BS: Boycott Starbucks for Obscene New Logo

Subject: BS: Boycott Starbucks for Obscene New Logo
From: JohnInKansas
Date: 16 May 08 - 07:17 PM

Revealing Starbucks logo gets mixed reviews

Mermaid's makeover draws a response as coffee chain tries to break slump

By Mike Sunnucks
American City Business Journals
updated 5:16 p.m. CT, Fri., May. 16, 2008

Starbucks Corp. has a new more revealing logo of its trademark mermaid. The logo — which offers a more revealing look at the coffee chain's mermaid symbol and goes with brown instead of green as its color — is getting mixed reviews from marketing and public relations experts.

"It's unusual," said Sally Baker, who runs Scottsdale, Ariz.-based Great Ideas Public Relations. "I'm not sure most people will get it."
The logo features a bare-chested mermaid with her tail fin split in half. The previous green logo showed less of the mermaid.

A Christian group in San Diego called The Resistance is offended by the new logo and wants consumers to boycott or complain to the Seattle-based coffee chain.

The turbulent economy and sagging housing market have bitten into consumer confidence and Starbucks sales.

Richard Ettenson, a branding expert and international marketing professor at the Thunderbird School of Global Management in Glendale, Ariz., said companies use logo changes to send messages to the greater marketplace.

"Logos and visual identities are all about sending signals to the marketplace. It appears the current logo change at Starbucks is an attempt to signal that it is not business as usual and that something a bit new and different is brewing at Starbucks," Ettenson said.
"The new logo achieves this without abandoning completely what is comfortable and familiar (the overall layout/design and the mermaid)," he said.

Some Arizona PR experts are taking the logo change a little less seriously.

"Seattle is known for people who like the peace pipe and this looks like the work of someone smoking some while watching 'A Fish Called Wanda' in the Pink Taco Restaurant," said Jason Rose, president of Scottsdale-based Rose & A

/quote

I can hardly wait to hear what the candidates have to say about this.

There is a picture of the new logo at the link, on a link to a video commentary by real news media people, I suppose.

Actually, the video is sort of cute, and also shows the obscene logo, so you can go straight to it here..

John

Subject: RE: BS: Boycott Starbucks for Obscene New Logo
From: GUEST,Edt T
Date: 16 May 08 - 07:22 PM

I don't shop there because it's overpriced.

Mermaid, seacow, who cares.

Subject: RE: BS: Boycott Starbucks for Obscene New Logo
From: open mike
Date: 16 May 08 - 07:34 PM

I think all self-respecting mermaids should protest their image being used to sell coffee. (unless it was marine-friendly, dolphin-safe and
organicly shade grown by co-operative farmers and sold by fair trade)

Subject: RE: BS: Boycott Starbucks for Obscene New Logo
From: irishenglish
Date: 16 May 08 - 08:15 PM

'Cos her hair was green as seaweed
Her skin was blue and pale
Her face it was a work of art
I loved that girl with all my heart
But I only liked the upper part
I did not like the tail

Subject: RE: BS: Boycott Starbucks for Obscene New Logo
From: Peace
Date: 16 May 08 - 08:20 PM

How is she gonna drink coffee when she's using her hands to grab her tails?

Subject: RE: BS: Boycott Starbucks for Obscene New Logo
From: Peace
Date: 16 May 08 - 08:22 PM

Clever however that her ti--uh, breasts are not pendulous. She won't be getting the nipples in the hot liquid, assuming she ever drops her tails to have a cuppa.

Subject: RE: BS: Boycott Starbucks for Obscene New Logo
From: Little Hawk
Date: 16 May 08 - 08:31 PM

YAWNNNNN.....

This matters about as much as George Bush's taste in footwear.

Subject: RE: BS: Boycott Starbucks for Obscene New Logo
From: JohnInKansas
Date: 16 May 08 - 08:34 PM

LH - Congratulations on being the first one to see (or at least to enunciate) the point. (At least the one I had in mind.)

