tag:theconversation.com,2011:/global/topics/logo-33085/articlesLogo – The Conversation2019-07-17T23:02:50Ztag:theconversation.com,2011:article/1201332019-07-17T23:02:50Z2019-07-17T23:02:50ZMathematics is about wonder, creativity and fun, so let’s teach it that way<figure><img src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/284141/original/file-20190715-173355-10cjyhl.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&rect=2%2C79%2C994%2C534&q=45&auto=format&w=496&fit=clip" /><figcaption><span class="caption">Why don't students say math is imaginative? Here, the White Rabbit character originally from Alice's Adventures in Wonderland, written under mathematician Charles Lutwidge Dodgson's pen name, Lewis Carroll. </span> <span class="attribution"><span class="source">(Shutterstock)</span></span></figcaption></figure><p>Alice in Wonderland enthusiasts recently celebrated the story’s anniversary with creative events like playing with <a href="https://www.storymuseum.org.uk/about-us/what-we-do/alices-day/">puzzles and time</a> — and future Alice <a href="https://londonist.com/london/museums-and-galleries/alice-in-wonderland-exhibition-v-and-a-2020">exhibits are in the works</a>. The original 1865 children’s book <em>Alice’s Adventures in Wonderland</em>, sprung from a mathematician’s imagination, continues to inspire exploration and fun. </p>
<p>But is a connection between math and creativity captured in schools? Much discussion across the western world from both experts and the public has emphasized the need to <a href="https://www.nctm.org/Store/Products/Catalyzing-Change-in-High-School-Mathematics/">revitalize high school mathematics</a>: critics say the experience is <a href="https://www.nytimes.com/2019/03/30/opinion/sunday/fix-high-school-education.html">boring</a> or <a href="https://qz.com/377742/this-school-in-norway-abandoned-teaching-subjects-40-years-ago/">not meaningful to most students</a>. Experts concerned with the public interest and decision-making say students need skills in <a href="https://cca-reports.ca/reports/some-assembly-required-stem-skills-and-canadas-economic-productivity/">critical thinking, creativity, communication and collaboration</a>. </p>
<p>Mathematicians, philosophers and educators are also concerned with the excitement and energy of creative expression, with invention, <a href="https://www.jstor.org/stable/40248373">with wonder</a> and even with what might be called <a href="https://education.stateuniversity.com/pages/2548/Whitehead-Alfred-North-1861-1947.html">the romance of learning</a>. </p>
<p>Mathematics has all the attributes of the paragraph above, and so it seems to me that <a href="https://doi.org/10.3390/educsci8020056">what’s missing from high school math is mathematics itself</a>.</p>
<p>I am now working with colleagues at Queen’s University and the University of Ottawa to develop <a href="http://www.rabbitmath.ca">RabbitMath,</a> a senior level high-school math curriculum designed to enable students to work together creatively with a high level of personal engagement. My preparation for this has been 40 years of working with teachers in high-school classrooms. </p>
<p>In partnership with grades 11 and 12 math teachers, we will be piloting this curriculum over the next few years.</p>
<h2>Mathematical novels</h2>
<p>When students study literature, drama or the creative arts in high school, the curriculum centres on what can be called sophisticated works of art, created in response to life’s struggles and triumphs. </p>
<p>But currently in school mathematics, this is rarely the case: students are not connected to the larger imaginative projects through which professional mathematicians confront the world’s problems or explore the world’s mysteries. </p>
<figure class="align-center ">
<img alt="" src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/284191/original/file-20190715-173351-drn82p.JPG?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/284191/original/file-20190715-173351-drn82p.JPG?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=450&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/284191/original/file-20190715-173351-drn82p.JPG?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=450&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/284191/original/file-20190715-173351-drn82p.JPG?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=450&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/284191/original/file-20190715-173351-drn82p.JPG?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=566&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/284191/original/file-20190715-173351-drn82p.JPG?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=566&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/284191/original/file-20190715-173351-drn82p.JPG?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=566&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px">
<figcaption>
<span class="caption">The author, Peter Taylor, right, at a Lisgar Collegiate Institute Grade 11 math classroom in Ottawa, 2018.</span>
<span class="attribution"><span class="source">(Ann Arden)</span>, <span class="license">Author provided</span></span>
</figcaption>
</figure>
<p>Mathematician Jo Boaler from the Stanford Graduate School of Education says that a <a href="https://www.wiley.com/en-ca/Mathematical+Mindsets%3A+Unleashing+Students%27+Potential+through+Creative+Math%2C+Inspiring+Messages+and+Innovative+Teaching-p-9780470894521">“wide gulf between real mathematics and school mathematics is at the heart of the math problems we face in school education.”</a></p>
<p>Of the subject of mathematics, Boaler notes that:</p>
<blockquote>
<p>“Students will typically say it is a subject of calculations, procedures, or rules. But when we ask mathematicians what math is, they will say it is the study of patterns that is an aesthetic, creative, and beautiful subject. Why are these descriptions so different?” </p>
</blockquote>
<p>She points out the same gulf isn’t seen if people ask students and English-literature professors what literature is about. </p>
<p>In the process of constructing the RabbitMath curriculum, problems or activities are included when team members find them engaging and a challenge to their intellect and imagination. Following the analogy with literature, we call the models we are working with mathematical novels. </p>
<p>For example, one project invites students to work with ocean tides. It would hard to find a dramatic cycle as majestic as the effect of that sublime distant moon on the powerful tidal action in the Bay of Fundy.</p>
<h2>Student engagement</h2>
<p>In the 1970s, the extraordinary mathematician and computer scientist at Massachusetts Institute of Technology, Seymour Papert, noticed that in art class, students, just as mature artists, are involved in <a href="https://doi.org/10.1080/0020739700030306">personally meaningful work</a>. Papert’s objective was to be able to say the same of a mathematics student.</p>
<p>I had a parallel experience in 2013 when I was the internal reviewer for the Drama program at Queen’s. I marvelled at students’ creative passion as they prepared to stage a performance. And they weren’t all actors: they were singers, musicians, writers, composers, directors and technicians.</p>
<p>In Papert’s curriculum model, students with diverse abilities and interests <a href="https://flm-journal.org/index.php?do=details&lang=en&vol=37&num=2&pages=25-29&ArtID=1146">work together on projects</a>, whereby they collaborate on problems, strategies and outcomes. </p>
<p>As a pioneering computer scientist, Papert understood that students could directly access the processes of design and construction through digital technology. Papert used his computer system LOGO for this technical interface. LOGO was limited in its scope, but Papert’s idea was way ahead of its time. </p>
<p>Students in the RabbitMath classroom will work together using the programming language Python to construct diagrams and animations to better understand their experiments with springs and tires, mirrors and music. They will produce videos that can explain to their classmates the workings of a sophisticated structure.</p>
<figure class="align-center ">
<img alt="" src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/284162/original/file-20190715-173342-15mge07.PNG?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/284162/original/file-20190715-173342-15mge07.PNG?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=228&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/284162/original/file-20190715-173342-15mge07.PNG?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=228&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/284162/original/file-20190715-173342-15mge07.PNG?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=228&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/284162/original/file-20190715-173342-15mge07.PNG?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=286&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/284162/original/file-20190715-173342-15mge07.PNG?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=286&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/284162/original/file-20190715-173342-15mge07.PNG?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=286&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px">
<figcaption>
<span class="caption">RabbitMath focuses on the analysis of complex structures. Students studying the curriculum will be involved presenting mathematical ‘stories.’</span>
<span class="attribution"><span class="source">(RabbitMath image by Skyepaphora)</span>, <span class="license">Author provided</span></span>
</figcaption>
</figure>
<p>Today, technology, the internet, computer algebra systems and mathematical programming provide possibilities for immediate engagement in processes of design and construction — exactly what Papert wanted. The platform for RabbitMath is the <a href="https://jupyter.org/">Jupyter Notebook</a>, a direct descendant of LOGO.</p>
<h2>Technical skill</h2>
<p>For too many years, real progress in school mathematics education has been hamstrung by a ridiculous confrontation between so-called “traditional” and “discovery” math. The former is concerned with technical facility and the latter is about skills of inquiry and investigation.</p>
<hr>
<p>
<em>
<strong>
Read more:
<a href="https://theconversation.com/ontario-math-has-always-covered-the-basics-115445">Ontario math has always covered 'the basics'</a>
</strong>
</em>
</p>
<hr>
<p>There is no conflict between the two; in fact they support each other rather well. Every sophisticated human endeavour, from conducting a symphony orchestra to putting a satellite into orbit, understands the complementary nature of technical facility and creative investigation. </p>
<p>Stanford University Graduate School of Education mathematician Keith Devlin advises parents to ensure their child has mastery of what he calls number sense, “<a href="https://www.edge.org/response-detail/27097">fluidity and flexibility with numbers, a sense of what numbers mean, and an ability to use mental mathematics to negotiate the world and make comparisons</a>.” But for students embarking on careers in science, technology or engineering, that is not enough, he says. They need a deep understanding of both those procedures and the concepts they rely on — the capacity to analyze and work with complex systems.</p>
<p>A high-school math class is a rich ecosystem of differing abilities, capacities, objectives and temperaments. </p>
<p>The educator’s goal must be to enable a diverse mix of students to work together in a math class as creatively and intensely as students in the drama program, or to bring the same personal passion as they might to writing fiction.</p><img src="https://counter.theconversation.com/content/120133/count.gif" alt="The Conversation" width="1" height="1" />
<p class="fine-print"><em><span>Peter Taylor receives funding from: The Mathematics Knowledge Network; The Fields Institute;The Canadian Mathematical Society; The Social Sciences and Humanities Research Council of Canada.
