New GAP logo causes Social buzz
Yesterday GAP announced that they were changing their logo for the first time in over twenty years. As news spread of the imminent change a torrent of abuse and backlash from users hit Social Networking sites, it seems everyone had or has an opinion on the new design (most of it being negative.)
Facebook fans hit the GAP fanpage as a platform to voice their opinions on the matter, saying things like,
“When I look at the new logo I think law firm. how ridiculous.” Phu Le or
“If it ain’t broke, don’t fix it…. If this is a permanent change, I’ll shop elsewhere.” Dianna Davenport
In an attempt to control and feedback to their consumers GAP released a statement on their blog stating
“You’ve seen this evolution through many of our products, such as the 1969 premium denim and the new black pants, and more modern stores in many locations.
The natural step for us on this journey is to see how our logo – one that we’ve had for more than 20 years – should evolve. Our brand and our clothes are changing and rethinking our logo is part of aligning with that.
We want our customers to take notice of Gap and see what it stands for today.
We chose this design as it’s more contemporary and current. It honors our heritage through the blue box while still taking it forward.” Marka Hansen
Now in an attempt to appease it’s audience GAP has opened the creative floor to it’s fans asking them to suggest alternative designs. Although some have complied by giving their suggestions, others are furious that GAP are trying to get free logo suggestions.
“Crowd sourcing? are you f***ing serious?.. you probably paid $200,000 to a design firm for that sorry excuse for logo and now you want another one for free?….. We dont need your “crowd sourcing” here.” Erika Themaras
“Epic fail…. Good luck with your crowdsourcing plans. Hope they will fail as spectacularly as that new piece of logo-dung.” Courtney Beadel
Throughout the logo discussion there has been widespread speculation by some fans that this has all been a publicity stunt, some stating,
“Not buying this at all. This logo is so bad that it’s not even believable. I think this whole thing is a clever marketing ploy to create some viral buzz on the net, and looks like its working. People are fired right up about this, but if you look at their website, they’ve only changed the logo in once place in the nav. Companies this big don’t partially launch a logo in this way.” Mike Czuboka
Looking through their marketing material, their UK website, Facebook page, Twitter account and even the blog post from which the above statement by Hansen was taken- none of them have updated the old logo to the new one. In fact the only place the new logo is visible with regards to GAP marketing is on the American website.
Only time will tell if this has all been a publicity stunt, but if it is I don’t think it’s gone quite as well we they hoped, it seems more people are angry over this then supporting it.
What do you think of the new logo, do you prefer it to the old one? Do you think this is all a publicity stunt or is for real?
UPDATE: 09.10.10
Since this story was published a crafty man named James Jyu has built and launched an interactive website allowing you, the user to create your own GAP logo using the new logo as a starting point. Check it out here.
UPDATE: 12.10.10
As of today GAP has announced they are no longer pursuing the redesign of their logo. So, is this an honest retaliation following the negative feedback from it’s followers or was it all a publicity stunt? What do you think?