John

Subject: RE: BS: Boycott Starbucks for Obscene New Logo
From: Peace
Date: 16 May 08 - 08:40 PM

But it DOES matter. THINK you guys. What will be next? Hell, we'll have dogs running around naked and you know where THAT could lead!

Subject: RE: BS: Boycott Starbucks for Obscene New Logo
From: Don Firth
Date: 16 May 08 - 08:40 PM

Hell's bells!! It doesn't look any different from the logo I've seen around here (Seattle) for thirty-five years!

The video says this religious group maintains that it looks like a naked woman spreading her legs. Actually, it's a very old nautical drawing of a stylized mermaid (which ought to be obvious to anyone who isn't totally obsessed with sex). To me, it looks like a three-way collision between a bare-chested female bather and two fairly sizable codfish.

Be very careful!! These folks can tell when you're whistling dirty songs!

Don Firth

Subject: RE: BS: Boycott Starbucks for Obscene New Logo
From: irishenglish
Date: 16 May 08 - 08:43 PM

"From her head to her waist
She was just my taste
But the rest of her
Was a fish!"

Subject: RE: BS: Boycott Starbucks for Obscene New Logo
From: Peace
Date: 16 May 08 - 08:45 PM

The cabin boy, the cabin boy
The dirty little nipper
Shoved broken glass up the first mate's ass
And circumcized the skipper.

Subject: RE: BS: Boycott Starbucks for Obscene New Logo
From: Little Hawk
Date: 16 May 08 - 08:46 PM

They can tell when you're thinking dirty thoughts too, Don! This is bad. It means that you, me, and just about everyone else here is in big trouble!!!!!! ;-)

Subject: RE: BS: Boycott Starbucks for Obscene New Logo
From: Stilly River Sage
Date: 16 May 08 - 08:53 PM

If she had a comb and a glass in her hand they wouldn't be able to sell their coffee anywhere near the Washington State ferry system.

SRS

Subject: RE: BS: Boycott Starbucks for Obscene New Logo
From: Peace
Date: 16 May 08 - 09:05 PM

So instead, in each hand she has a piece of tail . . . .

Subject: RE: BS: Boycott Starbucks for Obscene New Logo
From: Peace
Date: 16 May 08 - 09:05 PM

Let me rephrase that.

Subject: RE: BS: Boycott Starbucks for Obscene New Logo
From: Little Hawk
Date: 16 May 08 - 09:07 PM

She is clearly of two minds.

Subject: RE: BS: Boycott Starbucks for Obscene New Logo
From: Peace
Date: 16 May 08 - 09:08 PM

Has anyone noticed that she's not biologically accurate?

Subject: RE: BS: Boycott Starbucks for Obscene New Logo
From: Jeri
Date: 16 May 08 - 09:14 PM

It was some sailor's fantasy and the original logo was originally focused in because of that whole split tail thing. I think an aroused sailor might be a bit perplexed by an anatomically correct mermaid.

Subject: RE: BS: Boycott Starbucks for Obscene New Logo
From: Little Hawk
Date: 16 May 08 - 09:19 PM

I'll say. He'd be all dressed up, but no place to go.

Subject: RE: BS: Boycott Starbucks for Obscene New Logo
From: Peace
Date: 16 May 08 - 09:19 PM

OH!

Well, I can understand that. I checked Google Images. WHEW! Talk about yer X-rated logos . . . .

Subject: RE: BS: Boycott Starbucks for Obscene New Logo
From: Mooh
Date: 16 May 08 - 09:21 PM

What a bunch of fuckheads. Seriously, what does it matter outside of the rarefied arena of logo designers? Hey, it's a mermaid, so what!

Maybe women shouldn't walk down the street if spreading their legs is so controversial.

What a bunch of dickheads.