</span></em></p>Mathematician Peter Taylor taught high school math to prepare to develop a new ‘RabbitMath’ curriculum that emphasizes collaborative creativity and learning to work with complex systems.Peter Taylor, Professor, Queen's University, OntarioLicensed as Creative Commons – attribution, no derivatives.tag:theconversation.com,2011:article/1157842019-04-23T10:44:04Z2019-04-23T10:44:04ZFUCT gets day in court as SCOTUS considers dropping slippery moral standard when granting trademarks<p>When’s a brand too scandalous to <a href="https://www.uspto.gov/trademarks-getting-started/trademark-basics">trademark</a>? </p>
<p>That’s a question the Supreme Court <a href="http://www.abajournal.com/magazine/article/too-tasteless-to-trademark">will soon decide</a> in a case that tests the constitutional limits of free speech. </p>
<p>I attended the oral argument on April 15, when lawyers representing streetwear clothing label FUCT <a href="https://www.washingtonpost.com/politics/courts_law/he-wants-to-trademark-a-brand-name-that-sounds-like-the-f-word-the-supreme-court-is-listening/2019/04/12/17426e44-5d29-11e9-a00e-050dc7b82693_story.html?utm_term=.b8767c55ecbb">argued the company has a right</a> to register its brand as a trademark, which helps protect against copycats. The United States Patent and Trademark Office had <a href="https://www.npr.org/2019/04/16/713632552/supreme-court-dances-around-the-f-word-with-real-potential-financial-consequence">rejected it</a> on the grounds that FUCT is “immoral” and “scandalous.” </p>
<p>As a <a href="https://scholar.google.com/citations?user=T_SiGdwAAAAJ&hl=en&oi=a">trademark attorney and scholar</a>, I believe it’s time the U.S. stopped enforcing an impossible-to-apply moral standard in trademark law – as it has in many other legal domains. Here’s why. </p>
<h2>An outlaw ethos</h2>
<p>It is perhaps appropriate that this case arose from a streetwear label famous for testing the limits. </p>
<p>While it’s commonplace today for clothing labels to adopt a provocative ethos and image, FUCT founder Erik Brunetti was a <a href="https://www.gq.com/story/fuct-erik-brunetti-supreme-court-case">trailblazer of edgy streetwear fashion</a> when <a href="https://www.grailed.com/drycleanonly/fuct-history">he started the company</a> in 1990. The name was meant to embody the company’s outlaw image – a corporate-looking logo with an anti-authoritarian pronunciation and subversive message. </p>
<p>A popular style involved prints of the brand name in the font style of the Ford logo, which can be found on <a href="http://www.defunkd.com/forum/what-worth-f20/vintage-fuct-ford-logo-shirt-t2930.html">T-shirts</a> and <a href="https://www.google.com/search?q=fuct+ford+logo+hat+original&rlz=1C5CHFA_enUS754US754&source=lnms&tbm=isch&sa=X&ved=0ahUKEwjD4szWwMvhAhVimuAKHfI1Av4Q_AUIDygC&biw=1412&bih=736">hats</a>. The brand quickly became a cultural icon, with its gear worn by skateboarders, punk rockers and even <a href="https://www.pinterest.com/pin/555420566539029843">members of the band Nirvana</a>. </p>
<p>As the popularity of the label grew, it engendered fake FUCT merchandise. In order to protect his mark more effectively around the world, <a href="http://www.abajournal.com/magazine/article/too-tasteless-to-trademark">Brunetti applied to register</a> it with the U.S. Patent and Trademark Office in 2011.</p>
<p>Trademark registration <a href="https://www.uspto.gov/trademarks-getting-started/trademark-basics">confers significant benefits</a>, including nationwide protection from confusingly similar products, enhanced monetary damages in litigation and priority for foreign filings. It also enables U.S. Customs agents to stop counterfeit goods from entering at the border. </p>
<p>In rejecting Brunetti’s application, examiners argued he ran afoul of a more than century-old provision in trademark law. </p>
<figure class="align-center ">
<img alt="" src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/270302/original/file-20190422-28113-kup11q.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/270302/original/file-20190422-28113-kup11q.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=400&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/270302/original/file-20190422-28113-kup11q.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=400&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/270302/original/file-20190422-28113-kup11q.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=400&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/270302/original/file-20190422-28113-kup11q.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=502&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/270302/original/file-20190422-28113-kup11q.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=502&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/270302/original/file-20190422-28113-kup11q.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=502&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px">
<figcaption>
<span class="caption">Brunetti appealed the rejection of his trademark application all the way to the Supreme Court.</span>
<span class="attribution"><a class="source" href="http://www.apimages.com/metadata/Index/Supreme-Court-Scandalous-Trademarks/5437f1f6b0eb4fbe86cf00623b84c2a6/5/0">AP Photo/J. Scott Applewhite</a></span>
</figcaption>
</figure>
<h2>‘Offensive to the conscience’</h2>
<p>The prohibition on registration of immoral and scandalous trademarks has been in existence since Congress <a href="https://www.ipmall.info/sites/default/files/hosted_resources/lipa/trademarks/PreLanhamAct_086_Act_of_1905.htm">passed the Trademark Act of 1905</a>. It says any mark that “consists of or comprises immoral or scandalous matter” will be rejected. </p>
<p>Today, scandalous <a href="https://tmep.uspto.gov/RDMS/TMEP/Oct2012#/Oct2012/TMEP-1200d1e3054.html">is defined</a> as “shocking to the sense of propriety, offensive to the conscience or moral feelings or calling out for condemnation.” </p>
<p>I and other scholars <a href="https://kb.osu.edu/bitstream/handle/1811/64637/OSLJ_V54N2_0331.pdf">have long questioned the wisdom</a> of having the trademark office as an arbiter of a collective and ever-evolving moral standard. That’s because trademarks <a href="https://heinonline.org/HOL/LandingPage?handle=hein.journals/branlaj49&div=25&id=&page=">serve a valuable function</a> in the marketplace by identifying the source of a good or service, helping consumers trust where something they buy comes from and preventing deception. </p>
<p>What matters is source quality – not moral quality. </p>
<p>And because the prohibition affects registration but not use, I have found that <a href="https://scholars.unh.edu/cgi/viewcontent.cgi?referer=&httpsredir=1&article=1309&context=law_facpub">it is ineffective</a> at keeping offensive trademarks out of the marketplace. In addition, decisions based on this provision are wildly inconsistent. </p>
<figure class="align-center ">
<img alt="" src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/270303/original/file-20190422-191664-1mnb1xz.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/270303/original/file-20190422-191664-1mnb1xz.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=400&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/270303/original/file-20190422-191664-1mnb1xz.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=400&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/270303/original/file-20190422-191664-1mnb1xz.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=400&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/270303/original/file-20190422-191664-1mnb1xz.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=503&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/270303/original/file-20190422-191664-1mnb1xz.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=503&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/270303/original/file-20190422-191664-1mnb1xz.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=503&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px">
<figcaption>
<span class="caption">The Patent and Trademark Office determines whether a mark is ‘scandalous’ or not.</span>
<span class="attribution"><a class="source" href="http://www.apimages.com/metadata/Index/Overhauling-Patent-System/ce5e838efc9e46d4a6efd0393c7580b1/88/0">AP Photo/Alex Brandon</a></span>
</figcaption>
</figure>
<h2>If FCUK is fine, why not FUCT?</h2>
<p>While the U.S. <a href="https://www.jstor.org/stable/1339557?seq=1#page_scan_tab_contents">has moved away</a> from regulating morality in other areas such as broadcasting – and in other forms of intellectual property such as copyrights and patents – the government continues to do so when it comes to granting <a href="https://freibrun.com/trademarks-valuable-intellectual-property-assets/">valuable legal rights</a> through trademark registration. </p>
