Change is Coming to Walmart...

Or at least to its logo. In case you didn't know it already, those are the big news form the giant: Walmart decided to redesign their logo; the new one is already in their website and sincerely I don't find the new one better than the old one, not at all.

Let's face it, changing a logo is never an easy task. But you can even make an equation on how complex it may be, and the math goes like this:

"new logo headaches" = (company size) x (possible interpretations)/how worth is it
First let's see the logo:


If we agree that the size of the company is a big factor that can be potentiated -for better or worst- by how the change can be perceived, just the fact that they added an abstract "thingy" that can be interpreted in soooo many ways it's a major drawback.

We all know that big companies like this one have their enthusiasts but they also have their detractors. Now, Walmart is one of the biggest brands in the world and in their case it seems to me that they have more "haters" than lovers. I mean, not everyone that uses WM for their shopping LOVES it. It is a brand not recognized by quality or service but just for their prices and it is hated by their practices with providers and employees as well as for how their presence affects small business.

Of course the "thingy" can be interpreted as a sun, but if you browse blogs some other very nasty interpretations for the same image have rosen already.

Walmartwatch, on the other hand, run their own parallel "logo redesign contest" and one of the finalist (not the winner) made his own, funny, interpretation of the yellow asterisk, as you can see below.



Obviously this change will not kill them. Probably it will not affect them one way or the other, but going back to the equation it seems to me it was not worth it. In a company that size, the logo has 1001 applications (paper, store, website, sponsorships, ads, ad infinitum etceteras) so changing it is another mammoth effort in time, money and energies, that again, doesn't seem so needed nor it seems it can help improve their PR.

Here, from their own site a little history of their trademark:



It seems to me that what they had was better than what they've got but time will tell. What do you think? Do you find the new one better? In what way?