P&G say goodbye to Satan and simplicity

Brand New recently noted that P&G introduced a new Landor-designed identity earlier this year "without calling much attention to itself". The image above might explain why.

It's bland and, well, ugly.

The previous logo was simple and stylish - see the history of P&G logos in this excellent Emblemetric article - but the new one is old-fashioned and does nothing to enhance the image of the company, which is apparently the point of the rebranding.

P&G, as you're no doubt aware, preside over tons of healthcare and beauty brands, but their own identity was kind of tucked away on the back of their products, leaving names like Gillette, Vicks, Head & Shoulders and so on to take centre stage. The new gradient and drop-shadow laced logo is designed to change that, putting more emphasis on the parent company.

The new logo kind of reintroduces the moon, which featured on previous logos and led to some people with particularly overactive imaginations (and way too much free time) to suggest P&G were a bunch of Satan worshippers. Emblemetric point out that the reintroduction of the crescent moon could have a new negative, and equally stupid, connotation for some consumers. Yes, you've guessed it: now P&G could be a front for al Qaida. For some, Islam=terrorism and the aforementioned article notes that "[t]oday, unfortunately, the crescent moon is seen by a certain number of Americans as symbolic of the Islamic religion that they foolishly fear and abhor."

It's fine not to like the new logo, but do it because it's not very nice, not because you think P&G is a front for Satan and/or religious extremism. Dislike it because it looks amateurish and the other one was better - just look at how bad the favicon looks, for a start. Just don't dislike it because some tinfoil hat wearing conspiracy nutter thinks giant lizards are running the world.

Thanks, Tony Pulis, and sayonara

Stoke City have parted with manager Tony Pulis after seven years as they want to 'move in a new direction.' I should probably mention I'm a Stoke fan.

It's great that Pulis got Stoke promoted, but they've become increasingly woeful to watch of late, with their 'physical' approach rightly criticised by other teams and supporters, so a change is overdue. Hopefully the replacement will spend summer overhauling the team.

Speaking of replacements, the names being bandied around include Rafael Benitez, who I certainly wouldn't say no to. Apparently PSG and Napoli are also interested in securing his services, though, so the chances of seeing Rafa on the sidelines at the Britannia Stadium are admittedly pretty slim.

Lenticular clouds

I love clouds, and there are some amazing pictures of lenticular ones on the BBC.

Would the real Toru Hashimoto please shut up

Politicians can always be counted on to say the right thing, represent the views of the people, and take great care not to offend. Japanese politicians are just the same.

Take Toru Hashimoto, for example, the free-thinking mayor of Osaka. He's rather popular (used to be on TV all the time) and was apparently quite a hit with the ladies. He used to wear glasses, although his eyesight is fine, because he thought they would make him look more intelligent. Obviously looks are important because when he opens his mouth he often makes himself sound like a total idiot. Not content with just saying some off the most breathtakingly moronic and offensive things imaginable - quite a feat, even for a politician - he's sought to cement his popularity by aligning himself with the right wing, chauvinistic, xenophobic former mayor of Tokyo, Shintaro Ishihara.

Last year his approval ratings shot up when he said he didn't think nuclear reactors should be restarted following the Tohoku earthquake and tsunami. This surge in popularity was a bad thing, apparently, so he sought to undo the damage by first saying that what Japan needs is a dictatorship and that there was no evidence that the Japanese military forced women to be prostitutes during World War II.

Clearly that wasn't enough, so he recently said that subjecting thousands of women to rape during was 'necessary'. Those troops needed to relax, after all, he claimed. And there was me thinking it was a vile war crime. Like Hashimoto, I studied law, but it seems we must have studied a very different form. He suggested that the victims should be treated to some 'polite, kind words'. Yeah, that'll do the trick. Why bother with international law, criminal courts and reparations when we could just sit down, say 'sorry about that' and have done with it? Genius.

Either that, or he could let himself be treated like shit and abused for a few years. Maybe a few thousand people could line up to kick him in the nuts? Then we could offer him some polite, kind words and make it all better. Then we could bring back public floggings, witch hunts, take the vote away from women and undesirables, and get rid of that pesky democracy once and for all.

The sad thing is not only that this imbecile is in a position of power, but also that people outside Japan might think his views are popular and accepted. They're not. Every Japanese person I know thinks he's an idiot. I just wish more people would say something to get him to shut up.

Designed to move

After having a couple of heart scares when I was 30 (calling them heart attacks makes them even scarier), I realised I should pay attention to my health a bit more. Funny, that.

The thing is, although I drastically reduced the amount of alcohol I was chucking back, and also drastically reduced my smoking habit, I didn't stop either. It's easy to make excuses, you see: stress, just the one, it's for social/business reasons, I'll stop next week/month/year, etc. Likewise, it's easy to make excuses for not getting off your off arse and doing a bit of exercise: too busy, nowhere to do it, the equipment is too expensive, it damages your knees, etc.

The fact remains that one day all of this will catch up with you. One day you'll be lying in the street clutching your chest as your heart says 'bugger this, I'm giving up'. Or you'll fall over and end up with needing hip replacement or wheelchair because your bones and muscles are too weak. Or you'll be diagnosed with terminal cancer. None of these are very nice, I admit, but by watching what you put into your body and by using it the way it was designed - to move a lot - you'll greatly improve your chances of not only surviving these things, but living longer and much happier.

This is why I love things like Designed to Move, labelled as a physical activity action agenda to fuel the future. The beautifully designed website gives tons of information in a direct, easy to understand, and hard to ignore manner. Take some of these facts, for example:

In less than two generations, physical activity has dropped by 20% in the U.K. and 32% in the U.S. In China, the drop is 45% in less than one generation.

By the end of this decade, most Americans will exert only slightly more energy per week than if they slept 24 hours a day.

This year, 5.3 million deaths will be attributed to physical inactivity. Smoking is responsible for 5 million deaths per year.

Physical inactivity can bankrupt economies. In the US, China, India and the UK alone, it cost US$ 200 billion in 2008.

Today's 10 year olds are the first generation expected to have a shorter life expectancy than their parents.

Now for people like me, who are considerably older than 10, we can make our own decisions and if facts like this aren't enough to force us to do a bit more exercise, nothing will. But kids look up to adults in more ways than one, and if there's no incentive or encouragement to be physically active, then we're setting our kids up for a lifetime of illness and premature death.

And that's nothing short of abuse.

http://designedtomove.org/