<p>The primary evidence used by examiners to determine whether to reject a mark on these grounds is the <a href="https://papers.ssrn.com/sol3/papers.cfm?abstract_id=2715104">dictionary</a>. If a dictionary indicates that a term is “vulgar,” that is sufficient evidence to reject a mark. </p>
<p>Trademark examiners evaluate the meaning of a mark in the context of the current attitudes of the day. For example, in 1938, the <a href="https://casetext.com/case/in-re-riverbank-canning-co">trademark office rejected</a> a request to trademark Madonna as a wine brand on grounds that the word is religious in nature. A half century later, the office apparently no longer had a problem with granting such trademarks when <a href="http://tmsearch.uspto.gov/bin/showfield?f=doc&state=4809:d6j8vq.2.29">it approved one</a> for Madonna rosé wine. </p>
<p>Since the perception of what is and isn’t scandalous is constantly changing, it’s difficult for the trademark office to keep up. And trademarks that are considered scandalous or immoral to one examiner may be acceptable to another. </p>
<p>As a result, the trademark office records <a href="https://papers.ssrn.com/sol3/papers.cfm?abstract_id=2715104">are rife with inconsistencies</a>. In recent years, examiners <a href="https://www.uspto.gov/trademarks-application-process/search-trademark-database">have approved trademarks</a> containing words such as “whore,” “bitch,” “penis” and “pothead” while rejecting others with the same terms. </p>
<p>And the office has even approved clothing trademarks remarkably similar to FUCT, including FCUK, the F word and Fvck Street Wear. </p>
<p>In the case of FUCT, the rejection was based on the idea that the homonym <a href="https://www.supremecourt.gov/DocketPDF/18/18-302/95141/20190402150636686_18-302rbUnitedStates.pdf">would be perceived as equivalent</a> to the vulgar word it sounds like. </p>
<h2>A terrible message</h2>
<p>Two years ago, the Supreme Court cited the First Amendment <a href="https://www.npr.org/sections/thetwo-way/2017/06/19/533514196/the-slants-win-supreme-court-battle-over-bands-name-in-trademark-dispute">in striking down</a> a prohibition against <a href="https://theconversation.com/is-the-slants-racist-court-ruling-on-band-name-could-upend-trademark-law-48413">trademark registration for marks that disparage</a> individuals or groups. I believe the justices should do the same in the FUCT case. </p>
<p>A concern some justices expressed during oral arguments is that allowing trademark registration of offensive terms could be perceived as some sort of government endorsement of that language. </p>
<p>I disagree, but more importantly trademark law shouldn’t police morality. It is terrible at doing so. </p>
<p>And now that the court has deemed registration of racist and sexist trademarks as permissible, to then draw the line at “scandalous” or “immoral” ones would be a terrible message to send to disadvantaged groups typically on the receiving end of those types of offensive marks.</p>
<p>Otherwise, we may well be FUCT.</p><img src="https://counter.theconversation.com/content/115784/count.gif" alt="The Conversation" width="1" height="1" />
<p class="fine-print"><em><span>Megan M. Carpenter does not work for, consult, own shares in or receive funding from any company or organization that would benefit from this article, and has disclosed no relevant affiliations beyond their academic appointment.</span></em></p>A trademark law scholar explains why the impossible-to-apply standard, dating back to the early 20th century, is ineffective and needs to be abolished.Megan M. Carpenter, Dean, University of New HampshireLicensed as Creative Commons – attribution, no derivatives.tag:theconversation.com,2011:article/911982018-02-07T11:28:59Z2018-02-07T11:28:59ZThe Cleveland Indians’ Chief Wahoo isn’t going away anytime soon<figure><img src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/204897/original/file-20180205-14067-dadfu4.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=496&fit=clip" /><figcaption><span class="caption">Though Chief Wahoo won't appear on uniforms, there's no reason to think that the mascot won't endure on signs, clothing and memorabilia. </span> <span class="attribution"><a class="source" href="https://www.flickr.com/photos/apardavila/29905250240/in/photolist-V7gu2b-jAAsm-Bv6ksE-oPTsuR-4ZVVhs-8C5JRN-p77k5H-oPTh4w-3bTCCS-oPTiSm-9YdwAo-fJT6De-57RHY3-oQLDfc-5SpRFJ-FchEJ-SWC5tJ-dSRXZD-dSRYdz-dSRY9p-dSRYaZ-dSXyqC-oPTj79-mN1ktY-8soyZj-dSRY48-dSRYca-byoaqv-dSRXYk-dSRY8z-dSXyvJ-dSXytf-dSXyuE-4pDnsz-f89NTk-dSXyoC-f89NBX-f89Nzz-2VCrJY-MDBKZn-MyCe1L-enRN4L-4mDfR5-FELNq">Arturo Pardavila III</a>, <a class="license" href="http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/">CC BY</a></span></figcaption></figure><p>At the end of January, the Cleveland Indians <a href="https://www.nytimes.com/2018/01/29/sports/baseball/cleveland-indians-chief-wahoo-logo.html">announced</a> that their mascot, Chief Wahoo, will no longer appear on players’ jerseys beginning with the 2019 Major League Baseball season.</p>
<p><a href="https://www.washingtonpost.com/local/clevelands-chief-wahoo-why-the-most-offensive-image-in-sports-has-yet-to-die/2016/08/09/245156c6-58e6-11e6-9aee-8075993d73a2_story.html?utm_term=.c2e79abc7cd0">Since the 1970s</a>, activists have opposed the mascot, arguing it is offensive, discriminatory and harmful to Native Americans. <a href="http://www.cleveland.com/tribe/index.ssf/2018/01/cleveland_indians_58.html">Pending litigation</a> against MLB and the Cleveland Indians over the discriminatory nature of the logo likely created additional pressure.</p>
<p>Many – including <a href="http://www.cleveland.com/opinion/index.ssf/2017/01/even_those_whove_loved_chief_w.html">some Cleveland fans</a> – heralded the decision as a long overdue. But other Cleveland fans were upset with the decision. They don’t see Wahoo as a racist symbol; instead, they associate it with their communities and childhoods. </p>
<p>For the past 13 years, I’ve been studying Native American cultural and legal disputes. But in recent years, I’ve been particularly interested in the rhetoric used by defenders of these Native American sports mascots. </p>
<p>While many scholars are quick to note a Native American mascot’s racist and colonial underpinnings, not enough attention is given to the fans and defenders’ attachment to these symbols. To them, it has nothing to do with the appropriation of Native American culture. </p>
<p>Instead, it’s about community, identity and nostalgia. And it’s for these reasons that Chief Wahoo will continue to be embraced by the team’s fans for years to come.</p>
<h2>The rebirth of a city and its baseball team</h2>
<p>From 1960 to the late 1980s, few fans paid attention to the Cleveland and its mascot. </p>
<p>They fielded only a handful of winning teams, and the team had no playoff appearances <a href="http://www.espn.com/mlb/history/teams/_/team/cle">between 1954 and 1995</a>. Off the field, <a href="http://cleveland.indians.mlb.com/cle/history/cle_history_overview.jsp?story=4">financial problems and frequent ownership changes</a> only compounded the team’s problems. </p>
<figure class="align-right zoomable">
<a href="https://images.theconversation.com/files/204925/original/file-20180205-14078-hftgit.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=1000&fit=clip"><img alt="" src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/204925/original/file-20180205-14078-hftgit.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=237&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/204925/original/file-20180205-14078-hftgit.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=902&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/204925/original/file-20180205-14078-hftgit.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=902&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/204925/original/file-20180205-14078-hftgit.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=902&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/204925/original/file-20180205-14078-hftgit.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=1134&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/204925/original/file-20180205-14078-hftgit.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=1134&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/204925/original/file-20180205-14078-hftgit.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=1134&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px"></a>
<figcaption>