Subject: RE: BS: Boycott Starbucks for Obscene New Logo
From: Little Hawk
Date: 16 May 08 - 09:22 PM

Pretty shocking, eh? Avert your eyes when entering (the restaurant)!

Subject: RE: BS: Boycott Starbucks for Obscene New Logo
From: GUEST,Q as guest
Date: 16 May 08 - 11:42 PM

Just looked at a package of beans, never really noticed the mernaid before. She is the old model, hourglass figure, no nipples.
This reminds me to go to a Starbucks tomorrow and restock.

The company is tidying up a bit. The branch in my closest Safeway has gone dark, but the larger Safeway in a better mall still has an operating Starbucks. There is a full franchise Starbucks in the same mall, so the one in the Safeway may go before too long. The idea of putting them in groceries may have been a stretch too far.

Subject: RE: BS: Boycott Starbucks for Obscene New Logo
From: Joe Offer
Date: 17 May 08 - 12:29 AM

I dunno. I have no moral objection to the new "old" logo, but I prefer the simplicity of the familiar one, and I think it's a classic of design. I guess I never actually recognized it as a mermaid before, but I like it. I don't know that I thought out the story behind the Morton Salt logo for years, but I like it - and I didn't like attempts to revise it.

When a company has a logo that's simple, attractive to the eye, and immediately recognizable - why risk changing to something new? Campbell's Soup, Arm & Hammer, Heinz Ketchup, Tide detergent, Ivory Soap, Procter and Gamble, Coke & Pepsi, Aunt Jemima, Betty Crocker, Wheaties, Cheerios, Rice Crispies, Kellogg's Corn Flakes, Golden Arches, Budweiser - those logos are worth billions. I'm sure all of you recognize most of those designs right off.

-Joe-

Subject: RE: BS: Boycott Starbucks for Obscene New Logo
From: JohnInKansas
Date: 17 May 08 - 01:36 AM

'Way back when, there were distinctive logos for individual products as well as for corporations. I remember with fond sadness the pictures that used to be on the ends of the wooden crates in which our neighborhood grocer got his lettuce, grapes, etc. For a susceptible 7 y.o. some of those were "fine art."

A quick image search via Google for "cigar box art" fails to bring up any of the brands I remember my uncles used to smoke, but those were some "pretty hot stuff" for a youngster, although I don't recall any complaint from the (old) ladies about the logos - only about the stink. (My uncles didn't smoke "pricey" cigars.)

The "stereotype" design I remember makes me think, every time I see it, that the painting Eva Prima Pandora done in 1550 by Jean Cousin the Elder (France 1495 - 1560) was made to be on a cigar box, although I don't really remember seeing that specific work on one.

An apparent current fad in "cigar box handbags" shows some "simulations" using badly reproduced art(?) in the "style of" some of the old boxes, but I didn't find any good representative real logos of ones I remember.

John

Subject: RE: BS: Boycott Starbucks for Obscene New Logo
From: catspaw49
Date: 17 May 08 - 01:50 AM

Gas is approaching 5 bucks a gallon and I should give a shit about their lousy coffee or their logo? Fuck 'em.............btw, gas in Saudi Arabia is 65 cents. Why don't we threaten their culture with the idea of building hundreds of Starbucks with monstrous anatomically correct mermaids prominently displayed by huge statues at each one unless they send us oil for $35 a barrel. If that don't work maybe we just invade their ass. The army is already over there anyway, fuckin' around in Iraq, ya' know?

Spaw

Subject: RE: BS: Boycott Starbucks for Obscene New Logo
From: JohnInKansas
Date: 17 May 08 - 02:16 AM

Spaw -

That ain't a new idea. We've already sent cheerleaders to India, to show their local teams how to set up their own squads. Watch for the spread to other nations.

We shouldn't make them drink bad coffee until they're at least slightly acclimated to some of our other "progressive habits."

