Gap pulls plug on new logo

Less than two weeks after unveiling a newly designed logo, fashion retailer Gap has retracted its new logo amid a social media backlash, which some critics are calling a "knee-jerk reaction" to customer protest. In a statement, Marka Hansen,

President of Gap Brand in North America, said: "Since we rolled out an updated version of our logo last week on our website, we've seen an outpouring of comments from customers and the online community in support of the iconic blue box logo."

She continued: “Last week, we moved to address the feedback and began exploring how we could tap into all of the passion. Ultimately, we’ve learned just how much energy there is around our brand. All roads were leading us back to the blue box, so we’ve made the decision not to use the new logo on gap.com any further.”

The decision to revert to the original logo was fuelled by a strong customer dislike of the new look logo, Hansen admitted: “At Gap brand, our customers have always come first. We’ve been listening to and watching all of the comments this past week. We heard them say over and over again they are passionate about our blue box logo, and they want it back. So we’ve made the decision to do just that – we will bring it back across all channels.”

The move highlights the growing importance of social media in retail business, and the business world as a whole. Proving to be the case for Gap, the old adage, The Customer is Always Right, can lay the ground for strategic business decisions.

Hansen confessed: “We’ve learned a lot in this process. And we are clear that we did not go about this in the right way. We recognize that we missed the opportunity to engage with the online community. This wasn’t the right project at the right time for crowd sourcing.”

The retailer said that there may be a time to evolve the Gap logo but, if and when that time comes, it will handle it in a different way.

Gap will go back to its iconic blue box logo on the website with the exception of its seasonal campaign where the blue box will turn red.