<span class="caption">A 28-foot tall Chief Wahoo sign that used to be perched above Cleveland’s Municipal Stadium is now displayed at the Western Reserve Historical Society.</span>
<span class="attribution"><a class="source" href="https://www.flickr.com/photos/ralpe/9674257275/in/photolist-V7gu2b-jAAsm-Bv6ksE-4ZVVhs-8C5JRN-p77k5H-oPTh4w-3bTCCS-oPTiSm-fJT6De-mN1ktY-57RHY3-oQLDfc-5SpRFJ-FchEJ-8soyZj-SWC5tJ-dSRXZD-dSRYdz-dSRY9p-dSRYaZ-dSXyqC-dSRY48-dSRYca-byoaqv">Ralf Peter Reimann</a>, <a class="license" href="http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/4.0/">CC BY-SA</a></span>
</figcaption>
</figure>
<p>When he purchased the team in 1986, real estate developer Richard Jacobs wanted to revitalize the team by “<a href="http://www.slate.com/articles/sports/sports_nut/2016/10/why_the_protests_against_chief_wahoo_never_work.html">embracing Indians history</a>” and constructing a new stadium. Both involved the prominent use of Chief Wahoo. For example, after Jacobs purchased the team, Wahoo <a href="http://derfcity.blogspot.com/2014/04/de-chiefing-wahoo-part-2.html">replaced</a> the block letter “C” on the players’ caps. </p>
<p>In the 1990s, downtown Cleveland experienced an economic revitalization, while the Indians put together a string of playoff runs. <a href="http://ifollosports.com/mlb/progressive-field-reinvented-both-indians-and-downtown-cleveland">As the team and city’s fates improved</a>, the identity of the city and team became intertwined. </p>
<p>Professor of sports management Ellen Staurowsky <a href="http://www.nebraskapress.unl.edu/nebraska/9780803277984/">has specifically written about</a> the close relationship between the Cleveland Indians and the city’s identity – one that’s “overpoweringly revealed on opening day in Cleveland, when people throughout the city literally wear their loyalties on their sleeves.” </p>
<p>Strident defenders of the logo echo this sentiment. For example, a fan named Pedro Rodriquez <a href="https://www.clevescene.com/scene-and-heard/archives/2014/04/04/its-not-racist-and-other-responses-to-wahoo-protesters-at-home-opener">told Cleveland Scene</a> in 2014 that the mascot is about “Cleveland pride” and nothing else.</p>
<h2>It’s about more than sports</h2>
<p>The University of Queensland’s John Nauright <a href="http://journals.sagepub.com/doi/pdf/10.1177/101269029603100104">has written extensively</a> about how sports have long operated as “one of the most significant shapers of collective or group identity in the contemporary world.”</p>
<p>While the link between a team and community’s identity might explain some of the mascot’s defense, there’s also an emotional intensity attached to Chief Wahoo. </p>
<p>During the 2016 playoffs, a middle-aged woman, on the verge of tears, <a href="http://www.slate.com/articles/sports/sports_nut/2016/10/why_the_protests_against_chief_wahoo_never_work.html">told protesters</a> that “Chief Wahoo is my beloved man.” On opening day in 2017, anti-Wahoo demonstrators <a href="http://www.cleveland.com/naymik/index.ssf/2017/04/watch_indians_fans_go_off_on_c.html">were greeted with</a> profanity and obscene gestures.</p>
<p>What explains this fervent defense of the mascot – and the rage felt toward those opposed to the logo? After all, isn’t it just sports? </p>
<p>Research demonstrates that sports – particularly professional baseball – <a href="http://acrwebsite.org/volumes/11333/volumes/ap04/AP-04">are connected to nostalgic feelings for the past</a>. Pioneering sports marketer (and former Cleveland Indians owner) Bill Veeck <a href="https://books.google.com/books?id=MYQdMQAACAAJ&dq=the+hustler's+handbook&hl=en&sa=X&ved=0ahUKEwiS2563n4_ZAhWW3oMKHRL2A-gQ6AEIKjAA">wrote</a> that baseball should be marketed in a way that creates vivid and lasting memories, evoking feelings that make fans want to return each season. For kids going to their first baseball game, there’s probably no better way to brand the team than with a grinning cartoon character that mimics the ones they see on TV.</p>
<p>Sure enough, when many fans talk about their feelings toward Chief Wahoo, they’ll associate the team and its mascot with happy childhood memories. </p>
<p>Even a critic of Chief Wahoo, Nick Galaida, admits as much: “Chief Wahoo is more than a team logo,” <a href="http://www.cleveland.com/opinion/index.ssf/2017/01/even_those_whove_loved_chief_w.html">he wrote in 2017</a>. “[It] represents countless summer hours spent with my friends and family eating hot dogs and cheering on our team.”</p>
<p>These feelings probably <a href="http://www.nebraskapress.unl.edu/university-of-nebraska-press/9780803278646/">allow fans to look past</a> any sort of latent racism; to them, the image is connected to an innocent place – childhood – and is immune from bad intentions. </p>
<h2>Changing the parameters of the debate</h2>
<p>In the national debate about Native American mascots, it’s important to understand how fans feel about their mascots. </p>
<p>For many, elimination of the mascot is an attack on their personal identities, worldviews and histories. As cultural anthropologist C. Richard King <a href="http://www.nebraskapress.unl.edu/university-of-nebraska-press/9780803278646/">notes</a>, “For many fans change brings with it certain violence. And while largely effective, change would strike at the heart of who they are and what makes the world good.”</p>
<figure class="align-center ">
<img alt="" src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/204927/original/file-20180205-14078-cwrp0i.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/204927/original/file-20180205-14078-cwrp0i.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=470&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/204927/original/file-20180205-14078-cwrp0i.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=470&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/204927/original/file-20180205-14078-cwrp0i.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=470&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/204927/original/file-20180205-14078-cwrp0i.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=591&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/204927/original/file-20180205-14078-cwrp0i.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=591&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/204927/original/file-20180205-14078-cwrp0i.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=591&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px">
<figcaption>
<span class="caption">A fan argues with a protester before a Cleveland Indians game.</span>
<span class="attribution"><a class="source" href="http://www.apimages.com/metadata/Index/Indians-Chief-Wahoo-Dropped-Baseball/796930ef7d5f4826bcbaddc5777b9ee2/14/0">AP Photo/Mark Duncan</a></span>
</figcaption>
</figure>
<p>So the problem isn’t just the presence of a symbol that many find offensive. It’s the emotional connection that fans feel toward the symbol. In her book “<a href="https://www.dukeupress.edu/the-promise-of-happiness">The Promise of Happiness</a>,” scholar Sara Ahmed argues that happiness isn’t located in the image of Wahoo. Instead, the way Wahoo is talked about – and debated, and threatened – makes fans <em>think</em> that a symbol like Chief Wahoo is associated with better times. </p>
<p>So how should all of this inform the debate over team mascots?</p>
<p>Rather than simply focusing on removing the image and calling it “racist,” there could ideally be more discussion about some of the problems Native American mascots pose. (For example, <a href="https://theconversation.com/new-research-shows-how-native-american-mascots-reinforce-stereotypes-63861">recent research</a> has detailed how they reinforce stereotypes.) At the same time, those who want to get rid of Wahoo should also acknowledge the deep emotions fans feel toward the mascot.</p>
<p>For now, it doesn’t look as if the Indians’ decision to remove the mascot from its uniforms will succeed in relegating it to the annals of history. The agreement between the team and the league leave the team’s name unchanged; it also permits the sale of Wahoo-themed merchandise at games and on the team’s website. Fans won’t be prohibited from wearing the logo at games.</p>
<p>Chief Wahoo will remain central to the identity of the team and its devoted fans.</p><img src="https://counter.theconversation.com/content/91198/count.gif" alt="The Conversation" width="1" height="1" />
