海角大神

The University of California 鈥� one of the most prestigious public universities in the world 鈥� redesigned its logo to stay abreast of the times and attract new students.

But the move last week appears to have accomplished just the opposite, and university officials are trying to figure out what to do next.

The venerable university system has been hit with a New Media revolt that includes insults on Twitter, e-mail memes that mock the new look, Facebook spoofs, and calls for the new representation to be tattooed on its creator鈥檚 foreheads.

Experts say the episode is a cautionary tale on the dangers of image and marketing changes.

Here鈥檚 the background: for 144 years, the 10 campuses have been collectively represented by a traditional-looking, round logo with a 鈥淟et There Be Light鈥� motto, a drawing of an open book and a radiating star.

The new logo is essentially rectangular, with a form that approximates the old seal鈥檚 open book but which also could pass for a stylized 鈥淯.鈥� On top of that is the top half of the letter 鈥淐鈥� which could be, depending on whom you ask, a napkin doodle, a bidet, or a banana label.

鈥淭his is an attempt to be revolutionary, but it comes off as insensitive,鈥� Reaz Rahman, a UC Irvine senior who started an online petition to get the university to reconsider, told the Los Angeles Times. 鈥淭o me, it didn鈥檛 symbolize an institution of higher learning. It seemed like a marketing scheme to pull in money rather than represent the university.

鈥淣ew UC logo is an abomination,鈥� wrote one Twitter-user, according to the Times. 鈥淏ack to the drawing board.鈥� Another tweeted, 鈥淲hoever signed off on this UC logo should be forced to have it tattooed on their forehead for life.鈥�

鈥淚t is everything our school is against,鈥� wrote Berkeley鈥檚 Sheila Lam on the petition, according to the San Francisco Chronicle. 鈥淢ight as well have slapped a McDonald鈥檚 鈥楳鈥� on top of it. It looks so corporate and it looks cheap.

It is the lack of a clear meaning for the redesigned logo that bothers some communications experts.

鈥淭his is kind of a classic branding screw-up where people who are designing it don鈥檛 understand the web environment that they are moving into,鈥� says Mark Tatge, a communications professor at DePauw University in Indiana. 鈥淲hat are they trying to say? It doesn鈥檛 do any good if people don鈥檛 know what it means.鈥�

He says it is legendary in the ad business to list off the number of cars that have failed to succeed in foreign countries because the model name meant something else in the language.

鈥淭his is just like ignoring what the symbol might mean in another context,鈥� says Tatge.

UC officials counter that they trying to be cutting edge instead of stodgy to be attractive to students.

鈥淲e want to convey that this is an iconic place that makes a difference to California and that there is a UC system,鈥� the UC system鈥檚 director of marketing communication, Jason Simon, told the L.A. Times.

The university is reminding everyone that the old logo will still appear on diplomas and the official letterhead, although the UC websites do now carry the new logo.

Marketing specialists say that such uprisings are typical when businesses or institutions try to change their image. Officials at the Gap clothing chain and Tropicana Pure Premium orange juice backtracked to using original logos after they made changes that triggered consumer protests.

But several say UC should just stand its ground, and allow some time for the initial shock to wear off.

鈥淐hange is hard. In a year, this will die down and the benefit will outweigh the legacy logo,鈥� says Tom Drucker, a Marina Del Rey-based image specialist who focuses on new business models and idea management.

"All tweets are not the same 鈥� tweets about the Arab Spring and Occupy Wall Street obviously are of much greater import than Tweets mocking a new university logo,鈥� says Paul Levinson, a professor of communications at Fordham University in New York and author of 鈥淣ew New Media.鈥�

Objections from students to just about everything a university does is a time-honored part of university life, he notes.

鈥淪o, first, University of California officials should take a deep breath,鈥� he says. 鈥淭witter has magnified such objections, true, but that's also a good thing. Students are entitled to express their opinions.鈥�

Still other analysts feel that the UC episode is not so much a screw-up as just a sign of the times, which once again spotlights the democratization of ideas and expression.

鈥淚t鈥檚 increasingly par for the course. It鈥檚 a great example of the democratization of individual voice bestowed upon people with Internet access,鈥� says Bernard McCoy, associate professor of mass communications at the University of Nebraska-Lincoln. 鈥淚nternet access means more people, regardless of title, economic standing, or experience, have a voice whose reach and audience is potentially global.鈥�

But others say the whole episode is a tempest in a teacup, for the very same reason.

"This tells us nothing about UC or the wisdom of decision making. The only story here is a tired one these days 鈥� namely that social media have changed everything,鈥� says Robert Epstein, senior research psychologist at the American Institute for Behavioral Research and Technology and former editor-in-chief of Psychology Today magazine.

鈥淭en years ago, the worst that would have happened with a logo change is that a couple of disgruntled alumni would have written complaint letters. Now, through crowding and viral processes, any trivial event can produce an uproar. In this case 鈥� as is often the case with social media 鈥� the uproar is as trivial as the event."

But Professor Levinson thinks the new media environment has created a situation that is different from previous decades, in that the protests are harder to brush off.

鈥淲hat Twitter has done is make it impossible for the university to ignore those opinions,鈥� says Levinson. 鈥淚n the case of the logo, if the university agrees with the objections, the logo should be changed."