Thursday, May 14, 2009

When Bad Things Happen to Good Logos


I really enjoyed this article 'When Bad Things Happen to Good Logos' by Steven Heller in my latest edition of the AIGA Newsletter.  Steven discusses logos such as Enron and Circuit City, which used to be good logos but are now associated with bad things when their companies crashed and burned.  The epitome example of this would most likely be the swastika, which interestingly enough was used on many brands including Coca-Cola before the war.  But when Adolf Hitler chose this symbol for the Nazi Party, the meaning was changed forever.  

It is amazing what connection we have with some Logos.  Most recently people freaked out over the change of the Tropicana and Pepsi logo.  So much that Tropicana reverted back to their old package design again.  It really makes me wonder, how do you create such a strong connection to your brand that people actually get upset when you change it.  And can you do too good of a job creating a connection that you are stuck in never updating your look?  Or is it just that you have to make the change very carefully and strategically.  But don't you think Tropicana most likely went through lots of research and test groups before making such a major change?  Who knows maybe they didn't, there has to be a reason for their failure to give their customers the look they want.  I could analyze this all day long.  Just some food for thought.

1 comment:

  1. Remember when Burger King switched logos? That one rocked my 90's world.

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