<p class="fine-print"><em><span>Kelly Michael Young does not work for, consult, own shares in or receive funding from any company or organization that would benefit from this article, and has disclosed no relevant affiliations beyond their academic appointment.</span></em></p>Research on the relationship between mascots and fandom shows just how tricky it is to truly eradicate a mascot from a region’s collective identity.Kelly Michael Young, Associate Professor of Communication, Wayne State UniversityLicensed as Creative Commons – attribution, no derivatives.tag:theconversation.com,2011:article/853622017-10-11T23:18:45Z2017-10-11T23:18:45ZIn Las Vegas, excess and fantasy bleed into tragedy<figure><img src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/189659/original/file-20171010-17691-8ohv47.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=496&fit=clip" /><figcaption><span class="caption">Tourists play slot machines at the Paris Las Vegas hotel and casino in Las Vegas, Nevada.</span> <span class="attribution"><a class="source" href="http://www.apimages.com/metadata/Index/Casino-Downturn/e7eee06a48e24399b965e1b85329e8b3/97/0">Jae C. Hong/AP Photo</a></span></figcaption></figure><p>In Sin City, people often do bad things to themselves. </p>
<p>Rather than deal with their lapses – moral, financial, marital – there’s a <a href="http://theweek.com/articles/459434/brief-history-what-happens-vegas-stays-vegas">ready-made marketing slogan</a> to fall back on: “What happens in Vegas stays in Vegas.”</p>
<p>It’s a way of permitting yourself to indulge, and Vegas casinos – built on a manic dynamic of gambling, sex and food consumption – make their owners billions of bucks off this mantra. </p>
<p>Although living a long 60-mile desert drive from the city, Stephen Paddock spent most of his time there gambling. How did a seemingly happy habitual casino player conjure up serial murder by killing and injuring hundreds using enough firepower to equip a small army? </p>
<p>As an urban sociologist, <a href="https://books.google.com/books?id=0RT1XqkLy7gC&dq=Las+Vegas+Mark+Gottdiener&hl=en&sa=X&ved=0ahUKEwjci_D84ubWAhVGw4MKHShLBFkQ6AEIJjAA">I’ve written about</a> how Las Vegas operates as a “themed environment,” one that channels the power of fantasy to promote a form of boundless, excessive indulgence.</p>
<p>We may never know Stephen Paddock’s true motives. But what if his horrific act were to be interpreted through this lens of fantasy and indulgence?</p>
<h2>The power of theme</h2>
<p>The famous French literary critic <a href="https://ceasefiremagazine.co.uk/in-theory-barthes-1/">Roland Barthes</a> was the first to discuss the multilayered power of “the sign” as a myth that can project multiple meanings, while uniting them under the umbrella of a “megatheme.” For example, he saw the Eiffel Tower as a structure that fused early industrialization with modernity, as well as the international symbol of Paris.</p>
<p>The American semiotician Charles S. Peirce had a similar name for this phenomenon; <a href="https://plato.stanford.edu/entries/peirce-semiotics/">he called it</a> an “icon.” Think of the American flag. It means different things to different people and, simultaneously, the same thing to millions. </p>
<p>Any themed environment, from Disneyland to the Olive Garden, uses an overarching message to unite consumers around a single purpose, whether it’s a reverie of youthful innocence or the prospect of an abundant, family-style Italian dinner. </p>
<p>These signals – conveyed and repeated through architecture, design, advertisements, logos and slogans – have the power to attract large audiences in a way so that each individual can find something meaningful in the consumer experience. </p>
<h2>Eat the most, spend the most, win the most…</h2>
<p>I argue that in Las Vegas, the sign of “excess” is the unifying element of its themed environment. And I’ve compared its culture <a href="https://www.degruyter.com/view/j/semi.2011.2011.issue-183/semi.2011.007/semi.2011.007.xml">to that of Dubai</a>, a Middle Eastern city that has experienced rapid development over the past 20 years.</p>
<p>Yet the two are distinct. In Dubai, excess is purely symbolic and simplistic, with every material object directly alluding to it. Hotel rooms cost thousands of dollars a night. They come with gold faucets, gold beds, gold bedding – gold everywhere. </p>
<p>You don’t need to be rich to go to Las Vegas. But its excess is palatable, with threads that work through a range of connotative associations. Buffets compete for the privilege of serving the most food; casinos promote games with the allure of “whale” level jackpots; luxury goods, gold or otherwise, saturate hotel rooms and shopping malls; and spectacular shows take place on a nightly basis. Excess in Las Vegas cues the lizard brain to indulge and spend.</p>
<p>Although people may imagine that they journey there to be winners, they are merely on a conveyor belt of excessive consumerism <a href="https://www.usatoday.com/story/travel/flights/todayinthesky/2016/03/28/las-vegas-flier-hits-933080-jackpot-airport-slot-machine/82351206/">the moment they step off the plane</a>. When casinos began a copycat period of renovations in the late 1970s, they started incorporating shopping malls and Godzilla-scale buffets, inventing a closed circuit of excessive spending. </p>
<figure class="align-center ">
<img alt="" src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/189660/original/file-20171010-19989-hyljqr.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/189660/original/file-20171010-19989-hyljqr.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=408&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/189660/original/file-20171010-19989-hyljqr.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=408&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/189660/original/file-20171010-19989-hyljqr.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=408&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/189660/original/file-20171010-19989-hyljqr.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=513&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/189660/original/file-20171010-19989-hyljqr.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=513&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/189660/original/file-20171010-19989-hyljqr.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=513&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px">
<figcaption>
<span class="caption">Patrons take food from the buffet line at Las Vegas Hilton, which set a Guinness world record for the largest buffet in 2006.</span>
<span class="attribution"><a class="source" href="http://www.apimages.com/metadata/Index/Associated-Press-Domestic-News-Nevada-United-St-/d421ec9c0be8da11af9f0014c2589dfb/7/0">Jae C. Hong/AP Photo</a></span>
</figcaption>
</figure>
<p>Today, fantasies of the Old West, Ancient Egypt, the circus and tropical paradise are built into casino environments that, at their core, simply offer different flavors of the same thing: manic gambling, eating, drinking and sex. </p>
<p>Perhaps this is why Ceasars Palace has no apostrophe after the “r.” In Las Vegas, everyone can be a Roman emperor, even if they cannot be an Arab prince.</p>
<p>We don’t know much about Stephen Paddock, the mass murderer. But we do know that he wagered <a href="http://www.latimes.com/nation/la-na-vegas-shooting-gambler-20171009-story.html">excessive amounts of money every day</a>. It was his way of life, and he could afford it.</p>
<p>Excess is also one way to end your life. Just look at “<a href="http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0070130/">La Grande Bouffe</a>,” James Gandolfini, Orson Welles or any celebrity who took what’s called an “overdose” to die. </p>
<h2>Kill the most?</h2>
<p>“Smokin’ Aces” was a 2006 Hollywood film directed and written by Joe Carnahan. It tells the story of an assortment of assassins who have been ordered to kill a Las Vegas entertainer set to testify against a casino mob boss. The heavily armed assassins converge on a hotel where the entertainer is holed up awaiting trial; one sets up a M82 50 caliber sniper rifle on a tripod, similar to Paddock. The ensuing mayhem results in at least 20 law enforcement officials and civilians dead or wounded. </p>
<p>Of course, this was only a fantasy. Nobody died. New York Times film critic A.O. Scott <a href="http://www.nytimes.com/2007/01/26/movies/26smok.html">called it</a> a “dumb film,” adding that it might cause “dumbness in others.” Carnahan, the auteur, went on to do two more “Smokin” films, so popular was the (dumb) original. </p>
<p>There’s something fitting about Las Vegas being a place where a fictional fantasy ended up mirroring tragic reality. In the wake of the shooting, conspiracy rumors abound. Law enforcement officials and the news media report little about Paddock’s motives. I don’t possess any more knowledge than they do. </p>
