Hidden Message Logos

About

Hidden Message Logos refer to brand logos that intentionally or unintentionally feature a secondary image that conveys an accompanying message within their main logo.

Origin

In 1885, Frank Mason Robinson designed the Coca-Cola logo which began the modern era of logo design.^[2] Although the first instance of a hidden message being identified in a logo is unknown. Snopes^[5] took on the claim that "When tipped on its side, Coca-Cola’s distinctive script logo shows a figure snorting a line of cocaine, and this image was deliberately placed there by the artist as a sly reference to the product’s containing cocaine" (shown below)

Spread

On April 20th 1993, the Baltimore Sun released an article claiming that the type face used on the White Sox caps "suggest in the mind, 'sex.'"^[4]

On May 16th, 2007, YouTuber Bobbysmokes attempted to point out a Rocawear logo hidden image (shown below, left). The video has gained 687,000 views in 12 years. Many YouTube Logo Conspiracies followed. On October 3rd, 2009, YouTuber Brusspup uploaded "Apple Logo Hidden Message!" The video garnered 1.8 million views and 5,400 likes in a decade (shown below, right).

On September 2nd, 2009, Campaign Live^[1] reported on a Daily Mail complaint about a new Haribo candy wrapper. The wrapper's depiction of a lemon and lime suggests that they are engaging in sex (shown below). The report went on to list many logos with suggested hidden messages. Listing logo conspiracies became a common type of click-bate article over the next decade.

For example, on May 25th 2017, Urbo^[3] published an article entitled "Hidden Messages in Famous Logos You've Probably Never Noticed." The article mentions such companies as Ray-Ban, Baskin Robbins and Pinterest.

Scary logos

As early as 1998, television fans were discussing the frightening aspects of these vintage logos online. One of the earliest threads was posted to the rec.sport.pro-wrestling Usenet newsgroup on September 16th, 1998 asking if others found the "Big Purple Viacom 'V' of Doom" (shown below, left) scarier than the booming voice that said "Viacom" (shown below, right) in their 1990s bumpers. Three of the posters agreed that the V of Doom had invoked fear in them when they were younger.

Trump-Pence Logo

Trump-Pence Logo refers to the official insignia of Donald Trump's 2016 presidential campaign redesigned and unveiled by his fundraising committee to incorporate the Republican presidential nominee's newly appointed running mate and Indiana's Republican governor, Mike Pence. Upon its debut in July 2016, the image instantly became a subject of online mockeries due to the suggestive nature of its interlocked letters T and P.

isded

Isded is an optical illusion found when the Pepsi cola logo is read upside down.
While recognition of this phenomeon likely existed offline for, perhaps, decades, one of the earliest mentions of it online comes from a YouTube video, "PEPSI CAN SECRET MESSAGE," which was published on June 27th, 2007 by user 'DanjaMouse10000.' As of April 2016, the video has 3.1 million views. At 1:55, he flips the Pepsi can to demonstrate "isded." The video (shown below, left) has since been deleted but has been re-uploaded on Dailymotion.

On January 21st, 2009, YouTuber quexmeohoh published the video "Obama is dead – SUBLIMINAL HIDDEN PEPSI MESSAGE!!!!!!!" The video (show below, right) attempts to equate the Pepsi globe with the logo for the President Barack Obama campaign. Within nine years, the post has received more than 1.5 million views.

Hidden Messages TikTok

In January 2019, TikTok users began documenting the hidden images to the 1993 show The X-Files theme song written by composer Mark Snow (shown below). The sound clip of the theme was uploaded to TikTok under "TV Tunesters – X-Files" which has been used in 21,400 videos as of February 20th, 2019.

Search Interest

External References