Do You Like The New Logo For Amarillo? [POLL/PHOTO]

How do you spell retro?  A-m-a-r-i-l-l-o-l-o-g-o...  The new logo for the City of Amarillo was released in part of the city's centennial celebration, and the reactions I've been seeing haven't exactly been fine and dandy like pineapple candy.  Which leads me to believe citizens might not be all to thrilled about it.  Furthermore, it looks IDENTICAL to EMAAR's logo!  Like they ran a little filtering with Photo Shop and called it good.  So please come on in and click like or dislike :)

Here's a few comments I've seen online.

Amarillo Globe News:

"Eagle1

Bahahahahaha!!!!

Even though we vetted it in-house to make sure that it did not exist out there, somehow it slipped through the cracks and it was brought to our attention (Monday) by someone else in our IT (department).

Ummmm, yeah...it's called Facebook.

Irish-Americanus

Wow

 Just....wow. Who did this? Milli Vanilli?

Too many people playing with Photoshop these days.

"I'll just brighten it up a bit, change the name....Voila! New logo!"

That makes us look real professional.

IamHe

There is nothing in that logo

There is nothing in that logo that represents Amarillo or Texas!!! And secondly why would we want a logo that has any hint of middle eastern representation here in rugged west Texas?? Really!! Plagerism is always strongly frowned upon! Hope that logo wasn't copy righted."

I kind of agree with what they're saying.  Does anything about this new logo represent Amarillo, TX?  It doesn't pop to me, it doesn't represent the city, there is nothing about that logo that screams "Amarillo" to me at all.  I won't be buying the t-shirt.

The thing is also an exact replica of the logo for EMAAR, a public joint stock company based out of Dubai.

If you've never heard of EMAAR, don't worry, a lot of people in America haven't.  I can type away on this, but a picture is worth a thousand words, so drink this in.

The city of Amarillo says the rip off is merely coincidental.

AGN:

Sonja Gross - “We had several different designs submitted by different people involved in the branding process,” she said. “Based on the feedback that we received in those projects, in-house we designed a logo that we’re very proud of ... Even though we vetted it in-house to make sure that it did not exist out there, somehow it slipped through the cracks and it was brought to our attention (Monday) by someone else in our IT (department).”

I know Sonja from the city of Amarillo and she's not a liar, she wouldn't make that up.  That doesn't mean whoever the person that made the logo in house wouldn't rip off EMAAR though.  The 2 logos are almost exact!  Proportioned exactly the same!

The city of Amarillo issued the following press release about response to the new logo:

"Amarillo, TX – In conjunction with the City’s Charter Centennial Celebration, which kicked off with a gala Saturday, November 9 at the Rick Husband International Airport, a new branding campaign was unveiled, setting the course for the City’s next 100 years.

The new image and identity for the City was designed based on input from focus groups, individual interviews with Amarillo citizens and an online survey that was open to the entire public. The research was conducted by Double U Marketing, who also submitted the new slogan, “Open Spaces. Endless Opportunities.”

All of the artwork for the new logo was produced by City staff.  Two City departments researched the artwork to avoid duplication with any similar mark, and at the time did not find any similarities.  However, despite this due care, it has now been brought to our attention that our logo bears a clear resemblance to that of an overseas company.  That was certainly not the intention and was not discovered until after the new logo was unveiled.

The City has initiated contact with the company and will provide more information as it becomes available."

How about some Miley Cyrus?