<p>However, I do wonder if Paddock, as he slapped those automatic rifles onto tripods, had Las Vegas-style excess – high stakes, big numbers, bright lights, the book of Guinness – dancing through his mind.</p><img src="https://counter.theconversation.com/content/85362/count.gif" alt="The Conversation" width="1" height="1" />
<p class="fine-print"><em><span>Mark Gottdiener does not work for, consult, own shares in or receive funding from any company or organization that would benefit from this article, and has disclosed no relevant affiliations beyond their academic appointment.</span></em></p>Excessive indulgence is the city’s unifying theme. It’s also a way to end your life. Just ask Stephen Paddock.Mark Gottdiener, Professor Emeritus of Sociology, University at BuffaloLicensed as Creative Commons – attribution, no derivatives.tag:theconversation.com,2011:article/782522017-08-15T04:48:55Z2017-08-15T04:48:55ZOn brand: how Australia’s apartment frenzy echoes the 1870s cattle boom<figure><img src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/178952/original/file-20170720-23995-1x7jvqz.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=496&fit=clip" /><figcaption><span class="caption">Melbourne, city of cranes.</span> <span class="attribution"><span class="source">Image from www.shutterstock.com</span></span></figcaption></figure><p>Imagine in the years ahead that you were to come across a photograph of the Melbourne streetscape from 2017. Two things would immediately signify it as being from today – the <a href="https://theconversation.com/three-charts-on-crane-spotting-a-way-to-tell-which-australian-cities-are-growing-and-where-76776">number of cranes</a> across the skyline and at street level, the construction hoardings glistening with glamourous promise. </p>
<p>Melbourne is now experiencing the <a href="http://www.abc.net.au/news/2016-05-02/home-truths-what-happened-to-the-great-australian-dream/7371668">most dramatic real estate boom</a> in living history – this feverish development has seen 13,000 new apartments constructed each year for the past two years with plans for another 22,000 over the next few years.</p>
<p>And like that photograph of the 2017 streetscape, one can also take another kind of record, a typographic snapshot. Fonts can tell us something about a time and a place. Within the real estate industry, this is centred around branding – and more specifically those ubiquitous logos weaved throughout our urban landscape.</p>
<p>In an age when each individual building demands a logo as much as an address, and often these congeal (8 Breese, 85 Spring Street) or fill us with an aspiration to be somewhere else (West Village, Haus), the end result is a seemingly never-ending array of marks all jostling to dazzle us with their glamour and aspiration. But is this massive explosion of logos a new thing? </p>
<p>The clearest way to see any of these connections is to look across other periods of economic boom. The oversupply of livestock in the 1870s is one such time. During this period the plentiful supply of cattle necessitated that the ownership of herds be strongly signified and differentiated in the marketplace. At that time the most effective way to do this was through branding – quite literally, a hot iron branded seared into the rumps of the livestock. </p>
<figure class="align-center zoomable">
<a href="https://images.theconversation.com/files/178957/original/file-20170720-23995-1uw0ag.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=1000&fit=clip"><img alt="" src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/178957/original/file-20170720-23995-1uw0ag.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/178957/original/file-20170720-23995-1uw0ag.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=467&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/178957/original/file-20170720-23995-1uw0ag.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=467&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/178957/original/file-20170720-23995-1uw0ag.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=467&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/178957/original/file-20170720-23995-1uw0ag.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=587&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/178957/original/file-20170720-23995-1uw0ag.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=587&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/178957/original/file-20170720-23995-1uw0ag.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=587&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px"></a>
<figcaption>
<span class="caption">Cattle branding, 1864.</span>
<span class="attribution"><a class="source" href="http://search.slv.vic.gov.au/primo_library/libweb/action/display.do;jsessionid=B6171F856C83A293C76E6BA140585C60?tabs=detailsTab&ct=display&fn=search&doc=SLV_VOYAGER2395034&indx=1&recIds=SLV_VOYAGER2395034&recIdxs=0&elementId=0&renderMode=poppedOut&displayMode=full&frbrVersion=&query=any%2Ccontains%2Ccattle+branding&search_scope=Pictures&dscnt=0&vl(1UIStartWith0)=contains&scp.scps=scope%3A%28PICS%29&onCampus=false&vl(10247183UI0)=any&vid=MAIN&institution=SLVPRIMO&bulkSize=20&tab=default_tab&vl(freeText0)=cattle%20branding&fromLogin=true&group=ALL&dstmp=1500526717190">S. T. G./State Library of Victoria</a></span>
</figcaption>
</figure>
<p>By the latter half of the 19th century the simpler alphabetical brands had all been used up so the designs became increasingly complex and idiosyncratic. These plentiful livestock brands began to do odd things – letters would be turned upside down or flipped, there would be strange little icons of hats, anchors, fish, shields, glasses and other even more abstract shapes. </p>
<p>When placed alongside the embellished brands extolling the contemporary real estate boom, some strong design similarities become clear. It seems that the imperative to produce a distinct identity seems to bridge 140 years with ease. These design similarities hint at the underlying economic cycle, boom followed by bust. </p>
<figure class="align-center zoomable">
<a href="https://images.theconversation.com/files/170711/original/file-20170524-5782-1uz33bn.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=1000&fit=clip"><img alt="" src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/170711/original/file-20170524-5782-1uz33bn.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/170711/original/file-20170524-5782-1uz33bn.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=317&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/170711/original/file-20170524-5782-1uz33bn.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=317&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/170711/original/file-20170524-5782-1uz33bn.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=317&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/170711/original/file-20170524-5782-1uz33bn.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=399&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/170711/original/file-20170524-5782-1uz33bn.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=399&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/170711/original/file-20170524-5782-1uz33bn.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=399&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px"></a>
<figcaption>
<span class="caption">The top line are real estate brands from 2016 whilst the bottom line are cattle brands from 1870. Apartment brands from left to right: Nest at the Hill (Doncaster); Queens Place (CBD); Reflections (North Melbourne); Capital Grand (South Yarra)</span>
<span class="attribution"><span class="source">Author provided</span></span>
</figcaption>
</figure>
<h2>Who we are and want we want</h2>
<p>The logos that festoon the hoardings across our streets tell us a great deal about who we are, and more specifically, what we want. Script typefaces (those based on handwriting) tell us that we are in an age where people yearn for the authentic, the handmade, a personal connection. The use of fonts, patterns and symbols as well as specific colours may offer us an insight into what cultural shorthand is being used to speak to many prospective buyers. </p>
<p>It is that supreme marker of modernity – sans serif fonts - that above all others expresses our shared contemporary notions of style and urbane aspiration. These fonts, such as “helvetica”, do not use the ornamental ends of letters that serif fonts, like the one you are reading on, include. We take in and process all of these factors in the split second that we consume a logo.</p>
