Thursday, January 6, 2011

Starbucks is turning 40


Starbucks is celebrating its 40th anniversary this year. To celebrate, they are unveiling a new logo. The logo will only be the Siren (lady in the middle of the current logo, if you hadn't noticed) but instead of being white on a black background, she'll be on a green background. The green ring around the Siren, which reads "Starbucks Coffee", will also be removed.


I definitely don't care for the 1971 logo - it was way too complicated for a coffee cup. The Siren just got streamlined between 1987 and 1992, which I liked. Now they are planning to simplify the logo even more, leaving out the "Starbucks Coffee".


After reading some comments on Starbucks.com/Preview, I can see why Starbucks may have made this decision. Someone mentioned that Apple Computer, Inc. changed to Apple Inc. in 2007 (though its logo has remained the apple with a bite taken out of it - interestingly enough, to distinguish it from a cherry). The company dropped "Computer" because they were expanding to other consumer products, in addition to computers. McDonald's also had their name in their logo (amidst the golden arches) from 1968 to 2003. Now, they are just the golden arches. So maybe Starbucks is dropping their name because they feel that the Siren is a recognizable brand. Maybe they're expanding to more than just coffee.

Wikipedia mentions that Starbucks won a trademark infringement case in China because Shanghai Xingbake used a green-and-white logo, and "Xing-ba-ke" sounds phonetically a lot like Starbucks. So maybe Starbucks is dropping their name so that their logo can't be "parodied" or "infringed" upon as much.


But man, are people HATING this new logo. I just read online that Gap had a new logo up on its website back in Oct. 2010 - it was pretty hideous, but I didn't see it when it came out - but it got such backlash on Facebook that the company went back to its old logo. Will this happen to Starbucks too? Or will Starbucks stand firm on its decision?

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