A lot of car brands are trying to rebrand themselves for the modern era, and, in January, Mazda joined Volkswagen, BMW, Nissan, KIA and Jaguar in updating its logo to a sleek modern design.
But, what is possessing automakers to rebrand themselves? Is it to please a customer base? Or is it due to a misinterpretation of what customers really want?
Recently, TikTok user Christoper Pearce (@thechristopherpearce) garnered over 2.7 million views when he posted a short video explaining how Mazda “just butchered their logo and the reasoning why they did it makes no sense at all.”
What’s the reasoning behind Mazda’s logo change?
According to Pearce, Mazda decided to change its logo after 28 years to create a look more friendly to the smartphone era.
“[Mazda is] ditching this 3-D metal look for this flat boring, plain, digital friendly design,” Pearce said. “The new logo keeps a lot of the same elements like the signature seagull wing, but makes it all more simplified, no more metallic texture, sharp edges or any layered depth. [The new logo is] smoother, more angular and built to look crisp on a smartphone screen.”
However, Pearce says the new design wasn’t officially “rolled out” until the automaker’s 105th anniversary on Jan. 30.
“Mazda actually trademarked this new look last year, but they haven’t rolled it out, we’re expecting it for the 105th anniversary on January 30,” Pearce said.
Carscoops.com notes that new design also has some extra tweaks, such as “the outer shape has been smoothed into a slightly more rounded form, while the once-curved seagull wings now feature crisp, straight lines. The black-on-white color scheme creates a clean, high-contrast aesthetic.” The car site also points to the automaker’s desire to be more-tech friendly.
Car site Carbuzz.com adds that Mazda has been through many logos over the years, with the current logo lasting close to three decades. Before the well-known metallic, Mazda used a logo “called the Eternal Flame, which lasted from 1991 to 1996.” Mazda’s “word mark part of its logo has been around since 1975,” and when the automaker “launched its very first production passenger car in 1960, it wore a combination of a work mark that was adopted in 1954, and a circular badge with a lower case ‘m’ in the center.”
What do viewers think?
Many viewers agreed with Pearce that the new logo is boring.
“As a Mazda fan, I hate this,” one said.
“Simplicity is the death of creativity,” another added.
“1980s Mazda logo was peak; they should’ve just used that again,” a user remarked.
“Looks cheap,” a user agreed.
Others wondered why companies choose to rebrand themselves with logos that many customers find unattractive.
“I genuinely don’t understand why companies actively do things bad for themselves,” a user said.
“I don’t get why companies rebrand themselves even though the customers clearly don’t like it. Isn’t that missing the whole point of a company to satisfy the customer so they make sales?” a second questioned.
“And they paid $10 million for the redesign,” another remarked.
@thechristopherpearce Mazda is changing their logo and I don’t like it #carnews ♬ original sound – Chris Pearce
The Daily Dot reached out to Pearce and Mazda via email.
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