The US is in the middle of a culture war that has extended into graphic design, with routine rebranding exercises criticized as 'woke'. A recent rebrand renamed MSNBC to MS NOW (My Source News Opinion World), prompting unified ridicule across political lines. The new name created confusion over pronunciation and felt like a forced backronym. The logo features a thick white stroke on a mark resembling the Austrian flag and appeared to attempt reclaiming the stars and stripes. Commentators compared it to dated political campaign logos. Social media users mocked alternative interpretations like 'Multiple Sclerosis Now' while MSNBC defended the change as giving freedom to chart its own path.
For those not familiar with the highly politicised broadcast media landscape in the US, MSNBC leans more to the left, at least in comparison to the rabid Fox News. But its decision to change its name to MS Now by the end of the year has sparked incredulity on both sides of the political spectrum. First, there's the confusing name. Are we supposed to pronounce 'NOW' as one word or sound out each letter?
And then there's the logo design, sporting a strange thick white stroke on a mark that appears to be the Austrian flag. It's presumably an attempt to reclaim the stars and stripes from the right, but as well as resembling the flag of a different country, it looks like "something you'd scroll past in a pile of political campaign logos from 2004," as political strategist Gabriella Sulig put it on LinkedIn. It's not exactly one of the best TV logos.
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