The Semiotics of Logos - Obama and Pepsi are Lookalikes

As mentioned in a previous post, semiotics is the branch of linguistics that is concerned with the relationship between a sign and what the sign represents. Semiotics also looks at how people interpret the meaning of signs. In semiotics a sign is considered any type of symbol that stands for another thing. By this definition, a product logo would be considered a sign because the logo stands for the product. People are able to interpret this meaning of the sign because they are conditioned to by advertising.

The above three logos have many similarities (color, shape, wavey lines). The logo at the left is the new Pepsi logo, the logo at the right is the old Pepsi logo, and the logo in the middle is a logo from President Obama's campaign.

I wonder if the creator of this Obama logo intentionally imitated the Pepsi logo so people would associate Obama with Pepsi?

The Pepsi brand was trademarked in 1903 and many people think of Pepsi as an American tradition. Obama certainly does not fit the traditional description of an American president...but maybe with a little help from logos and semiotics.

More Obama Logo Semiotics

Having previously posted about the semiotics of Obama's campaign logo, I found it interesting that the March 16th issue of Newsweek included a review of the logo that Obama had created for the projects that will be funded by his economic stimulus bill. Interestingly, the new logo was designed by the same firm that created his campaign logo. According to the Newsweek article, "graphic designers say, (this logo), missed the mark. The individual icons - the plant, the gears - are too generic to send a clear message, and they're crammed into too small a space."