Gap Logo Fiasco

Source: The Atlantic

Last week GAP posted a new logo on their website, without informing anyone about doing so.   This outraged many people, causing them to post ugly comments on Twitter, Facebook, and on the GAP website.  The new logo change is black Helvitica type “GAP” and a blue box that is offset and behind the P.   What was the reasoning behind the new logo change?   Well it was said that they wanted to create a new logo to coincide with the new modern line of clothing they are coming out with.  I understand where they are coming from, but this new logo looks cheap and does not appeal to my eye.  The old logo, however, is classic.  It’s simple enough, yet elegant.  This has been the logo for GAP now for over twenty years.  Such a drastic change to a company’s look is not good when no one is aware of this change.  This upset many paying customers, investors, competitors, and even potential employees.  There was a 2% decrease in sales after the logo was changed.  Not to mention, many upset fans.  The outcry from the public had quickly put GAP to work on updating their site to inform people that this was their idea, but they wanted more input and ideas from people.  I think this was just a way for GAP to pull themselves out of what they had created, but it settled everyone down a little.  This should be an example of what NOT to do for other companies.