Newport/Nike Symbol and interpretation

[Cyre2067]

A friend pointed this out to me yesterday and it seemed a point worth pondering. I did a search of the forum, but didn't see it mentioned anywhere else. There was a brief thread on NWO Symbolism and its use in commercial products here: http://www.cassiopaea.org/forum/index.php?topic=726 but ronnie's post hurt my head/didn't make too much sense to me. The link he/she gave also seems to be no longer valid.

A quick internet search yielded a few hits, namely:

THE DEVICE
The neo-Nike/Newport “device” as a “modifier” for the name is bothersome to me, particularly because the motion of POSITIVENESS for TIME, particularly something with a tag line “No Time To Waste,” should really be pointing in a northeasterly direction (point upper right, tail lower left); the psychographics here say “negative, downward trend.” Changing as I’ve indicated should AT LEAST make the overall, psychological impression of whatever this is something POSITIVE. The balance with the Q then becomes an issue, but I have a solution for you. Unfortunately, I DON’T just DO them and hope you like them.

Though when i did another search for psychographics i got a definition along the lines of: psychographic variables are any attributes relating to personality, values, attitudes, interests, or lifestyles. They are also called IAO variables (for Interests, Attitudes, and Opinions). They can be contrasted with demographic variables (such as age and gender), and behavioral variables (such as usage rate or loyalty) - from wikipedia.

So basically I was wondering if anyone has come across this symbol in any reading they may have done, or have any idea behind it's meaning. To me, it seems pertinent that Nike uses the symbol as a positive sort of 'check mark'. Which would suggest done, completed. That goes well with their tag line: Just do it. This also sort of 'makes sense' given that they sell running/athletic shoes which one would wear if one was going to be physically active.

Now we see this symbol completely inverted on Newports - a particularly nasty brand of cigarette, if you ask me. It also happens to be one of the fastest growing brands, and highly popular among the African American community and teens (see here: _http://ezinearticles.com/?The-Fastest-Growing-Cigarette-in-the-U.S.---Newport-Cigarettes&id=5208). This inversion would suggest, "Don't do it", "Leave it Undone" or imho "Stay Asleep" - though why it would thus be popular among Blacks and teens is conundrum to me.

 

[Tigersoap]

To me, it seems pertinent that Nike uses the symbol as a positive sort of 'check mark'. Which would suggest done, completed. That goes well with their tag line: Just do it. This also sort of 'makes sense' given that they sell running/athletic shoes which one would wear if one was going to be physically active.

The origin of the Nike logo :

Simple, Fluid and Fast. These are the words used to describe the “Swoosh” in the Nike logo that has become one of the most recognized symbols in the world. The first Nike logo was designed by Carolyn Davidson in 1971 for just $35. Phil Knight, founder of Blue Ribbon Sports, Inc., hired Davidson to design a logo for a shoe stripe. Though the design did not enthrall Knight due to time constraints, the Nike ‘Swoosh’ logo was selected.

The Nike SWOOSH logo represents the wing in the famous statue of the Greek Goddess of victory, Nike, who was the source of inspiration for many great and courageous warriors. According to legends, a Greek would say, "When we go to battle and win, we say it is Nike."

Ok, this logo is associated with "energy, fly..." and so on but that stops there.
Nike is just another corporation like any other with a large history of worker abuse in eastern countries.
The slogan "Just Do it" was added way after the logo was created.

Now we see this symbol completely inverted on Newports - a particularly nasty brand of cigarette, if you ask me. It also happens to be one of the fastest growing brands, and highly popular among the African American community and teens (see here: _http://ezinearticles.com/?The-Fastest-Growing-Cigarette-in-the-U.S.---Newport-Cigarettes&id=5208). This inversion would suggest, "Don't do it", "Leave it Undone" or imho "Stay Asleep" - though why it would thus be popular among Blacks and teens is conundrum to me.

Do you really believe this ?

From a quick search the Wikipedia entry says

The common Newport box contains a white top, with Newport written on it, and from then on, horizontal green stripes, as well as a spinnaker logo.

The inverted swoosh is the representation of a Spinnaker (boat) sail.
They probably re-branded it in this new shiny packaging.

It seems that the Newport brand made by Lorillard co is used to rip-off symbols from other companies :

_http://www.lloyds.com/CmsPhoenix/DowJonesArticle.aspx?id=374439

To me it seems that there is no point trying to see any "bad intent" in this except poor creativity from the part of the logo designers for the Newport brand imho.

 

[Cyre2067]

To me it seems that there is no point trying to see any "bad intent" in this except poor creativity from the part of the logo designers for the Newport brand imho.

Ya you're probably right, it just stood out to me when my friend mentioned it.