New Airbnb ‘meaningful’ Bélo logo becomes butt of jokes and criticisms
Is it balls, vagina, or both? Airbnb logo sparks wave of internet parodies
- The apartment-rental website launches its grown-up logo to a wave of ridicule – as well as claims of plagiarism
Internet Decides That Airbnb’s New Logo Looks Like A Vagina
The New Airbnb Logo Is a Sexual Rorschach Test For Our Time
Five brand logo redesigns that misfired and how to deal with the backlash
Airbnb Engages Audience in Wake of Logo Criticism
Branding gone wrong: When bad logos strike back
New Airbnb logo ridiculed for its sexual associations on social media
The 20 Funniest Airbnb Logo Design Parodies
Top designers react to Airbnb’s controversial new logo
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Immediately after Airbnb unveiled its new logo mark on Wednesday, the company was hit with heavy criticism for its suggestive shape and its startling similarity to the existing logo of an 11-year-old IT automation company.
Although the great unwashed tech-industry masses appear both amused and confused by Airbnb’s curvaceous identity, we decided to give a handful of top designers from Google Ventures, Medium, and more a chance to voice their (more qualified) opinions.
If there really are sexual undertones, they’re intentional
Sacha Greif, creator of Folyo, Telescope, and Sidebar: There’s been a lot of noise about the logo’s supposed sexual connotations, with designers and bloggers calling out Airbnb on it left and right.
But I’d like to think that if there really are any sexual undertones, they’re entirely intentional. After all, Airbnb’s new logo is all about “belonging.” And a mother’s womb is the ultimate symbol of a safe, warm, and welcoming place.
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What Marketers Can Learn From Airbnb’s Attempt To Rebrand
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by David Vinjamuri
Marketers don’t cut people open, design cars that can crash, handle hazardous waste or fly into war zones. Relatively speaking, it’s a low-stakes profession. The job is varied and fast-paced, pays well, and has shorter hours than investment banking. All in all it’s a pretty good gig. Until you accidentally put a vagina out there.
Last week, Silicon Valley darling Airbnb did just that. As part of a rebranding campaign that refreshed the website, Airbnb introduced a new logo, which they christened the Bêlo.
… At first things went smoothly. The only hiccup was that the new Airbnb logo was nearly identical to the new logo of another, unrelated business. Thomas Friedman gushed about Airbnb in his New York Times column. Pretty quickly though, the narrative changed. People started to see other things in the Belo. To Oliver Wainwright at The Guardian, Meg Wagner at the New York Daily News, Alissa Walker at Gizmodo and scores of folks on Twitter, it looked like a body part, though there’s some debate as to which part. There’s even a Tumblr showing alternate uses for the logo.
Airbnb is fighting back. It’s clear that the company invested a lot of money on the rebrand as well as a good deal of emotional effort. The Mail Online quotes Airbnb CTO Nathan Blecharczyk as saying,
It’s just like: Go ahead, laugh all you want, guys. We wouldn’t want to design a logo that caters to the lowest common denominator.
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