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Wednesday, October 13, 2010

"The Internet's Logo Snobs" Have Spoken


In business news this week, GAP Inc. introduced a new
logo for the clothing company online and, due to vehement criticism from their fans and followers on Facebook and Twitter, quickly returned to their original logo. According to CNN's John D. Sutter, "the internet's logo snobs won this one." Interestingly, Gap had stated that they would "crowdsource" their new brand design, taking alternate suggestions from fans and implementing them if they were appropriate. Apparently, they have retracted this approach as well. A press release from the company states the following explanation: "We've learned a lot in this process. And we are clear that we did not go about this in the right way. We recognize that we missed the opportunity to engage with the online community. This wasn't the right project at the right time for crowd sourcing."

My favourite piece of commentary on this story comes from Margaret Lyons of Entertainment Weekly: "I get it. People hated the new logo. The little blue box just looked like dozens of other logos, we're all sans-serifed out, etc. But where is the Internet outcry about stirrup leggings? Or the lack of pockets on a jacket that should clearly have pockets? When will someone speak up about the terrifying reemergence of clogs?! Get your priorities in order, Internet. Those clogs are easily 900 times worse than that logo."