The governor of the State of New York wants to bury an institution: the famous logo “I love NEWWith his red heart. But the idea of touching this symbol copied around the world is not unanimous.
One of the world’s most famous and celebrated logos will soon be scrapped. The governor of the State of New York, Andrew Cuomo, is indeed determined to remove the heart of “I love New York”, this logo accompanied by a slogan which, 35 years ago, gave back luster to the myth of the metropolis then in crisis.
Between The infernal tower [1974, film catastrophe] and Warriors of the night [1979, un film de gangs], the city that never sleeps was plunged into a nightmare of endless decadence and violence. In the summer of 1977, the terrifying blackout that plunged the Big Apple into darkness even seemed to mean the city was bottoming out – but it did, in fine, marked the beginning of the end of the nightmare.
Because it was precisely in 1977 that the Department of Commerce of the State of New York commissioned a young graphic designer to imagine the new face of the city. Milton Glaser was at the time the artistic director of a review, born the same year, and whose title already exuded renewed pride: the New York Magazine. It was he who created the slogan “I love New York”, masterfully represented by a rebus in which the verb “to love” is replaced by the universal symbol of the heart. Very quickly, this image took over the world: printed on t-shirts, stamped on mugs, reproduced on millions of pins, stickers, watches, calendars and posters.
The drawing is so famous that it can be found today brazenly copied around the world – with “I love Perpète-lès-Oies” & Co.
But then why did New York City decide to part with it?
It’s television’s fault. According to Andrew Cuomo, for several years, the logo no longer works on the small screen. And if Andrew, the son of Mario Cuomo who ruled New York during the revival of the 1980s, does not use the language of advertisers, he nevertheless makes it clear that the brand is no longer successful. So he proposed a makeover, to which he intended half of the $ 5 million prize pool [3,9 millions d’euros] planned for a tourism recovery plan.
Of course, visitors are already legion: 50 million tourists a year, half a million jobs, 53 billion dollars in revenue and 7 billion in tax revenue.
“Mamma mia!”, Andrew’s grandmother, Immacolata, emigrated from Nocera Inferiore, in Campania, would have exclaimed. [Italie], almost a century ago.
It’s a bit like tattooing the Statue of Liberty
But for his grandson, these figures are not enough: “Other states are more aggressive than us in attracting tourists. We were the best and the first. But we got lost on the way. ” Our Petit Poucet Andrew therefore intends to find the right path by having the logo redesigned by the advertising agency. BBDO. She pocketed the $ 2.5 million [1,9 million d’euros] and immediately decided to remove the famous heart. And to launch a vast campaign inviting New Yorkers and tourists to replace the heart with the symbol that, in their eyes, represents the best The Big Apple. Heaven! The Daily News protests against the outrage: touching this historical symbol, writes the best-selling newspaper in New York, would be a bit like tattooing the Statue of Liberty.
“But how is that possible?” Continues Massimo Vignelli, the great designer of the city’s subway and famous brands like American Airlines, to which the Italian Cultural Institute in New York is currently devoting an exhibition. “This brand masterfully combines text and image. The use of the heart symbol instead of the verb ‘to love’ has entered the language of communication. And what will they replace it with? It will be too bad for them: everyone has the logo they deserve. ” As for the inventor of this big heart struck with a fatal blow, Milton Glaser, he comments with a sorry air: “I don’t understand! I saw a logo circulating with a pizza instead of the heart. Shall we read ‘I pizza New York’? ” No, of course, that will not be possible. But that might not displease Immacolata’s grandson.
Angelo Aquaro
Big Apple
New York’s famous nickname, the Big Apple, dates back to the beginning of the 20th century. Its distribution is attributed in particular to the chronicler John Fitzgerald in 1924. According to the former mayor Rudolph Giuliani (who held office between 1994 and 2001), this name became popular in the world of jazz in the 1930s. Some argue that the musicians called New York the Big Apple because they were paid for fees – “apples” in their jargon – more important than elsewhere. The nickname then became the symbol of New York and its rich cultural scene.
In the 1970s, the city’s tourist office used this symbol to launch a tourism promotion campaign.
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Source
Born in 1976, the title claims to be the journal of the country’s intellectual elite. Oriented to the left, with a clear sympathy for the Democratic Party, it is one of the best-selling dailies in Italy. Daily The Republic is
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