UCLA Bares a Brawnier Joe Bruin : Will New Mascot Pump Up Sales or Did It Take Too Many Steroids?

He’s bigger, he’s badder and he’s bolder. But is Joe Bruin better?

Judging from the laughter and shrieks of mock terror Wednesday afternoon at his unveiling, the latest incarnation of UCLA’s bearish mascot will take some getting used to on the Westwood campus.

The brawny, teeth-baring new Joe Bruin burst from behind a paper screen outside Ackerman Union and strutted his stuff before several hundred students and the UCLA band.

“Oh my God! Oh my God! Oh my God!” gasped one young woman as the newly mesomorphic bear took the stage in front of his kinder, gentler predecessor. “It’s totally scary. It’s like he’s on drugs!”

Officials from the university’s marketing and athletic departments say that the old Joe’s appeal was fading. The school’s teams were not incorporating his cheery visage on their uniforms, and sales of his paraphernalia had slowed to a standstill.

“We think the new Joe preserves as much of the lovable aspect of the mascot as we could, but also draws out the more aggressive, powerful and winning attitude that goes with our athletic department,” said Carol Anne Smart, chief operating officer for the Associated Students of UCLA.

Moments after the unveiling, a “Top Secret” shroud was lifted from racks of new Joe Bruin T-shirts, backpacks, coffee mugs and other items at the student store. “We don’t think there will be a windfall, but over time we hope it will help re-energize our marketing operation,” said Smart, adding that many universities recently have revamped their mascots for sales purposes.

Back outside Ackerman Union, though, most students said they will have a hard time letting go of the soft and cuddly Joe who has trod the sidelines at football and basketball games for two decades.

“The new Joe doesn’t represent what UCLA is all about. It’s a happy, friendly school,” said senior Sameer Bakhda. “This guy is just so intense!”

Freshman Mona Tavakoli was overwhelmed by Joe’s new bulging biceps and 62-inch chest. “I guess he’s going from hokey bear to steroid bear,” she said.

Senior sociology major Thea Mesina predicted that children, in particular, will miss the more huggable Joe. But she sees promise for the new model: “He looks fierce and he seems more lively.”

Tom Komaromi, a 21-year-old geography major, guessed that the new Joe was “assembled by scientists who didn’t really know what they were doing.”

Actually, it took a committee of 12 school officials and a $40,000 budget to choose from hundreds of designs supplied by a Long Beach-based design firm, Studio M.

To ease the transition into the new bear era, school officials plan to bestow the position of mascot emeritus on the old Joe and Josephine Bruin. The somewhat faded duo will attend all of this year’s basketball games along with New Joe. In the future, they will be available for special events.

By the time football season rolls around, a new, plusher Josephine Bruin will debut, along with a first-ever “Little Joe” Bruin, a bear tot meant to appeal to younger fans.

Joe has had at least six looks over his nearly 70-year history, not counting an unauthorized make-over in 1987. That year, a pep squad member decked Joe out with rifle and Rambo attire for a basketball game against USC--earning the mascot a suspension from the Pac-10 conference basketball tournament.

“I’m just attached to the old one,” said the fifth-year senior who wore the old Joe suit Wednesday. “It takes some time to acclimate to a new tradition.”