John

Subject: RE: BS: Boycott Starbucks for Obscene New Logo
From: Liz the Squeak
Date: 17 May 08 - 03:28 AM

Oh Puleeeeeeseee!!!

There are far better reasons to boycott Morebucks than not liking the picture very much...

You know, it's christians like those that give Christians a bad name.

It's true people, the Apocolypse is nigh!

LTS

Subject: RE: BS: Boycott Starbucks for Obscene New Logo
From: gnu
Date: 17 May 08 - 03:50 AM

I wonder how much Starbucks is paying for the outrage. Bet it's pretty cheap advertising.

Subject: RE: BS: Boycott Starbucks for Obscene New Logo
From: Micca
Date: 17 May 08 - 04:56 AM

Well you know what they say "one mans meat is another mans poisson"

Subject: RE: BS: Boycott Starbucks for Obscene New Logo
From: Teribus
Date: 17 May 08 - 05:48 AM

If that is all these clowns have got to complain about then their world must be in pretty good shape.

Subject: RE: BS: Boycott Starbucks for Obscene New Logo
From: Becca72
Date: 17 May 08 - 06:22 AM

Some people are just looking for things to be offended by.


I don't go to Starbucks because it's crap coffee...has nothing to do with the logo.

Subject: RE: BS: Boycott Starbucks for Obscene New Logo
From: Bobert
Date: 17 May 08 - 07:18 AM

Where's John Aschroft when we need him the most???

(((grin)))

B~

Subject: RE: BS: Boycott Starbucks for Obscene New Logo
From: Charley Noble
Date: 17 May 08 - 10:15 AM

That image of a mermaid has been making the rounds for at least 150 years. I last saw a version in John Ashton's REAL-SAILOR SONGS, © 1891.

There certainly are more sexy images of mermaids available on-line if that were the point. Certainly the cover art for ON THE ROCKS, a Johnson Girls CD, is more sexy to my mind.

I do hope that the Christian group Resistance who are credited with making the original complaint have rechecked their current inventory of biblical images to make sure "everything" is appropriately draped or covered with foliage.

Charley Noble

Subject: RE: BS: Boycott Starbucks for Obscene New Logo
From: GUEST,Neptune
Date: 17 May 08 - 10:56 AM

mmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmm Mermaid tail Mmmmmmmmmmmmmmm
pant pant pant

Subject: RE: BS: Boycott Starbucks for Obscene New Logo
From: Rasener
Date: 17 May 08 - 11:06 AM

Looks to me like two fish muff diving the mermaid

I'll get me cod piece

Subject: RE: BS: Boycott Starbucks for Obscene New Logo
From: frogprince
Date: 17 May 08 - 11:20 AM

I've got the muff diver's blu - u -ues, sing my baby said goodby;
Lord, I don't know what I'll do - o o, all I do is sit and cry...

Subject: RE: BS: Boycott Starbucks for Obscene New Logo
From: Joe Offer
Date: 17 May 08 - 09:15 PM

Well, I told you I like the familiar Starbucks logo. Well, I liked it so much that I wrote to Starbucks to plead for its life. Turns out it's only a temporary logo change, and that the simpler logo will return on everything but the Pike's Place Roast coffee.
Also, not that this isn't just any mermaid - Starbucks refers to her as a Siren.
I'm glad my familiar Siren is here to stay.
-Joe-

Here's the text of their e-mail:

Hello Joe,

Thank you for contacting Starbucks Coffee Company. We appreciate your feedback about the "classic" siren logo.

The brown logo currently appearing on cups in our U.S. company-operated locations is a temporary change, but will be used for Pike Place RoastT marketing and packaging.

Bringing back this version of the original logo is a great way to celebrate our heritage and bring a little piece of Seattle to our stores across the country. We chose to alter our original logo based on customer feedback received during our 35th anniversary promotion.

