Yes We Can Steal The Pepsi Logo: Is Obama Guilty of Logo Design Theft? |
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Categories: Logo Design Tips, Logo Theft
Written By: Nora Reed
As some of you may have noticed, I have worked very hard to not bore you by repeating article topics. However, while rereading some of your comments I noticed something quite interesting. I’m not sure if everyone will see it or not, but I cant help but draw a connection between the new Pepsi logo, and the Obama logo which became so famous.
First lets take a look at the Pepsi logo. With a new CEO and branding image, Pepsi has certainly shaken things up. Watch out for the fizz. There has undoubtedly been a lot of change around Pepsi.
Speaking of change, Obama’s logo which was released after the Pepsi logo appears to be very similar. Is it possible that our president-elect is guilty of logo theft? Not exactly the best example to be setting in the beginning of your presidency. Here are the logos side by side.
YES WE CAN see similarities. Clearly the shape of logo is the same, but also take a closer look at the color scheme. It may help if I flip the image around.
As you can see the two logos are very close to reversed images. The circles are almost identically broken up into three similar color divisions. Now I don’t know for sure, but I would say either Obama loves Pepsi more than the average citizen, or he was trying to secure the Pepsi drinker vote. Maybe McCain would have had more luck if he had based his logo off of the Coca Cola logo.
January 14th, 2009 at 3:07 pm
Is this post a joke? There are no appreciable similarities at all, here.
January 14th, 2009 at 3:51 pm
What?!? Any logo in a circle using red white and blue and dividing those colors into three areas is a ripoff of the new pepsi logo? Have you lost your mind? That’s a pretty flimsy premise ya got there.
(oh… and you forgot to flip the pepsi logo round)
January 14th, 2009 at 4:44 pm
I actually think the new Pepsi logo was revealed well AFTER the Obama campaign began. For a logo blog, perhaps instead of discussing whether or not Pepsi ripped off Obama, we should discuss the effectiveness of Pepsi’s new branding now that it’s out?
January 14th, 2009 at 6:29 pm
This was the first post I’ve read on this blog. I won’t be reading another. F****** lame, even if it is a joke.
January 14th, 2009 at 10:21 pm
oh great. Some pig pepsi addicted fool sees pepsi in obama’s logo. I guess everytime you see a raised flag you run out and buy a 2 liter of pepsi?
January 15th, 2009 at 2:47 am
hey dude, wake up hese two logo r very different… if u want to tell tat these logos r similar then all most all the logo’s r similar in one or the othr way… stop comparing two different logo, only think will this logo be effective for the end user o not.
January 15th, 2009 at 10:45 am
I’m disappointed in your article especially considering this excellent interview with the designers of the Obama logo. I would have thought you’d have seen this being an expert on logos and all! http://www.logodesignlove.com/obama-logo-designer-interview I’m now going to review your past articles to see if this site is worth keeping in my RSS feed. I hope this poorly judged article is a once off.
January 15th, 2009 at 2:41 pm
Yeah, I agree, Oscar. Time to unsubscribe.
January 16th, 2009 at 11:07 am
Everyone needs to lighten up – I think it’s a fair observation. I (and I’m sure many of you) have compared much different logos before – that’s what we do. Everyone’s getting all defensive since “The Obama” logo is up for (semi) roasting.
January 16th, 2009 at 12:38 pm
OK people, If you don’t notice that the two symbols (although not the exact same) are VERY similar, then you’re in denial. And YES, although Pepsi won’t come out and say it, they are for sure making new logos and commercials based on the Obama campaign. I mean come on, the commercials say hOpe, Optimism, yes yOu can, with the O’s having the new symbol…not blatently but indirectly supporting Obama and his views…
January 16th, 2009 at 2:23 pm
Hi Guys,
I know the post was a little silly, but that was the whole point! I know the Obama logo was created before the Pepsi logo, and the similarities are minor at best. Since friends have casually mentioned the similarities between the two I thought it only natural to examine them. My intent was just to look at the two biggest logos of 2008 in a lighthearted way. I am a fan of both Mr. Obama and Pepsi, and really didn’t mean any offense to either party or to disparage two great logos.
January 17th, 2009 at 3:46 pm
The power of WORDS — ‘STEAL’ was the error, not the comparison.
You might argue inspiration.
You might look at BANK of AMERICA’S crop field as a connection to the OBAMA logo too; but inspiration would be the only word that connects them.
January 19th, 2009 at 2:08 am
Kevin,
No offense, but I think you failed at delivering a lighthearted entry … seeing as it wasn’t very clearly delivered in such a way. That’s the fallacy of writing, the message intended by the writer and the message read by the audience can wind up being two different things.
I certainly don’t object to the occasional lighthearted and humorous post, it just needs to be more clearly presented as such a post.
January 19th, 2009 at 8:12 am
[...] – Did Obama steal the Pepsi logo? [...]
