October 12, 2010

Gap: You like us! You really do like us!

Talk about artful dodging: The statement issued this morning by Gap, Inc. announcing its decision to scrap a newly designed logo is the embodiment of spin.

In recent weeks, the new Gap logo brought howls of criticism, mostly due to its unremarkable design. Today’s statement today makes a breathtaking leap in logic, equating that criticism to brand love. As in: It’s not that you hated our new logo – it’s that you love our old logo so much, you can’t bear for us to change it.

In the first paragraph, Gap President Marka Hansen purports to have received an “outpouring of comments … in support of the iconic blue box logo.” This outpouring reflects “how much energy there is around our brand” and how customers “are passionate about our blue box logo.”

OK, so we haven’t read all of the comments posted online and air-mailed to Gap. But the real story, online and off, has been one of alarm, not ardor. The new logo was supposed to be communicating – what again?

Loyal Gap customers are passionate about their experience with the product and company, not the logo. Loyal customers will embrace an updated identity if the update is a step forward.

So we wonder what an inspired Gap logo design might have accomplished for the company. At the very least, it would not have brought today’s exercise in disingenuousness.