Subject: RE: BS: Boycott Starbucks for Obscene New Logo
From: Bee-dubya-ell
Date: 17 May 08 - 10:24 PM

I'm intrigued by the "split-tail" siren image. In the more commonly seen type of image, the mermaid's transition from human to fish begins at her waist, meaning she would most likely have fish genitalia. The split-tail version would likely have human genitalia. The implication is that a horny sailor could have sex with the split-tail siren in a normal fashion, whereas having sex with the more conventionally seen type of mermaid pretty much equates to fucking fish.

Subject: RE: BS: Boycott Starbucks for Obscene New Logo
From: Joe Offer
Date: 17 May 08 - 10:30 PM

Are we moving from coffee to bestiality here??? Do we really want to go there, Bee-dubya-ell? Describing it that way, ruins all my mermaid fantasies...

Subject: RE: BS: Boycott Starbucks for Obscene New Logo
From: GUEST,Q as guest
Date: 18 May 08 - 12:02 AM

Thanks, Joe, I prefer the old one. Dunno if I will try their new blend with the old Seattle name. Restocked our coffee beans. Currently Guatemala antigua. Great coffee! Glad to have Starbucks in Canada, much better than that horrible Tim Horton's stuff.

Lets see, in recent memory, this must be the 3rd- or is it 4th thread- that we have discussed or cussed the mermaid company.

Subject: RE: BS: Boycott Starbucks for Obscene New Logo
From: Bonzo3legs
Date: 18 May 08 - 10:25 AM

Typical raving USAian religeous cranks.

Subject: RE: BS: Boycott Starbucks for Obscene New Logo
From: Liz the Squeak
Date: 18 May 08 - 04:11 PM

Perhaps they should read this article. Scroll down far enough and you see the mermaid holding a comb and mirror - she's been on the ceiling of an abbey for the last 600 years.

LTS

Subject: RE: BS: Boycott Starbucks for Obscene New Logo
From: Herga Kitty
Date: 18 May 08 - 05:24 PM

Meat or fish (Rawtenstall Annual Fair)....?

Kitty

Subject: RE: BS: Boycott Starbucks for Obscene New Logo
From: TheSnail
Date: 18 May 08 - 07:11 PM

They could try something based on this.

Subject: RE: BS: Boycott Starbucks for Obscene New Logo
From: SINSULL
Date: 18 May 08 - 07:17 PM

I agree with Liz - crap coffee and at 7AM all I want to order is coffee black not Sri Lankan beans medium grind with fat free cream and no foam.

Subject: RE: BS: Boycott Starbucks for Obscene New Logo
From: meself
Date: 18 May 08 - 09:28 PM

I read the article LTS linked - I'm afraid I'm going to have to join the boycott now ...

Subject: RE: BS: Boycott Starbucks for Obscene New Logo
From: JohnInKansas
Date: 19 May 08 - 03:03 AM

At the article that LTS linked, I'm offended (boo hoo) that while they identified the poet, they omitted credit to the painter.

This mermaid is well known:

The Artist:
John William Waterhouse
England
Victorian Romanticism
b.1849 - d.1917

A brief bio, and the first 10 of 90 of his paintings at the site can be found at the link.

The painting:
A Mermaid
1901, Oil on canvas,
38.58 x 26.38 inches / 98 x 67 cm
The Royal Academy of Arts,
London, England

Appears in a very good quality image (for a web collection) at Page 2 (at the bottom of the page) at the above site. Click the thumbnail to open a larger version in a new window.

He's not actually one of my "most favorite" artists, but deserves to be credited - especially [IMO] when his works are used for commercial purposes.

John

Subject: RE: BS: Boycott Starbucks for Obscene New Logo
From: Melissa
Date: 19 May 08 - 03:31 AM

Waterhouse mermaid...guitar:

http://www.musiciansfriend.com/product/Luna-Fantasie-Mermaid-Small-Auditorium-Cutaway-Acoustic-Electric-Guitar?sku=516102