<p>Logos, and the typefaces from which they are composed, have always spoken of the times we live in – including the reflection of economic and social patterns. The mechanised efficiencies of the early 20th century were met by a geometric simplicity in letterforms, whilst the 1970s sexual revolution coincidentally saw spacing between letterforms become very intimate, coupled as it was with the advent of phototypesetting, a process soon superseded by computers. </p>
<p>Booms have a habit of producing an oversupply. And this oversupply calls for some kind of unique differentiation. Differentiation calls for creativity. This is where branding comes in. Trying to tell a herd of cows apart in the 1870s is perhaps no easier than trying to differentiate the often generic architectural forms of apartment developments built today. </p>
<figure class="align-center zoomable">
<a href="https://images.theconversation.com/files/174655/original/file-20170620-24868-uwcoc8.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=1000&fit=clip"><img alt="" src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/174655/original/file-20170620-24868-uwcoc8.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/174655/original/file-20170620-24868-uwcoc8.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=424&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/174655/original/file-20170620-24868-uwcoc8.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=424&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/174655/original/file-20170620-24868-uwcoc8.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=424&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/174655/original/file-20170620-24868-uwcoc8.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=533&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/174655/original/file-20170620-24868-uwcoc8.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=533&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/174655/original/file-20170620-24868-uwcoc8.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=533&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px"></a>
<figcaption>
<span class="caption">Brands of the cattle boom (black) contrasted with contemporary real estate (white)</span>
<span class="attribution"><span class="license">Author provided</span></span>
</figcaption>
</figure>
<p>The old marketing adage “the more generic the product, the more you differentiate by brand” certainly appears to be at work here. This is but one comparison across two localised economic booms but the same pattern could be expected to appear whenever there is an “over stimulation” in a highly crowded marketplace. </p>
<p>What this frenzy of logos does show us is that despite the world of brands being fixated on the “now” it too has a “then” – one that I am sure we will see again some time soon.</p><img src="https://counter.theconversation.com/content/78252/count.gif" alt="The Conversation" width="1" height="1" />
<p class="fine-print"><em><span>Dr Stephen Banham does not work for, consult, own shares in or receive funding from any company or organisation that would benefit from this article, and has disclosed no relevant affiliations beyond their academic appointment.</span></em></p>Melbourne has seen tens of thousands of new apartments constructed over recent years, and apartment brands are flourishing. We can see striking typographic similarities with another economic frenzy: the 1870s cattle boom.Dr Stephen Banham, Lecturer in Typography, RMIT UniversityLicensed as Creative Commons – attribution, no derivatives.tag:theconversation.com,2011:article/777872017-05-19T04:41:35Z2017-05-19T04:41:35ZThe BHP rebrand might be a success even if it doesn’t drive sales<p>Mining giant BHP Billiton has <a href="http://www.bhpbilliton.com/media-and-insights/news-releases/2017/05/bhp-launches-think-big-brand-campaign">finally launched</a> its rebrand - dropping “Billiton”, removing the “four-blobs” from its logo; leaving only an upper-case “BHP” behind. Research shows that rebrands rarely improve profitability. </p>
<p>But the rebrand could still be a success if it improves the company’s image among other stakeholders, such as politicians and voters. </p>
<p>Our <a href="https://link.springer.com/article/10.1057/bm.2015.18">index of brand health</a>, along with <a href="http://journals.ama.org/doi/abs/10.1509/jmkr.47.5.866">other research</a>, show that promotional activity in the short and medium term can have long-term effects on brands and financial performance. But the effect is very small and infrequent. </p>
<p>There’s no reason to think that BHP’s campaign will affect profitability or brand health. This makes it likely there are other motives.</p>
<h2>Why rebrand?</h2>
<p>The common wisdom is that if you have a strong brand then “don’t mess with it” – the brand can only lose. But if you are already in a hole then it can’t hurt. </p>
<p>BHP has had a rough couple of years, with the <a href="https://www.theguardian.com/sustainable-business/2016/oct/15/samarco-dam-collapse-brazil-worst-environmental-disaster-bhp-billiton-vale-mining">Samarco mine disaster</a>, allegations of <a href="http://www.abc.net.au/news/2016-10-13/bhp-billiton-slammed-for-tax-avoidance-by-wayne-swan/7928432">tax avoidance</a>, and <a href="https://www.bloomberg.com/news/articles/2015-01-20/bhp-cuts-u-s-shale-spending-as-oil-to-iron-ore-prices-decline">poor performance from some investments</a>. So it might make sense that the brand needs a refresh.</p>
<p>But <a href="https://link.springer.com/article/10.1057/bm.2015.21">research shows</a> that established brands suffer when they change their logo or core message. Consumers become surprised and confused when an otherwise familiar product is not what they’re used to. </p>
<p>Less-established brands can benefit by creating some novelty with a change in logo and message. It’s not what consumers are used to, so they pay a little more attention. </p>
<p>Here is the first problem with BHP’s rebrand - the research around rebranding is based on consumer goods, usually grocery products. It may not apply to a mining company. </p>
<p>There are relatively few cases where non-consumer goods rebrand, and those are <a href="http://www.emeraldinsight.com/doi/full/10.1108/03090560610670007">often the result of an acquisition or merger</a>.</p>
<p>Another example might be <a href="http://www.broadspectrum.com/we-are-rebranded/we-are-broadspectrum">Transfield Services changing its name to Broadspectrum</a> after the family of the original company <a href="http://www.transfield.com.au/news/189-transfield-holdings-ends-trade-mark-agreement-with-transfield-services">withdrew naming rights</a>, allegedly over Transfield Service’s <a href="https://getpocket.com/a/read/1052182110">controversial management of detention centres</a>. </p>
<p>But if managers at BHP wanted to escape their recent history, then they’d need to change the whole name, not just drop half of it.</p>
<h2>Highlighting Australian origins</h2>
<p>Beyond driving customers, however, rebranding can be aimed at other stakeholders. </p>
<p>The BHP rebrand is accompanied with <a href="http://www.bhpbilliton.com/media-and-insights/news-releases/2017/05/bhp-launches-think-big-brand-campaign">an advertising campaign</a>, which seeks to drive home the Australian origins of BHP. How “some ordinary men in Broken Hill dared to think big” and so we are challenged to “imagine what we could all achieve if we continue to think big”. </p>
<figure>
<iframe width="440" height="260" src="https://www.youtube.com/embed/ozQwXGMvNf8?wmode=transparent&start=0" frameborder="0" allowfullscreen=""></iframe>
</figure>
<p>All of this is highlighted in <a href="http://www.bhpbilliton.com/media-and-insights/news-releases/2017/05/bhp-launches-think-big-brand-campaign">the press release</a> sent out about the rebrand:</p>
<blockquote>
<p>“The advertisements will talk about the importance of our Australian heritage, our contribution and our commitment to communities where we operate. The campaign will focus on what people can and should expect of us.</p>
<p>"In launching Think Big, we will take the opportunity to change our logo and move to a brand that Australians have known us by for generations – BHP. This abbreviated simple expression of our organisation is used colloquially around the world.”</p>
</blockquote>
<p>This part of the rebrand makes more sense. BHP is an icon that represents an important era of Australia’s economic and social history. Tapping into this history could help improve relations with other stakeholders - investors, politicians and voters. </p>
<h2>The takeaway</h2>
<p>The research shows it is unlikely the rebrand will do much for long-term profitability, but if aimed at other stakeholders it could still be a success. </p>
