Re: Cultural Issue with the Foot Logo



On Thu, Oct 30, 2008 at 3:06 AM, Dave Neary <dneary gnome org> wrote:
Thilo Pfennig wrote:

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)

No, neither of these is comparable to the meaning of the foot in my
culture. You may think of a release name like "Mother F**ker" instead.

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.

I don't aim at replacing it. As I said, the logo has been used for a long
time, and people love it, including me. The most I wish to get is a
"secondary" logo (if "alternative" is not obvious enough).

Regards,
-- 
Theppitak Karoonboonyanan
http://linux.thai.net/~thep/



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