This one did
All very well, I studied typography and design shitty logos every day so I understand the process but I struggle to see where brands have problems with users/fans about the change of a logo. I bet it niggles some folk but nothing so vehement. Seems the reason people are up in arms about Indy are the same as people arguing that their gollywog collection is harmless because it was about jam.
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Yes, they feel judged. So rather than making them feel like racists, accidental or otherwise, you have to make it easy for them to move on without losing face.
Or just you know, donât be racist and align yourself with potentially racist iconography? And then mayyyybe, donât get shitty about it when someones like â âthat cross looks very similar to Nazi insigniaâ
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If they are struggling to see the negative connotations of a gollywog then they are stupid as hell, racist and want to excuse to show their mild racism or they are racist and are out to be argumentative because they feel that they have a right to be racist and itâs being taken away from them.
Racism isnât an opinion, itâs a really sad old idea that has no place in the world. What is racism to racists? its just the same as brexit. Does any racist have a solid argument for racism and can they explain the reasons that they feel so strongly about people of another colour? All arguments fall apart or have been proven to be facturally incorrect many times but people still feel strongly about some dying idea.
Really? You know people in the real actual skateboarding world that have stopped riding Independent trucks solely because of the changed logo and not because of the geometry, turning circle, price, colour, availability or anything else? Really? They stopped riding the same brand they have been riding for years and years and years (because skateboarders stick with one thing for years and years) because the woke word salad middle class nutsack cliques changed their logo? Really?
I would really really love to see evidence of that
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Look, I think we can all agree that if we should be bringing anything back from the carefree days of pre-2018 skateboarding, it should be the âhot emo and goth girlsâ thread
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I donât know what the sales figures show. I do know that there was a lot of negative comment on social media at the time. It could be that much of it came from nostalgic old skaters and ex skaters with cross tattoos who rarely if ever buy new trucks any more, or some could be from current skaters- Iâd need to look at the numbers and the demographics to know the business impact. All Iâm basing it on is the amount of negative sentiment I saw on forums and facebook. In general if you run a brand you want to avoid that, but I donât know enough to say whether it harmed the business.
I do know that in a couple of other cases where there were significant negative online comments from existing customers over marketing activity - Bud Light and Gillette - the company lost sales, customers and money, despite the fact that the products remained as good as ever.
Ok you have made your point, you think Indy should have transitioned away from their old logo to avoid hurting peopleâs feelings.
However, Indy took the decision not to, and to make a clean break. Thatâs their business decision, it has absolutely no relevance beyond that. Trying to make out like this is some form of injustice makes you look completely mental.
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You could argue that not changing or dropping that logo then you harm your future customer base. The world is ever changing and I know itâs hard to tell at the moment but weâre meant to be progressing as a species.
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I think thatâs fairly likely. Their opinion is about as relevant as mine when it comes to Independentâs bottom line.
I see it in the opposite way. Surely a companies first and only priority is to not go out of business for having questionable imagery? Then spending years slowly fazing out their logo so a few people wonât be upset as you suggested. They had to act fast. The longer they held on to it, the more it looks like they are keeping said questionable logo on purpose and doubling down on it being part of who they actually are as a company. Holding on to it becomes a massive statement in itself and the longer they kept it, the more racists would have flocked to it, mistaking them slowly fazing it out, for them standing up for their racist beliefâs.
Itâs really not hard to understand from a business point of view. They had to kill it at the root before the Nazi talk grew anymore than it had and then that was all they became associated with when the company name came up. Changing it fast sent out a clear message. While hanging on to it any longer than they needed to would have sent a murky, muddied one that people could easily misinterpret on both sides.
Indys still sell very well despite any logo change. Vocal minority are butt sore.
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Did I make it seem an injustice? That was the OP I think
Yes you are alluding to a minority who feel unfairly treated:
âYes, they feel judged. So rather than making them feel like racists, accidental or otherwise, you have to make it easy for them to move on without losing face.â
Personally I ride Lurpivs so I donât have a dog in this fight. Nor do I feel strongly about people with Indy tattoos. But branding and advertising is what I do for a living, and my personal preference is always to try to bring people along when a brand changes rather than alienating any of the customers who ultimately pay your wages .
I still have enough faith in the skateboarding community as a whole to like to imagine that more people who actually buy trucks will have reacted positively to what they did. And those that reacted negatively did so because it was yet another confirmation that by and large their shitty anti-woke or whatever views arenât really welcome. I realise that I might be hopelessly out of touch but thatâs what I hope at least.
Tangent: Did you read about the Cracker barrel rebrand and associated shitshow from earlier in the year? Really great work that would undoubtably have improved the fortunes of the company thrown away because they found themselves on the wrong side of their audience who, generally, had misinterpreted the rebrand as âgoing wokeâ. Arguably the fault of Cracker Barrel for not explaining what they were doing to their generally older and conservative audience.
Worth reading about (paywall): Brand New: New Scandal and Identity for Cracker Barrel
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Couldnât open it unfortunately but found another report here:
https://www.forbes.com/sites/danidiplacido/2025/08/24/the-cracker-barrel-logo-controversy-explained/