The city of Austin, Texas, unveiled its logo redesign on Thursday, but not everyone is happy with the outcome of the project, which cost taxpayers $1.1 million.
The updated logo features a large stylized A in blue and green with the name Austin underneath it, Fox News reported on Friday.
“For the first time in Austin’s history, we will have a logo to represent the city services and unify us as one organization, one Austin,” said City Manager T.C. Broadnax.
When a KXAN reporter asked Austin residents to share their thoughts on the rebrand, he got mixed reviews — and some were strongly opposed to the project.
One man’s reaction appeared to point out the fact the image does not have any distinctly “Texan” aspects to it, stating, “It looks more like a festival to me, like a logo for a festival.” He then pointed to the original logo and said, “This says we’re a city.”
Another man shouted from his car, “The new logo sucks! It looks like a homeless tent.” Indeed, many people online appeared to share those sentiments.
One person shared an image of a blue and green tent, writing, “They love to erase history… the flag of Massachusetts is going through a similar rebrand right now. But the below is probably a better representation, and a more easily understood logo, for the current council’s city of Austin.”
Someone else compared the update to the recent Cracker Barrel controversy over its updated logo that merely featured the restaurant’s name after erasing the man in overalls leaning against the barrel:
The city’s announcement about the logo said, “The new brand was shaped by feedback from a diverse cross-section of community members and City employees.”
“The Austin City Council voted in 2018 to make developing a cohesive brand for the City a strategic priority,” the city’s announcement said. “Years in the making, the City’s brand will officially launch on Oct. 1, with a new look for digital assets such as the City’s website, department web pages, social media profiles and newsletters.”
Former Austin City Council member Makenzie Kelly is now petitioning to scrap the logo and let residents vote on the matter, KXAN reported on Friday.
Rep. Chip Roy (R-TX) also weighed in on the issue, stating that leaders “want to go spend a million dollars on a rebrand, get rid of a cross and make it some sort of, you know, a woke-looking band emblem.”
He then argued that officials were more concerned about symbols than public safety, stating, “We have people in Austin who don’t get their 911 calls answered. You have people that have seen an increase in crime in Austin because they were going after, gutting and cutting the police force.”
