Last week, the GAP unveiled a new logo to a fairly negative reception. Personally, I think they deserved the backlash -- the new logo was generic and unmemorable. Yesterday, they abandoned the new logo and reverted to the old one.

This morning, Econsultancy reported the news:

But did Gap make the right decision by ditching its new logo? That's not as easy a question to answer. The reason? It's not clear that Gap's customers were actually that upset about the new logo.

...only 17% of those polled even knew that Gap had posted a new logo. What's more: 43% of those polled indicated that a new logo wouldn't influence a buying decision; far fewer -- 29% -- claimed that a new logo would have such an influence.

That strikes me as the kind of thing you write when you're trying to think of something to say about something you want to talk about, but don't know what to say.

The first stat -- only 17% knew about the change -- has no bearing on whether they should scrap the logo unless what they meant is that, when shown the new logo, only 17% even realized it wasn't the old one.

The other stats -- 43% said it wouldn't affect buying decisions, and 29% said it would -- don't tell us much.

First of all, how many of the 29% meant that it would negatively affect their buying decisions? Is it possible they meant it would positively affect them?

Second, what people say will affect them may not reflect whether it really will affect them. I'd imagine if they were polled about purchases of items visibly bearing the GAP logo, their responses may be accurate. If they hate the new logo, they might not want to wear something bearing it. For non-logo bearing items, the effect of the logo is probably mostly subconscious.

Finally, when referring to the 29% figure, Econsultancy says "far fewer". Sure, 29% is fewer than 43%, but so what? It's still a huge percentage.

Reader Comment:
Doe je PR voor je klanten of influentials? - Coopr said:
[...] werd. GAP ging dus door het stof. Maar voor wie gingen ze nu door het stof? Want uiteindelijk wist slechts 17% van de GAP klanten van de verandering. 43% gaf daarnaast aan dat een nieuw logo niets zou veranderen aan de koopintentie. 29% geloofd...
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If you're going to make a decision based on customer responses, you make the decision based on responses from those who will be affected. If hardly anyone cares, do what you think is best. If a large percentage care, listen to what they're saying.

If you're going to force it a little to come up with something to say about something you don't have much to say about, at least make sure what you're saying makes sense.