The 12 Worst Company Logo Rebrands of All Time

You know corporate logos better than you think you do. And when these corporations, in their infinite wisdom, decide to change their familiar logos, you get these bad logo rebrands. So get ready for some schadenfreude. Because these are the worst rebranding fails imaginable.

Old Mastercard

There are some things money can’t buy. For everything else, there’s Mastercard. Although it’s likely the company spent a pretty penny on this iconic logo, which it launched in 1966. A red-and-gold circle interlock with a bold typeface telling us who they are.

Until…

New Mastercard

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Now, Mastercard is making the gutsy call that consumers don’t need the names of their brands on their brands. They’ve removed the actual “Mastercard” text, citing an internal study that 80 percent of consumers recognize just the circles as representing the company.

The remaining 20 percent of consumers are left to wonder why two floating circles are trademarked.

Old Pepsi

Pepsi’s logo seems to convey America, with red-and-blue circle split right down the middle by a geometrically pleasing white stripe. And this early-2000s look was a reasonable update of the classic design.

New Pepsi

Now the rival to that other cola has a “modern” typeface with a puzzlingly squished E. And why, instead of equality between the red, white and blue, did the company opt for an uneven redesign? Apparently, it evokes the geometrical golden ratio. For this, Pepsi paid a million dollars. Seriously.