July 24, 2004
Fun with logos.
Tweaking corporate logos and branding devices can be a lot of fun. How meaningful these logo-jams are is a different matter. One way to think about them is to ask whether the alterations are actually informed by (and directly address) a recognizable political or cultural issue. For example, the Enron logo modification is a stark reminder of the pervasive attitude of its corporate culture at the time of its collapse, a specificity that is lacking in my own Starbucks and Mega Bloks tweaks (above).
In cultural theoretical terms, this contrast could be described as the difference between an oppositional stance (cf the Enron logo-jam) and a merely resistive one.
NB Mega Bloks is a Montreal-based toy company best known (in this household) for its Lego-like construction kits. Remember those bricks in your own Lego box that were never quite as shiny as the rest and tended to break apart too easily?
Posted by matt at July 24, 2004 12:22 PM | TrackBack