Captain Obvious, who’s struck fear in our hearts since his first appearance on screen. His only positive attribute is his charming set of eyebrows, so hats off to the design team on that one. Despite its rocky start, we think this one’s got enough legs to get funnier with the right scriptwriter. For now, it’s giving us the creeps.

No. 1: Chewbie

Created for Hi-Chew, Chewbie is a blob-shaped mascot who speaks mostly in squeaky sounds, except when he says the word “Chew”. While his sonic identity is excellent, we can’t help but wonder why his eyes are melted together. Sometimes he pops out like a gopher and sometimes he plays basketball. Wow. Hilarious. But our biggest question is how Hi-Chew missed the opportunity to dress him in a magically changing color palette that could signal each of Hi-Chew’s delicious flavors. We also wonder why he simultaneously looks like a child and a middle-aged man living in his mother’s basement.

The scariest thing about bad mascots is that they play it safe, copying whatever’s worked for someone else, only in a new, twisted amalgamation. To make a great mascot, you need a risk-ready creative team that’s so tuned in to what the kids are saying online that they’ve almost lost touch with reality. That’s the creative nerve center you need for a truly unhinged comic display.

And if you need a costume for this year, you know where to start.

Dying for more brand mayhem? Check out our article: 8 Horrifyingly Successful Company Names