Why does the new logo for our water company look like the backside of an animal?

 

 

 

 

 

In the mail we just received a notice that (following a merger) our water supplier here in Boise was changing its name from SUEZ to Veolia, with the curious red abstract logo shown above. Wikimedia Commons notes the image in that logo doesn’t meet the threshold of originality for a copyright. Wikipedia says Veolia began long ago in France as the Compagnie Générale des Eaux (CGE). The new name looks to me like a small child’s misspelling and mispronunciation of that for a stringed instrument (a viola).

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

For a water company, I’d have instead expected the logo image shown above - blue rather than red, and flipped with an upright teardrop rather than an inverted one.  

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

On April 6, 2022 I blogged about how It is easy to parody a brand name or logo. The red Veolia logo looks to me like the backside of an animal – perhaps an otter as shown above.  

 

The image of an otter was adapted from this drawing by Pearson Scott Foresman at Wikimedia Commons.