Some folks out there may remember the controversy that periodically surfaces about the old Proctor and Gamble Logo. This logo, which featured a man-in-the-moon and 13 stars, was the subject of an urban legend claiming the company supported the “Church of Satan”. Of course, the logo had no such basis… but still, the furor led P&G to drop the symbol from its products and move to a new logo.
Fast forward to today. According to US Today, the new Belgian carrier Brussels Airlines is having to repaint all of its aircraft. Why? The corporate logo on the aircraft consisted of 13-balls shaped into a stylized “b”. Immediately after the November announcement that the successor airline to the merged SN Brussels and Virgin Express would come into operation March 25 with the 13-ball “b” logo, the company was flooded with disapproving emails and calls that indicates superstitious consumers in the US and Italy were not pleased with an aircraft with a logo with 13 balls because they thought it would bring them bad luck. As a result, Brussels Airlines is repainting all of its airships to add a 14th dot to the logo. Of course, this would create problems for flying to China, where “14” is considered bad-luck because one-four, in Mandarin, sounds like the phrase “to want to die.”
Think about this the next time you book a room on the 13th floor. Oh, right. Never mind.