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Meet Frankie Focus, Gov. Hochul’s freaky phone ban mascot
By
Jon Campbell
Published Sep 4, 2025
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Susan Watts/Office of Governor Kathy Hochul
By
Jon Campbell
Published Sep 4, 2025
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He’s about six feet tall with unblinking blue eyes, orange eyebrows, thick-rimmed glasses and neon-green hair that covers his body, from his fleshy elf ears to his oversized feet.
Meet Frankie Focus, Gov. Kathy Hochul’s new mascot promoting New York’s new school smartphone ban. He’s part Phillie Phanatic and part “Where the Wild Things Are.” And he looks like the type of creature young students may have feared was under their bed as they grew up, long before they had a cellphone of their own.
Hochul unveiled the toothy titan as she welcomed students to the first day of school at M.S. 582 in East Williamsburg on Thursday.
“ He doesn't say a lot. He's kind of quiet,” Hochul told middle schoolers. “But he is very focused on learning in school, focused on the teachers, focused on making friends.”
Gov. Hochul and Frankie Focus hold Yondr pouches, which are used to store students' smartphones.
Susan Watts/Office of Governor Kathy Hochul
Hochul, a Democrat, has spent months touting the state’s new smartphone policy, which requires public schools to have a plan in place to keep students from having access to their internet-enabled mobile devices from opening bell to closing bell.
“We are no longer distracted,” Hochul said as Frankie and his oversized eyes peered on from a few feet away.
Frankie Focus will be making stops across the state in the coming days to promote the new rules, according to the governor’s office. Frankie accompanied Hochul through the Brooklyn school as she handed out locking Yondr pouches to students to store their phones.
Hochul’s office didn’t respond to questions about how much the state spent on the mascot costume, or which government employee was stuffed inside.
But a spokesperson did provide a document summarizing the Frankie Focus initiative, noting that he’s part of a public-service campaign from the state Office of Mental Health called “Team Phone Free” — where Frankie is depicted in cartoon version alongside three other monster-like characters.
"We are no longer distracted!" Hochul proclaimed alongside Frankie Focus.
Susan Watts/Office of Governor Kathy Hochul
“[Frankie] loves to get in the action and celebrate life IRL (outside the cell phone),” the document reads. “Sure, he may cause a bit of a ruckus at times, but his heart is in the right place!”
It’s not the first time New York state or city have experimented with mascots.
In 2010, the city Parks Department debuted Pearl the Squirrel, an oversized gray squirrel mascot with a bushy tail and cartoonish eyelashes. Last year, the state Board of Elections introduced Ballot the Beaver as its official mascot, though it appears to only exist in cartoon form — not in a fuzzy costume.
This story has been updated to correct the day Frankie Focus was revealed to the public.
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Jon Campbell
Jon Campbell covers the New York State Capitol for WNYC and Gothamist. Prior to that, he covered the Capitol for more than a decade for the USA TODAY Network. He has twice earned the Walter T. Brown Memorial Award, an honor given annually by the Legislative Correspondents Association alumni for outstanding state government coverage. Jon grew up in the Buffalo area and graduated from the University at Albany. Got a tip? Email Jon at [email protected] or Signal at JonCampbellNY.90.
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