Buzz
Since Hillary Clinton revealed her campaign logo on Sunday, the internet has been buzzing. It's been likened to the "I'm with stupid" shirt, the FedEx logo, a hospital sign, or even a nautical icon, while others (including a cartoon in The New Yorker) have pointed out that a Democrat's logo should have an arrow pointing left.
This isn't the first branding debacle, and certainly won't be the last. Here are 11 other logos that sparked heated reactions.
1. London 2012
Wikipedia
The 2012 Olympics logo, which cost £400,000 and took a year to design, was met with backlash when it was unveiled in 2007. People, especially Londoners, were not pleased. The Daily Mail described the logo as a 'broken swastika,' a 'scribbled joke,' a 'toileting monkey,' and even a symbol for the Nazi SS. BBC News reported that some Iranians claimed the logo spelled 'Zion' and demanded a replacement. There were even rumors that Iran might boycott the games, but those claims were quickly debunked. One of the most popular comparisons on the internet was that the logo resembled Lisa Simpson performing an explicit act on Bart. A petition to replace the logo garnered over 40,000 signatures, but it led to no change.
If you take a closer look, you'll notice that the logo actually depicts a jagged representation of '2012.'
2. Gap
The Next Web
New logo, new controversy, and then back to the old one. In 2010, Gap unveiled a fresh logo, only to revert to its original 20-year-old design just one week later. The primary complaint was that the new logo felt amateurish and, given the brand's long-standing association with nostalgia and trustworthiness, the redesign just didn’t work. The company even invited logo submissions, but this only irritated graphic designers who, understandably, didn’t want to work for free. In the end, the classic Gap logo returned with little lasting damage to the brand's image.
3. Tropicana
Woman's Day
Tropicana’s packaging redesign in 2009 cost the company millions. From its launch on January 1st to its redesign on February 22nd, sales plummeted by 20%. Customers felt that the new design lacked personality and made Tropicana look like just another generic orange juice brand. Rather than evoking the freshness of their classic orange with a straw, the new look came across as simply "a generic bargain brand."
4. Kentucky Wildcats
Kentucky’s athletic teams have been known as the Wildcats since 1909, but in 1994, the university’s Wildcat logo went through a redesign. Complaints had surfaced regarding the Wildcat’s tongue in the original logo (shown above left); some felt it looked more like a phallic symbol than an animal’s tongue. The university initially thought these complaints were a joke, but upon closer inspection, they realized the tongue did indeed look a bit suggestive. So, the logo was updated to avoid any unintended humor, particularly among middle school students.
5. Starbucks
iStock
Starbucks' siren logo has long faced criticism from those uncomfortable with the image of a nude mermaid's legs spread wide on their coffee cups. But in 2011, a new wave of controversy arose when the brand celebrated its 40th anniversary with a redesign. A Forbes article that year sparked a flurry of complaints about the logo. Some customers feared that without the words "Starbucks Coffee" on the logo, it would become unrecognizable, and that this shift could ultimately lead to the downfall of the brand. (Spoiler: They seem to be doing just fine.) Others felt the company was drifting away from its original mission and growing out of touch with its customer base.
6. Marco Rubio
Marco Rubio, Facebook
Hillary's logo isn't the only controversial symbol of the 2016 campaign. Republican Senator Marco Rubio launched his presidential bid on Monday, but his campaign logo quickly became a target of criticism. The primary issue raised was the omission of Hawaii and Alaska from the map that forms the dot over the 'i' in his name. Mazie Hirono, a U.S. Senator from Hawaii, tweeted "There's no question @marcorubio's priorities are out of line with what's best for HI—he even forgot to include us in his campaign logo." Another noticeable flaw was the kerning, or spacing, between the letters. Vox pointed out that instead of reading as "marco rubio" (all lowercase to appeal to millennials), it appeared as "m arc o ru bio."
7. and 8. Rand Paul and Ted Cruz
Fire has become a recurring theme in this year’s election logos. Rand Paul's logo, featuring a bold, red, two-pronged flame, has drawn comparisons to the Tinder app.
Ted Cruz's logo, on the other hand, has been likened to several other logos, including those of Natural Gas, The Onion, Al Jazeera, and even an upside-down, burning American flag.
9. Pepsi
iStock
PepsiCo spent $1 million commissioning the Arnell Group to design Pepsi’s new logo, but its 2008 debut was met with lukewarm reception. The only noticeable changes were a thinner, more curved font and a shift in the white wave running through the red and blue orb, which was tilted diagonally rather than remaining horizontal. In 2009, a draft document [PDF] from the Arnell Group was leaked, revealing all the meticulous details behind the new logo's design. Maybe that $1 million wasn't entirely wasted.
10. Airbnb
11. Bing
GageSkidmore via Wikimedia Commons // Fair Use
Poor Bing. In its debut year, a survey from the branding blog Brand New declared Bing to have the worst brand identity of 2009. The criticism wasn’t due to any unintended innuendos or similarities to other logos, but simply because the design was considered outright bad. Even Erik Spiekermann, the well-known German graphic designer and co-author of Stop Stealing Sheep & Find Out How Type Works, took the time to offer his thoughts, writing
Couldn’t you hire someone who can actually design type? It wouldn’t take more than an hour to do. It would still be a boring logo, but at least it wouldn’t look like a free font drawn by a 15-year-old in Corel Draw, in 1987. It was made from scratch and it still looks like scratch.
Bing eventually updated its logo in 2013.
