Replacing the swoosh
a SUIT column by Chris Jungle

As I was watching the festive and frenzied football playoffs this weekend, I expected many things. I planned on intense, emotional battles on the gridiron field, commentators questioning the plays the coaches called, and of course, lots of beer and sport apparel ads suggesting future purchases. All of these great expectations came to pass, but there was a twist I wasn't quite prepared for. The Nike ads that came into my home were basically the same as they'd always been with lots of yelling, sweating, and strong people lifting heavy things, but at the end of the commercial, the swoosh--which everyone has known and loved for the last few years--was no where to be seen. Instead, there was a cute, lower case, cursive spelling of the all-mighty word: Nike.

It sort of makes sense. Nike has had that swoosh thing going for a while, and it's a new year. Why not throw out a new design for their logo? My question is what the impact will be. Does everyone need to throw away all of their old Nike apparel that displays the swoosh? How long before the kids on the playground tease the boy who can't afford to buy clothes with the cursive Nike and has to settle for old swoosh clothes? And will the masses latch on to the little cursive Nike as affectionately as the curvy checkmark?

It's not like changing the logo is a new thing for Nike or any sporting apparel company. I remember my light blue shirt with the dark blue, bold printing which stated loudly and proudly NIKE. While many kids teased me about my fashion style during my youth, no one ever scolded me for wearing Nike stuff. In fact, any popular brand of sporting clothes was accepted by the public. I had Adidas, Reebok, Everlast, Spalding, and other brands--words that didn't really mean anything, but they were still okay to advertise on a shirt. When I wore my Iron Maiden shirts, folks growled a little more even though I could explain to them exactly what an iron maiden actually was.

What I'm wondering about the new Nike logo is how far it's going to fly. Am I going to see thousands of men, women, and children displaying cursive Nike? Will Michael Jordan have to put a cute, cursive Nike on his shoes? Will third graders have more incentive to learn cursive writing because of the stitching on their shirt?

Maybe that was Nike's intent for the new cursive logo. They have noticed a decline of writing skills in today's youth, and by intentionally changing their logo to cursive, Nike is stating how cool it is to write cursive. A new renaissance could flourish with hundreds and thousands of kids signing up for calligraphy classes. Nike could start sponsoring cursive writing tournaments and give the winners seven figure contracts. New writing stars could be born, and folks would line up in malls for hours just so the current cursive writing champion could scribe the finest word in any language: Nike.

Maybe Nike had more in mind besides getting the public to switch out their old Nike clothes for new Nike clothes. Maybe it's not just a ploy to make a billion or two dollars. Maybe they are attacking the evil scourge of illiteracy which plagues many of the purchasers of their shoes, shirts, and jackets. Maybe, maybe, maybe.

To be honest, I wasn't immediately attached to cute, cursive Nike. Sure, it was only on the screen for two seconds of each commercial and was meant to have more of a subliminal effect, but even though it caught my attention, it hasn't caught my pocketbook. Of course, it's really not up to me which sports logos are good and which aren't. That's up to the kids on the playground. Anyone who thinks fashion is spawned in Milan, Paris, and New York are just kidding themselves. Everything starts on the playgrounds where the little boys and girls run free, and fashion is no exception.

What impact will a cute, cursive, small cased Nike have on our society? It's much too soon to call. The company may pull the idea before February and try a retro, bubble Nike logo during the Super Bowl, and cursive Nike would be left out in the cold and dark alleys of used clothing stores. A logo is ready for the masses to choose, and nobody should pretend that it doesn't matter to them. After all, we're talking about fashion here, and what could possibly be more important than that?

Chris Jungle asked if more people would read his column if he used a different font. The LCN editors concluded it wouldn't matter at all.

return to the Shut up, I'm talking page
return to the LIES home page
return to the A&A home page