You should know that in America, the Caduceus (which is the symbol you use in your logo) has been associated with medicine since the early 1900's.
Your icon will never gain traction as a symbol for commerce there.
Your icon will never gain traction as a symbol for commerce there.
yeah it was MISTAKENLY taken as symbol for medicine maybe this is the right time to correct that! even wiki said so.. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Caduceus
By extension of its association with Mercury and Hermes, the caduceus is also a recognized symbol of commerce and negotiation, two realms in which balanced exchange and reciprocity are recognized as ideals.[5][6] This association is ancient, and consistent from the Classical period to modern times.[7] The caduceus is also used as a symbol representing printing, again by extension of the attributes of Mercury (in this case associated with writing and eloquence).
The caduceus is often used incorrectly as a symbol of healthcare organizations and medical practice (especially in North America), due to confusion with the traditional medical symbol, the rod of Asclepius, which has only one snake and is never depicted with wings.
Yes. Which is why I said:
History is irrelevant when you're trying to market something. All that matters is the perception of your target market.
Because no one cares what the entire history is. The only thing that matters is the current perception in wherever your market is located.
Want to know the entire history of swastikas? You probably don't because no one really cares about how Asia predates Nazis with their usage of it. They only remember Hitler.
You are right no one cares about the entire history, so with that you just contradict the statement of caducues being part of med symbol since 19xx ^^,(<< history) and as what bitwarrior said this is branding... though we have use for the 3 symbols of ERMIS ( head for tech team) Caducues (formarketing team) and the sandals( for PR and com team).. we better brand ourselves with true facts when it comes to symbol though ^^, and at the same time spread global awareness about the true use of caduceus symbol , but hey no worries for them the still have rod of Asclepius
It's not a contradiction since I only focus on what the perception of history is versus what the actual history is. If the majority believes one thing, you'd better market in-line with their beliefs or you're basically excluding them as customers.
Effective marketing isn't about truth or history. It's about communicating a message in order to elicit a response. The communication can be outright lies as long as it gets the desired outcome.
Using a confusing icon to target a market that doesn't recognize the message being communicated is bad marketing.
