4 min read · Feb 15, 2016
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No one in today’s busy world really cares about meaning of a mythical figure carved out in a logo. Many people do not even know that there is one such figure as base design of a logo. However, when you come to know about what the figure stands for, this enlightenment lets you see the logo in a new light.
On the contrary, if you find meaning of a mythical icon being in contrast to what a business actually wants to convey to its customers, then it surprises with a shock, and you question the wisdom of selecting that symbol for logo.
Here are such 5 examples of famous logos which have a wrong symbol but it still was retained by the company and identify for its business.
- The Starbucks Logo
This legendary logo of coffee chain Starbucks appears on its signs and cups. The Starbucks logo has a siren of Greek Mythology. The siren is a symbol for death, obsession and addiction.
Did Starbucks really want to give such a message of death and obsession to its customers? That would have ruined the coffee business of the company. But people do not bother to find out the real meaning of the green lady they see on the company logo design.
2. Trojan Condoms logo
This symbol used for condoms wishes to send out a message of masculinity and strength.
But the symbol of a warrior’s head in the logo is taken from the story of Trojan horse, a wooden horse that hid warriors to destroy city of Troy. Now, here Trojan stands for releasing those merciless warriors which were force of destruction. Is that the message the condom company really wanted to convey? Not at all, since women would not like to have those warriors into their womb. The logo is an example of how real meaning of a mascot changes as the time passes.
3. HTC Droid Eris
HTC Droid Eris was a smartphones that Verizon Wireless carried. But Droid Eris is actually a Goddess for Strife, Discord, Contention and Rivalry. She symbolizes inconvenience in Greek mythology. Now, certainly the company never wanted to cause any inconvenience to its valued customers. But real meaning of the name of the goddess to this particular smartphone went simply unnoticed by everyone.
4. Medical Logo
Caduceus is the symbol medical institutions use across the world.
According to the mythology, Caduceus is in the staff of Mercury, Roman god of liars. Caduceus is the symbol for deceit, profit and corporate greed. Surely, medical practitioners would not like to be seen as someone who indulges in profit making and greed. Actually, the rod of Asclepius is the symbol for god of medicine and looks similar to Caduceus symbol but it was mistakenly adopted as symbol for medicine.
5. Cerveus Capital Management
This is the largest private equity firm of US. But the company’s name comes from mythological giant three headed dog, which threatens to eat you alive. The firm had no intention of carrying this meaning through its name. still the name was adopted as the company in fact wanted to give message to the people that their investment with the company is fiercely protected.
These example of wrong choice of symbols and names are from famous companies. There are in fact dozens of such instances when the message a company want to give is in contradiction to what its symbol really means.