<p>It could encourage a favourable attitude among current and potential investors, customers and suppliers. </p>
<p>The rebrand might make executives and employees feel better about the company they work for. It could also feed into other modes of engagement - with political lobbying at state and federal levels, for example. And as the advertising campaign includes television and newspapers, it will also reach voters.</p><img src="https://counter.theconversation.com/content/77787/count.gif" alt="The Conversation" width="1" height="1" />
<p class="fine-print"><em><span>The authors do not work for, consult, own shares in or receive funding from any company or organisation that would benefit from this article, and have disclosed no relevant affiliations beyond their academic appointment.</span></em></p>BHP’s rebrand is unlikely to affect the bottom line, research shows. But if it improves relations with politicians and voters, it would still be a success.Chris Baumann, Associate Professor in Business, Macquarie UniversityHume Winzar, Associate Professor in Business, Macquarie UniversityLicensed as Creative Commons – attribution, no derivatives.tag:theconversation.com,2011:article/685292016-11-09T14:55:43Z2016-11-09T14:55:43ZMind the gap: Toblerone and other redesign disasters<p>Toblerone chocolate is a brand instantly recognisable for its bars studded with pyramid-shaped mountains of chocolate. So the announcement from Mondelez International, the brand’s Swiss owner, of a <a href="http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/business-37909035">redesign that will mess with its iconic shape</a> seems an odd and ill-conceived decision. In reducing the number of pyramids by increasing the gaps between them, the firm risks permanently reminding its customers that they have bought a product that is no longer complete: the lingering impression is that they have bought a hole, not a whole, and that the product is less than it was.</p>
<p>If the motivation behind the decision is to tackle increased costs and reduced profit margins by shrinking the bar from 170g to 150g, surely it would have made more sense to make the bar smaller, rather than change the brand’s instantly recognisable shape. Among confectioners this approach has been used before in response to increased costs. As long ago as the 1930s, the KitKat has sold its two-finger bar alongside the four-finger version, and the smaller product remains the bestseller.</p>
<p>KitKat producers Nestle also <a href="https://www.nestleprofessional.com/uk/en/sitearticles/pages/facts_about_kitkat.aspx">devised a three-finger version</a> for the Middle East market, and also introduced the enlarged KitKat Chunky. But these variations are a positive enhancement to the product’s iconic finger biscuit shape, and are imaginative and logical extensions of the brand’s image. On the other hand, it’s difficult to see how the Toblerone decision can be seen any way but negatively.</p>
<figure class="align-left ">
<img alt="" src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/145242/original/image-20161109-19074-8vukn5.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=237&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/145242/original/image-20161109-19074-8vukn5.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=215&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/145242/original/image-20161109-19074-8vukn5.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=215&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/145242/original/image-20161109-19074-8vukn5.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=215&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/145242/original/image-20161109-19074-8vukn5.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=270&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/145242/original/image-20161109-19074-8vukn5.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=270&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/145242/original/image-20161109-19074-8vukn5.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=270&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px">
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<img alt="" src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/145243/original/image-20161109-19097-9i1bnk.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=237&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/145243/original/image-20161109-19097-9i1bnk.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=591&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/145243/original/image-20161109-19097-9i1bnk.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=591&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/145243/original/image-20161109-19097-9i1bnk.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=591&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/145243/original/image-20161109-19097-9i1bnk.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=743&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/145243/original/image-20161109-19097-9i1bnk.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=743&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/145243/original/image-20161109-19097-9i1bnk.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=743&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px">
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<p>It’s well known in design that the spaces in between – what is referred to as “negative space” – when used carefully can become as important and effective as the positive forms that appear inside it. For example, look at the FedEx logo with its <a href="https://blog.crowdspring.com/2010/07/logo-design-fedex/">cunningly hidden arrow</a>, or US broadcaster NBC and its peacock logo. These two brands have developed logos which make a virtue of how negative space can become a positive element in their communications.</p>
<p>But with Toblerone, the negative space is just that. Artists and designers employ white space as an important element in composition to create harmony and balance. The Toblerone design is the opposite: an extended space that appears out of place – like missing teeth, it generates a sense of a gap that needs to be filled. There is a strong symbolic suggestion of disharmony and loss.</p>
<p>Over the years, there have been many examples of brands that lost their way, making decisions they later regretted due to poor consumer response or adverse political or cultural reactions. For example, <a href="http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/business/2002480.stm">re-branding the Post Office Group as Consignia</a> was a hugely expensive decision, costing £1.5m to launch and a further £1m when the group reverted back to Royal Mail in 2002. The perceived wisdom was that the name caused confusion in the eyes of the public and failed to clearly communicate the services on offer.</p>
<p>In an effort to re-position British Airways as an inclusive, global airline, branding agency Interbrand Newell and Sorrell caused enormous controversy 20 years ago by dropping the existing livery’s red, white and blue and replacing it with <a href="http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/business/1324788.stm">diverse cultural images applied to the tailfins of BA’s fleet</a>. </p>
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<p>Newspapers leapt on what looked like an abandoning of the national flag, and former prime Minister Margaret Thatcher draped a handkerchief over a model bearing a newly branded tailfin design in a thinly veiled message of disapproval at what she saw as a betrayal of a proud national identity.</p>
<p>Replacing a cherished national symbol or name is controversial enough, but increasing the gap as a means of maintaining margins at the expense of the brand seems a foolhardy, potentially disastrous move. The problem with gaps is that you don’t always see them until it’s too late – and Toblerone’s manufacturers don’t seem to have heeded the warning.</p><img src="https://counter.theconversation.com/content/68529/count.gif" alt="The Conversation" width="1" height="1" />
<p class="fine-print"><em><span>Mike Sheedy does not work for, consult, own shares in or receive funding from any company or organisation that would benefit from this article, and has disclosed no relevant affiliations beyond their academic appointment.</span></em></p>In striving to reduce costs and boost profits, firms must be wary of stripping intangible assets – such as iconic design.Mike Sheedy, Principal Teaching Fellow, Deputy Head of School of Design, University of LeedsLicensed as Creative Commons – attribution, no derivatives.