New Gap Logo Causes Fan Revolt

This article is a continuation of a recent rash of branding failures that include Bing, Pepsi, and now Gap's new logo. The backlash has been spread far and wide across the internet in news stories, design blogs, and even a make your own "crap" logo. Apparently the Gap changed their old logo online and replaced it with a new one because

"We’ve had the same logo for 20+ years"

Well, that may be true, but after having brand recognition and customer loyalty for over 20 years, why would you throw it all away on a whim? The president of Gap made an attempt to explain, but in the end admitted that

"we plan to ask people to share their designs with us as well"

So basically they have no idea what they are doing and are making a pathetic plea to the crowdsourcing community. After all, wouldn't you put your brand in the hands of people who know less about your company, have no point of reference, and may not even be designers or familiar with branding; what could go wrong? Well, it looks like we will never find out, because almost immediatly Gap listened up

"Ok. We’ve heard loud and clear that you don’t like the new logo. We’ve learned a lot from the feedback. We only want what’s best for the brand and our customers."

But has Gap really learned their lesson? This whole fiasco could have been handeled in a much more professional manner. I mean, if they wanted the opinoins of fans, why didn't they just take a poll? Companies stage controversy all the time to get more attention, but the question is did it work? And if so, are you going to rush out and buy Gap clothes?

UPDATE: 99designs held a contest to redesign the logo. The prize is only $500, but over 4600 logos were submitted. That's only $9.20 per concept and it shows. See for yourself >