I personally use dthe term icon rather than mascot. I do cater my language slightly to the insane PC culture who read too much into everything. Someone is likely to argue that mascots are typically animals, and that using the term for a black person is racist and implies that they are animals rather than people.
I'm not trying to imply that's what you meant. I'm just pointing it out because I made the conscious decision (in a reply to another meme on the subject) because I'm hyper aware of PC craziness, and like it or not, PC zealots seem to be in charge.
Caption this Meme
