Following the recent UK Olympic logo fiasco, corporations have been nervously reviewing the shape, meaning and connotations of their official logos. The latest big name to ask designers to go back to the drawing board is Barclays Bank.As part of a bid to seal a 65 billion-euro (86.4 billion-dollar) merger deal with Dutch bank ABN Amro, Barclays is rushing to quash any notion of political incorrectness surrounding its three-century-old logo,According to reports, Barclays has concerns that their eagle logo has Nazi connotations.” It is rather a Teutonic looking eagle and has unfortunate connotations,” an unnamed source told the British press.Barclays’ eagle logo predates Nazi Germany by more than 200 years, having been the original logo of Barclays’ predecessor bank, which set up in London’s financial district in 1690.Concerns over the logo were prompted because of sensitivities in the Netherlands towards Nazi symbols, as the country was occupied by Nazi Germany during World War II.Brand Forensics expert Jonathan Gabay commented, “One of the reasons that Barclays is being courted is its brand heritage; that includes its logo. Any logo isn’t simply about physical shapes but the people who shape an image of service, style and substance to an end consumer. Whilst the Barclay’s logo may have some subtle suggestions of a period in history that marks the worst in civilization, organisations need to credit the general population with a degree of intelligence. By rushing to be too politically correct in matters surrounding logos, the overall appearance to the general public is that of business trying too hard to appear ‘sugary’. Taking the Barclays logo situation to the next step, who know what will happen next: Will the US government begin to feel that it is also time to drop the bald American eagle emblem?

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