Starbucks-the evolution of brand

Starbucks is evolving its brand and has come up with a new logo. This reflects the businesses ongoing efforts to branch out into other sectors and its desire to be not chained to the idea of coffee alone.

Is this a perfectly reasonable evolution or is it crazy to think of Starbucks selling anything other than coffee products? Well this is why they are tweaking the logo to prepare customers and open the brand up. Check out the BBC article here.

A previous incarnation of the Starbucks logo brought flack from different quarters in the past...:

http://littlefair-communications.blogspot.com/2008/05/slutbucks.html

Slutbucks?

It's amazing what people can read into symbols isn't it? For example we all know that certain images are meant to be ambiguos. Take for example my wife and my mother-in-law. Actually please don't take them too far as Im rather attached to both of them...

Here we can see a cleverly designed visual pun.

On the other hand the new Starbucks logo is, well, just ok...I mean nothing special, but if you are a particular sort of Christian it seems that the following (on left) is offensive!

This article says that a US Christian group hs said the logo's character has her legs "spread like a prostitute... ".

Interestingly the founder of Starbucks has said of the logo (in general terms) "bare-breasted and Rubenesque; [it] was supposed to be as seductive as coffee itself".

It's true that the tails are spread but it would never occur to me that this mermaid's tails were sexually enticing me. What a load of old rubbish!

http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/business/7427105.stm