I’m not a branding expert, nor have I ever worked in advertising (perhaps Meghan or my sister can help with this), but it’s my humble belief that a lot of the green logos out there suck. It’s not as though hippies have bad taste — there are tons of slick, eco-friendly designs and products out there; it only takes one look through Treehugger to find proof — but my theory is this: Bureaucrats always have bad taste (have you ever seen an eye-catching federal budget? Didn’t think so), so when government officials take control of green legislation, it’s never pretty.
Want more evidence? Here:
First up, we have the new logo for the Canada Organic Regime. This is the sticker that will appear on everything that is at least 95% organic, according to new regulations, which kick in sometime in June:
I can’t figure out what’s worse, the design or the name. Is a regime ever a good thing? And I’m sure the folks in Quebec will love the fact that the French “Régime Bio-Canada” appears upside-down.
Thankfully, a lovely Torontonian named Allison Carter has taken some initiative by offering a great rebranding of this whole campaign, which you can view here.
But even worse than a bad logo is a bad mascot — Foodland Ontario has a mediocre yet recognizeable brand, but attempting to render its simplistic Trillium logo into human-sized Muppet has only led to an awkwardly generic, asparagus-looking creature, not to mention possible copyright infringement with the Jolly Green Giant. See below:
If you think that’s bad, then you might want to shield your eyes from this next dude — he’s the new mascot for Toronto Environment Volunteers, but he looks as though he just walked off the set of Lord of The Rings:
And yet, considering the previous TEV mascots included a compost bin and a life-sized stack of newspapers made out of foam, the tree might actually be an imporovement.
Now, while my American friends are probably thinking this is an issue that doesn’t involve them — a mere side effect of some lacklustre Canadian design scene grounded in bilingualism and Group of Seven rip-offs — well, they need to think again. Let’s take a look at the United States Department of Agriculture’s logo for its certified organic produce:
Bo-ring. And when you see it at print-size, which is less than an inch in diameter, you can’t even notice those diagonal lines suggesting a farm scene. Why couldn’t there be something fun here? Like a sun and a rainbow? And organic kittens?
In fact, out of all the organic/sustainable/eco-friendly logos out there, the only half decent ones I can think of are the newly revamped Fair Trade logo and the somewhat Starbucks-ish Rainforest Alliance logo:
What do you guys think? Why are green logos so dull? Should we not be excited whenever we see a symbol of organic food or fairly traded coffee, not bored and underwhelmed? And who gets commissioned to design these things anyway?
The logos may bight the design big one- but I must admit, if I saw that Foodland Ontario mascot at my local veggie food fare, I would most definitely give it a hug and snap a pic.
As for the logos- it’s totally the bureaucrats- when you have 35 levels and 26 rounds of approvals to go through, I can most certainly guarantee the end product will look nothing like what the designer intended. Back in my past life when I worked in advertising, a government account that will remain nameless (OTMP) was my client. Nightmare.
wow- the new fairtrade logo is kinda cool, but really I prefer their old one… it was very unique, very easily recognizable. This one looks like it will be dated in about two years.
Recently I’ve been reading about company’s ripping off legitimate logos- like having a bunny, but not THE leaping bunny for no animal cruelty and the such. It’s so tricky these days to know that you’ve made the right choice that having clear, simple logos can help.
haha, i really like the Lord of the Rings Ent mascot though… lol
The mascots are scary indeed. It’s nice that you post about a topic like this, because I was thinking about the European/German labels recently. Want to take a look?
http://de.wikipedia.org/wiki/Bio-Siegel
Ignore the awkward language, just take a look at the different pictures. The most annoying thing to me is, that there are so many different labels and even though I was working in that area before, I continue to discover new labels. Some of them are bound to different restrictions regarding food production, but some of them are basically just invented by companies to give their products a green touch. I think it is easy to get fooled by that, when you shop in a regular supermarket instead of an organic one. And now, every good organic product has to wear three labels at least: the European label, the German (or state) label and some other label that guarantees that it was produced with higher standards than what the state label requires, because honestly, the ecological standards defined by the state are just ridiculous.
In the end, your head is aching by watching five different labels on your product and not knowing what they all stand for. Why can’t there just be one, summing it all up?
That’s my favourite label:
http://www.rewodisana.ch/image/hase.gif
Allison Carter’s designs are amazing, and I actually think the foodland Ontario mascot is nice. And you’re right, I never noticed that the USDA food stamp thing had a little farm thing on it. Honestly though, I don’t think it matters, although it wouldn’t hurt to make more exciting logos, as long as there’s an indication that somethings certified organic.
That walking tree better stay FAR away from me.
I think the logos will start to improve as the competition goes up. Why care about looks when you don’t need to? Without another company stepping up against them, the branding loses importance – but they’re all forgetting what initially draws people to a product or service. Branding is everything and they’ll figure that one out soon enough
The Fair Trade logo rocks and I always thought that the USDA logo at least had recognition going for it. Some of these logos need to be basic enough to work on bulk commodity packaging that is printed in developing countries.
The mascots are pretty lame but it would be awesome to see the tree and the asparagus get into a fight at a ballgame. My money is on the tree.
As the deadline comes up for labelling organic food an interview that was done with Mischa Popoff comes up (featured in National Post, Macleans, Rutherford Show, and I know him from the Okanagan). If we are going to label foods with this hideous label should be actually be screening them properly – rather than just paying top dollar for something that’s really not following all the organic standards. Rather than buy something labelled organic – get to know your local farmer. Labels mean nothing when there’s not standards!
By the way had a great time reading your book. One of the few freebies from a PR person that I liked (and wasn’t a downer like all the other political books we get!)
Whitney Deane
Talk Show Producer
The Rutherford Show, Corus Radio
CHQR 770 AM/ CHED 630 AM
I love the little rainforest froggy logo, but the others are completely lame. Keep in mind this is coming from an reluctantly-admitted rainbow and sparkle lover. Love the blog, this is my first time reading it. I picked up your book yesterday and I’m about half way through! Great stuff, love your writing style and sense of humor. The title is perfect, of course the word ‘naked’ caught my eye first ha ha! My brain went, “naked and green. Hmmmm. Naked! Ooooh!”
I love the little rainforest froggy logo, but the others are completely lame. Keep in mind this is coming from an reluctantly-admitted rainbow and sparkle lover. Love the blog, this is my first time reading it. I picked up your book yesterday and I’m about half way through! Great stuff, love your writing style and sense of humor. The title is perfect, of course the word ‘naked’ caught my eye first ha ha! My brain went, “naked and green. Hmmmm. Naked! Ooooh!”
Some good information in your post. Thanks for the pleasant read!