Myntra just changed their logo, and has divided the internet. As far as earned media is concerned, I think it's a win for everyone.
When I first saw the change, I was disappointed. Had the pandemic made people so jobless that someone had decided to make a press release on such a subtle change?
They removed a minor overlap in the 'M' of their logo. As someone who designs logos for brands, I was quick to get on google and started looking for a jargon filled blog post from the marketing department at Myntra. I was curious to learn how they would explain this minor change in more than 1000 words.
Things took a turn when I realised this wasn't the case. A Mumbai-based activist, Naaz Patel, had lodged a complaint with the cyber police. The demand was to take down the logo since it resembled a woman spreading her legs.
That wasn't what I was looking for, but sure, that's interesting. Now, I could no longer unsee this obscene icon. Logos with unsettling visual resemblances have existed forever. Some are so obvious you start thinking who approved these in the first place.
But Myntra's logo never held that space in my mind & I don't know how to feel about this. Should I feel bad that Myntra has to re-print all their branded touchpoints or that the activist never noticed McDonalds golden arches?
But I definitely do feel concerned about those poor graphic/identity designers. It was already a demanding job to get approvals from CEOs, CMOs & internal stakeholders. Now they need to wait for approvals from anyone who gets offended easily!
But every cloud does have a silver lining to it. This suddenly opens up a new market for startups who can build apps to get instant approvals from everyone who has a voice on the internet. Now that's something I'll happily take a paid subscription for!