Everyday economics—logos

BP has put a lot of money into “greenwashing” its image.

Here, courtesy of Wikepedia, is a short account of its corporate rebranding attempts since 2000:

BP Amoco changed its name to BP in 2000, and introduced a new corporate slogan: “Beyond Petroleum.” It replaced its “Green Shield” logo with the helios symbol, a green and yellow sunflower pattern similar to the emblem of the Green Party of Canada. These changes were intended to highlight the company’s interest in alternative and environmentally friendly fuels. When, in July 2006, BP admitted, only after journalists became aware of the spill, that it was facing criminal charges for allowing 270,000 gallons of crude oil to spread into the Alaskan tundra, critics pointed to the relative lack of press coverage about the spill as evidence that BP had successfully greenwashed its image while maintaining environmentally unsound practices.

In 2008, BP was awarded a satirical prize, the “Emerald Paintbrush” award, by Greenpeace UK. The “Emerald Paintbrush” award was given to BP in order to highlight its alleged greenwashing campaign. Critics point out that while BP advertises its relatively minimal investment in alternative energy sources, the majority of its investments continue to go into fossil fuels. BP was also one nominee for the 2009 Greenwash Awards.

The people at LogoMyWay, in response to the Deepwater Horizon disaster, have launched a logo redesign contest, which has received 600 entries and been viewed 215,555 times.

Here are some of the other proposed logo redesigns: