Posts Tagged ‘ayr-way’

Walmart's wretched new logo

The other day, I was driving and did a double take when I saw this for the first time:

225px-new_walmart_logosvg

Wal-Mart’s (Walmart’s?) new logo. I was passing through a smallish city in Northern Indiana, so I thought (charitably) that perhaps this was an ancient version I had never seen before. Indeed, if it were new, why had I not heard of it, and why was I first encountering it in a small city and not a large? I was confused.

A little checking revealed the truth. Wikipedia says,

On June 30, 2008, Wal-Mart unveiled a new company logo, featuring the non-hyphenated name “Walmart” followed by a stylized spark, as it is referred to on store advertisements. The new logo received mixed reviews from some design critics, who question whether the new logo is as bold as competitors such as the Target bullseye or as instantly recognizable as the former company logo, which was used for 18 years.

I’m a marketing MBA and work in advertising, so I think about these matters (I am ashamed, however, that I did not know about this new logo until this week). My take? As the title of this post suggests, I think it sucks eggs.

For one thing, it reminds me of the Ayr-Way logo (a local Indiana discount chain that was swallowed up by Target):

picture-3
Walmart probably shouldn’t be worried about this vague resemblance. Walmart should be worried that the six-pointed thingie, as thin and sleek as it is trying to be, either looks dated (if it’s a flower, it calls to mind the late sixties to early seventies) or looks like nothing much at all (a “spark,” huh?). Overall, the logo is thin, wimpy, and clinical in appearance. The colors are insipid.

Walmart’s old logo, as unappealing to me as it was, with its color, font, and central star conveyed the rock-ribbed conservatism and laissez-faire capitalism for which the company stands:

303px-wal-mart_logosvg

Chunky. Solid. American! What was “broke” about this logo that needed “fixed,” I intently wonder? By what pathway of marketing incompetence did the new, misbegotten wretch stumble out into the glaring daylight of commerce?

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