10 Recent Logo Redesigns Gone Wrong

10 Recent Logo Redesigns Gone Wrong

Welcome to WatchMojo, and today we’re counting down our picks for the brands that tried to revamp their logos and ended up wishing they hadn’t.

Gap

In 2010, after two straight years of tanking sales, this clothing retailer was getting desperate. As part of a rebranding attempt – and with no prior warning to its customers – Gap decided to change the logo it had been using since 1990. The old logo was simple and classic. The new one was generic and unprofessional-looking, and seemed to have no connection to the brand and no clear thought process behind it. The reaction to the change was swift and vicious. The company was roasted on social media, and a mock website inviting people to make their own Gap logos went viral. After spending millions of dollars to implement the new logo, Gap caved and abandoned it after just six days.

MySpace

If a company is dying because all its customers are moving to its competitors, a rebrand and a new logo probably aren’t going to solve the problem. MySpace learned that the hard way between 2009 and 2011. It was losing millions of users to Facebook, and in an attempt to breathe new life into the platform, the company redesigned both the site and the logo. Needless to say, this didn’t work. The new logo was just the word “my” followed by a blank space. If you moused over the logo while on myspace.com, user-generated artwork would appear. That’s kind of cool, but anywhere else the logo showed up, it would just be this generic text. Unsurprisingly, it only lasted two years.

Yahoo

In 2013, after a year of layoffs and leadership turnover, Yahoo announced a marketing campaign called 30 Days of Change. During it, the company released a new logo every day, although it was really just the same logo in different fonts. At the end of the campaign, Yahoo unveiled the version that was here to stay – at least for the next six years. Designers pointed out that the beveled font didn’t fit the brand’s identity and made the whimsical exclamation point look out of place. The design looked like it was created by a student rushing to meet a deadline. In 2019, Yahoo changed back to a flat font that better matched its traditional aesthetic.

Weight Watchers

This wasn’t just a case of a failed new logo – it was a rebrand that completely backfired. Weight Watchers was once the top-ranked commercial weight loss program in the country. However, by 2018 the body positivity movement had gained traction, and more people were looking to improve their health rather than simply shed pounds. To keep up with the trend, Weight Watchers changed its name and logo to WW and added a new slogan, "Wellness that Works." The name “WW” doesn’t exactly roll off the tongue, and it leaves people guessing as to what the company actually does. With competition heating up from GLP-1 medications and free fitness apps, this rebrand wasn’t the solution the company needed. It filed for Chapter 11 bankruptcy in 2025.

Royal Mail

Mail delivery in the UK used to be run by the government, like it is in North America. However, in 2000, the Royal Mail became a publicly traded company, and its executives wanted a new name and a new logo. What did they settle on? Consignia. If you think that sounds more like a venture capital firm than a postal service, you’re not the only one. The name Royal Mail had been in use since 1784. It was simple, clear, and classic, whereas Consignia was weird, hard to spell, and sounded decidedly corporate. Everyone hated it. Even the British postal workers’ union tried to convince people to boycott the name. Consignia lasted only 15 months before being changed back to Royal Mail.

JCPenney

If you’re a multi-billion-dollar company, you could hire a top marketing firm to create your new logo. Or you could get a third-year graphic design student to do it. Guess which one JCPenney went with. In the 2010s, sales were slumping as many customers switched to online shopping. As part of an attempt to reinvent itself, in 2011 Penney’s took submissions for a new logo from students and professional designers. They chose what must have been the most generic entry of them all, which was barely different from the old logo. A year later, they switched to a blue box with just the letters “jcp.” People hated both of these changes, and by the end of 2013, JCP had sent them to the scrap heap.

Jaguar

When times are tough, luxury brands like Jaguar often suffer. It makes sense that they’d want to change things up in hopes of attracting new customers. However, when Jaguar released its new logo along with a bizarre video to promote it, the reaction was probably not what they had hoped for. The badass big cat was gone, and the commercial didn’t have a car in sight. If you weren’t already familiar with the brand, you’d have no idea what they were selling. People were quick to mock them on social media, and the company soon started looking for a new ad agency – but it’s still using the boring new logo.

Leeds United FC

You don’t mess with sports fans’ beloved colors and logos. Leeds United figured that out in 2018. To mark their upcoming centennial anniversary, they unveiled a new badge. It looked completely different from the old badge, which had been in use since 1999, and fans lost their minds. A Change.org petition to cancel the new crest soon racked up more than 77,000 signatures. Within a month, the club realized their mistake and went back to the old badge. Cardiff City FC went through a similar scandal after changing leadership in 2012. [xref] The new owner had the audacity to change not just the logo but the team’s colors from blue to red. They lasted three years before switching back.

Hershey

This chocolate company’s logo hasn’t changed much in the last hundred years. They’ve used a similar all-caps, blocky font in shades of silver and brown since 1910. And unlike most of the companies on our list, Hershey is still doing pretty well, so if it ain’t broke … But in 2014, they decided to change things up anyway, adding a little icon of a Hershey kiss at the end. Of course, the internet immediately pointed out that the design looked less like a Hershey kiss and more like a steaming pile of … you know. Others thought it bore a striking resemblance to every nine-year-old’s favorite emoji. Despite the mockery, Hershey has stuck with its simplified logo.

Cracker Barrel

Did you know the man on the Cracker Barrel logo is a real person? That’s Uncle Herschel, the real-life uncle of founder Dan Evins. He was a brand ambassador for the restaurant for years, and was immortalized on the logo starting in 1977. That design changed very little over the next five decades, until the company decided to switch things up in August 2025. Sales had dropped in 2020 and hadn’t recovered, and the CEO hoped to attract new business with a sleeker, more modern look. But Cracker Barrel’s most loyal customers don’t want sleek and modern – they love the nostalgia. The backlash was immediate and intense, and within a week, Uncle Herschel and the barrel were back on the Cracker Barrel sign.

Which of these redesigns do you think was the most spectacular failure? Let us know in the comments below.