Starbucks, the Seattle-based global coffee chain is commemorating its 40th anniversary this year and on Wednesday CEO Howard Shultz announced that the iconic green siren is getting an updated look to mark the company's milestone year and Starbucks' next chapter "in our history."
The new logo will start rolling out in March and features the siren alone, without the "Starbucks Coffee" encircling her image. "Throughout the last four decades, the siren has been there through it all. And now, we’ve given her a small but meaningful update to ensure that the Starbucks brand continues to embrace our heritage in ways that are true to our core values" Starbucks CEO said in a post on Starbucks' website.
Who is the siren, anyway? In the search for an image that captured "the history of coffee and Seattle’s strong seaport roots," Starbucks' founders came across a 16th century woodcut of a twin-tailed mermaid.
"There was something about her – a seductive mystery mixed with a nautical theme that was exactly what the founders were looking for. A logo was designed around her, and our long relationship with the Siren began," Starbucks says on its website.
Just a few hours later, the backlash against the change started building on both Starbucks' website and other social media platforms such as Facebook. A quick scan of the reactions showed consumers were mixed about the refurbished logo
anonymous wrote "Was the Starbucks corporate office asleep through all of the Gap controversy when they tried changing their logo? Leave it alone! There's nothing wrong with it,"
MimiKatz wrote"Who's the bonehead in your marketing department that removed the world-famous name of Starbucks Coffee from your new logo? This gold card user isn't impressed,"
anonymous wrote "I prefer the old logo. I've been a Starbucks fan since I lived in Portland in the late 80's and I've been in Mississippi for the past 11 years enjoying Starbucks. I'm all for change...I think it's great, but I'm not impressed with the new logo."
gerberfranz wrote "Removing the Starbucks name off your logo does not make any sense. I have been a big supporter of Starbucks since the early days, taken expensive rides in taxis to get my morning coffee, even waded through two feet of snow in my business suit. I do not see the logic of your business development folks. Free advertisement on every cup, every day. Think about it."
Cjsvendsen wrote "Wow... What a beautiful and compelling way to move the company into the new millennium. I always thought that the harsh black band around the siren represented the shackles of history past"
a Facebook user wrote "Love the new logo. Streamlined, modern, simple, elegant. Change is obviously more difficult for some than others..."
"Logo changes get a lot of attention and we were expecting a lot of discussion about this change," said Starbucks' spokeswoman Deb Trevino. Regarding the backlash, Trevino said the company expects customers comments to even out over time.
Starbucks' logo change
is reminiscent of a similar move made last year by No. 1 clothing chain Gap Inc. In early October, Gap shocked its fans by changing its iconic blue-box logo encasing the word "GAP instead to a small box placed above the word Gap. The move spawned such fan fury that Gap quickly backpedaled on its marketing misstep and reverted to its old logo a week later.It remains to be seen if its latest Starbucks logo facelift causes an uproar and how Starbucks deals with it
adapted from CNNNews and MoneyCNN