January 19th, 2009 at 2:27 pm
Since when did political figures become “hands off”? If the comparison was made about McCain/Palin- everyone would be toasting the article? Everyone needs to settle down and stop blessing Obama as the next coming of President Lincoln without him serving 1 day in office yet. It’s a funny article (maybe some of you ultra left wingers missed the humor) meant to compare a soda logo and our new president’s logo- the new generation needs to lighten up and “refresh America”
January 20th, 2009 at 7:37 am
It cannot be denied that the Obama logo contains an O, which was shamelessly stolen from the Latin alphabet. The colors were stolen from the Old Glory, whose colors were stolen from the British Union Flag.
January 20th, 2009 at 11:23 pm
What is everyone offended about? The fact that the guy jokingly claimed that Obama stole the logo? Has anyone every heard of Steven Colbert? Tongue-in-cheek? It’s quite obvious that Pepsi is trying to cash in on the success of Obama’s campaign. Why else would they emphasize how much they’ve ‘changed’ over the years, serving the “new generation” in their commercials. I am so embarrassed to be liberal when I read comments posted by ignorant ‘liberals’. If you are a liberal please, vote in each election, but if you are stupid as well, please stop making us look bad; keep your mouth shut.
January 21st, 2009 at 12:07 am
[...] victory. Never mind that the logos of both the newly simplified Pepsi and the Obama campaign are absurdly similar; what’s interesting here is that smart brands are quickly seizing the opportunity to create [...]
January 22nd, 2009 at 11:20 am
I think you’d have a tough time proving this in trademark infringement court. 8-p
There are similarities between Dell’s logo and Enron
http://mradomski.files.wordpress.com/2008/03/dell_logo020307.jpg
http://textrapolate.com/wp-content/uploads/2008/06/439px-enron_logo.png
As well as Samsung’s logo and the logo for KLBJ radio:
http://www.topnews.in/files/samsung_3.jpg
http://www.spamarama.org/images/klbj.jpg
January 23rd, 2009 at 10:51 am
I admit that when I first saw the new PEPSI logo I thought of the OBAMA logo. But upon a side by side comparison they do in fact look different. They may have similar colors and stripes in a circle but each obviously stands on its own. There is no merit in saying one is a modified copy of the other. That’s just silly.
January 27th, 2009 at 6:16 pm
yeah ! your next article should be about how Pepsi ‘stole’ the colour scheme from the French flag
February 2nd, 2009 at 9:14 am
Pepsi introduced this image to the general public in the form of TV ad’s, right around Obama’s victory. I think the images are quite alike, and Pepsi is trying to bank off of Obama’s ‘change’ and ‘it’s a new day’ success. Obama’s image came out much earlier. I don’t believe Pepsi has changed anything about their corporate polluting, union busting ways, so it’s just an image and makes me dislike pepsi even more.
Because I hate a fox, not a wolf. A wolf will tell you he’s going to eat you, and fox will be sly and tricky and eat you without you even realizing it…
February 4th, 2009 at 9:42 am
[...] with AT&T’s crappy emblem, but I can’t let them get away with their blatant Obama brand-jacking. Tagged with: design, logos, pepsi « Twenty-Five Random Things [...]
February 5th, 2009 at 9:18 am
I wish the image rotation was done correctly because then it’s much easier to see the remarkable similarities in the two logos’ designs. I think our brains process that transposition much more easily when it is done unconsciously.
When I saw the logo for the first time yesterday while my train passed through a subway station, I instantly did a double-take because I had the impression I was looking at some version of the Obama logo.
Later, when I saw a few other of the billboards as I was exiting a station, it was obvious that the campaign surrounding the logo introduction was playing off Obama campaign themes.
I didn’t think the IKEA campaign that was timed with the Inauguration was surprising in any way, but this is something riskier. IKEA wasn’t subsuming their own identity into that of Obama’s the way PepsiCo seems to be doing here. Also, a year from now, if Obama’s popularity tanks, nobody will remember IKEA’s ads. But Pepsi’s logo will still be there, reminding consumers on a daily basis that they’re part of the Obama Borg.
February 10th, 2009 at 1:38 am
I personally don’t like it.
Before & After magazine has an interesting take on this topic: http://www.mcwade.com/DesignTalk/2009/02/does-pepsis-new-logo-work/#comments
February 12th, 2009 at 11:02 am
This is a fairly tenuous connection. The new pepsi logo is clearly derived from their 1987 logo, so it’s much more likely that the Obama camp was inspired by pepsi. But personally, I think that the two logos are so different as to make this a moot point.
February 14th, 2009 at 3:01 pm
f******ground breaking reporting . . . not. It’s amazing that a candidate with an O in their name would use a round shape in their design, and the colors of red, white, and blue since those are only our nation’s colors genius.
February 25th, 2009 at 8:48 am
[...] posts that were written by, Kevin. Turns out, his recent post about Barack Obama’s logo about Obama and the new Pepsi logo seemed to receive a lot of comments and mostly from people who [...]
March 3rd, 2009 at 1:32 am
Though they look different, there are similarities. But calling it a rip off is far from true. Not sure about Obama, but Pepsi sure would get a kick out of it!
