America's Best Has Some Fun With Scott Walker's Super-Similar Campaign Logo
from the 'murica dept
Politics can be tricky territory for companies and brands to wade through. While some corporations have made notorious claims on political matters, and occasionally even get behind candidates, the vast majority of companies know that they’re better off endorsing nobody and nothing. As Michael Jordan once famously put it when he’d been urged by a Democratic campaign to be more politically active: “Republicans buy sneakers, too.”
That’s what makes the reaction of America’s Best, the eyeglass and contact-lens company, to Scott Walker using a logo for his campaign that is nearly identical to the company’s so special. They didn’t lose their minds. They didn’t go trademark ballistic. They just had some fun with it.
Both Walker’s campaign and America’s Best Contacts and Eyeglasses feature a cartoonish, four-part American flag logo as the “E” in their names. The same flag icon is also their stand-alone logos when the text is removed.
In a brief phone call on Monday, America’s Best CEO Reade Fahs told Business Insider that his company wasn’t taking sides in the presidential race. But he said he appreciates the Walker campaign approving of the design.
“We don’t endorse presidential candidates, but we sure love it when they endorse us,” he quipped.
Here are the logos, Walker’s first and America’s Best second.
So, yeah, they’re the same. And it could have been very easy for the company at that point to completely flip out in anger, or to rush to assure everyone that it hadn’t endorsed any political candidate for any political office. Instead, the CEO’s calm and measured response was endearing. Not to mention the company’s response on social media.
.@CNNPolitics We think @ScottWalker‘s logo is HILLARYous. #logogate https://t.co/1KJwxcmh0t
— America’s Best (@Americas_Best) July 13, 2015
.@ScottWalker sure TRUMPed us by “borrowing” our logo. #logogate
— America’s Best (@Americas_Best) July 13, 2015
We aren’t the types to hide our logo under a BUSH. #logogate
— America’s Best (@Americas_Best) July 13, 2015
And they go on and on like that on Twitter, making sure everyone knows the company isn’t endorsing anyone, but likewise insisting the company isn’t going to go legal on Walker’s logo. In the meantime, rather than coming off like some kind of petty and frightened corporation by flipping out, America’s Best engenders a fun, laid back, hip sensibility. You know, good public relations, which has us talking about how cool a move it is rather than having some legal filing buried in the news that nobody cares about. Well done all around.
Filed Under: elections, logos, scott walker, trademark
Companies: america's best
Comments on “America's Best Has Some Fun With Scott Walker's Super-Similar Campaign Logo”
That’s what campaign donations are for – more discrete and more effective at peddling influence anyways.
Re: Re:
I though they played both sides against the middle.
So, I guess you could say, that when it comes to logo design, someone at the Scott Walker campaign (* lowers glasses *) needs to get better lenses.
Just blame it on the interns.
Well there goes another intern.
Re: Just blame it on the interns.
I wouldn’t want to pay minimum wage either.
It sure seems like America’s Best went on Cruz control with their witty Jebs.
Good for them!
Good for them! About time someone has a little fun with things instead of going nuclear…. Iran will be doing that soon enough…
The GOP campaigns are having a hard time finding creative talent this year.
What an excellent marketing strategy! I’m glad they’re doing that, it’s a bit of fun for all of us and it makes them look good.