Re: Cultural Issue with the Foot Logo

[Dave Neary <dneary gnome org>]

Hi,

Thilo Pfennig wrote:
> Dave Neary schrieb:
>> Whenever I hear people propose abandoning an old logo completely, this
>> question comes back to me:
>>   
> I did not propose this just for fun.

I understand. I did not reply in jest.

When abandoning a logo, you are in essence saying that it has no value
to you. If it has no value, you surely wouldn't mind seeing it being
used for a completely different purpose.

> If it means that GNOME will never
> be used in maybe 1/4 of the worlds countries it would be stupid not to
> change.

Which countries?

> The question is if one wants to neglect cultural differences.
> With GNOME the question is how localization and internationalization are
> related to symbols that offend some people. I do not think it is wise to
> take this lightly just because oneself does not have that kind of
> problem. Question is maybe if people in the USA would welcome a new
> GNOME release to get the name "Hussein" ;-)

We've already had a GNOME release named after Genghis Khan... (OK, I'm
not suggesting we do that again)

It all comes down to a question of resources, brand value, and project
identity. One argument says that whatever we choose it could potentially
offend someone. A rebrand is onerous, and politically difficult to make
happen. Being actuarial, I'd suggest that the return on moving away from
the foot would cost more in the rest of the world in volunteer effort
and communication than it would gain for us in Thailand among anyone who
considers that an image of a foot is an insult.

Cheers,
Dave.

-- 
Dave Neary
GNOME Foundation member
dneary gnome org