March 11th, 2009 at 5:32 pm
lame. i read most of the other comments here and they’ve already voiced my same opinion. now, additionally, you spelled “may be” as one word in your Please Note down at the bottom here. And since you are not using any kind of captcha i will probly have to register to comment, if so then you will probly never see this because why should i bother to take the time to register to comment on a blog where the comment is actually to say that I won’t be back because after working my way back from the first page to this one, i’m done and won’t be reading further. best of luck to you, hope you get educated by your fair readers that gave intelligent comments before and after mine. c’ya
March 11th, 2009 at 5:33 pm
p.s. nice to see no registration required. thankyou.
March 26th, 2009 at 4:14 pm
This is absolutely meant to make you think about obama! There is no doubt about it! The denial in the majority of comments is frightening. It just shows how easily the public can be manipulated. At least half of the public, thank goodness for the other half, may we grow in numbers!
Good post! Don’t let the brown shirt bullies intimidate you. Speak your mind. Point out the obvious while it’s still a free country!
God bless!
September 6th, 2009 at 11:03 pm
There is no similarity between these logos designs whatsoever. Sorry, not seeing it. Red, white, and blue are commonly used colors, as are circles.
September 9th, 2009 at 10:16 pm
it think pepsi was trying to piggie back off the hype of obama…like how true blood and twilight came out at the same time even though true blood is amazing since its all about sex like most vampire themes are and twilight isn’t and is an epic fail for a movie regardless how good of a book it was
October 14th, 2009 at 8:33 am
My husband and I noticed the similarities a long time ago. We kept seeing Pepsi logos all over town all of the sudden and at first mistook them for Obama’s logo. We thought, wow, the election’s over. Why are these all over the place? Glad to see it wasn’t just our imagination – clearly others have noticed this, too!
October 28th, 2009 at 2:13 pm
you idiots.. pepsi was around long before Obama’s brainwashing campaign… the reason I found this forum was because I had noticed on one of his propaganda handouts that the logo DOES look the same. 2012 end of the world? Funny how that coincides with him leaving office. Maybe wants to go out with a bang
November 4th, 2009 at 8:03 pm
[...] pink box, obviously has to do with breast cancer awareness. But seriously, how long do you think PepsiCo has been waiting for a chance to do [...]
November 4th, 2009 at 8:03 pm
[...] pink box, obviously has to do with breast cancer awareness. But seriously, how long do you think PepsiCo has been waiting for a chance to do [...]
December 2nd, 2009 at 11:00 pm
Y’all are dumb! That doesn’t look anything like the other! This is completely dumb…. What a waste of time! That clearly looks like the pepsi logo made more futuristic! Seriously how dumb could you be? Lol this world is f&$#%€ retarted!
January 4th, 2010 at 11:11 pm
They look completely different.
January 18th, 2010 at 10:47 am
If you turn the pepsi logo, it looks identical. Just fill in the white stripes and you have an identical red half. The only thing obama administration did was use a white circle instead of a white wave across the same blue sky.
February 5th, 2010 at 1:44 pm
Ok, for all you people saying that there is no merit to this post check this out http://letstalkretail.files.wordpress.com/2009/06/pepsi-obama-2.jpg Still in denial?
April 8th, 2010 at 1:55 pm
[...] Y por último, algo del efecto Obama… ¿llegó hasta la identidad de Pepsi? [...]
June 16th, 2010 at 11:18 am
Listen, I hate Obama as much as the next taxpayer but remember that marketing doesnt happern overnight. The logos were released at reliatively the same time. It takes MONTHS, at least, for Pepsi to develop, print advertising, labeling, etc. before it can release the final product. The old pepsi logo doesnt have the same degree of similarities as this one to the Nobama brand. I’m going to go out on a limb here and call coincidence.
June 19th, 2010 at 10:44 am
I sure HOPE it was a coincidence, cause I love Pepsi and would hate to have to give it up on principal.
June 25th, 2010 at 6:29 am
Have you tried comparing the old Pepsi logo with the new? You should write a blog about how they stole the new design from themselves.
July 14th, 2010 at 9:54 pm
You dont get it at first,but once flipped its basically the same logo that has been tweaked for 5mins. No need 2 loose ur heads cause its “OBAMA”.
Chill out guys. Everyone has a say.
August 19th, 2010 at 8:20 am
What? no no no no no
September 15th, 2010 at 8:41 am
The Pepsi Logo was changed after the Obama Campaign used its logo. Clearly, Pepsi was trying to get with the “Obama Generation.” Since Obama is destroying the nation by his Socialist policies, I refuse to drink Pepsi products. I am also encouraging my friends to do the same.
December 17th, 2010 at 8:13 am
There are still lots of conservatives here at Pepsi.
Many of my co-workers are TEA PARTY activists.
Please don’t boycot our products just because our leadership was drinking the Hopey Changey coolaid. They’ll be running from the political failure just like any politician.