LogoLounge Master Library, Volume 2

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30 00 A NI MA L & MY TH OL OG Y LO GO S

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> A symbol of fertility, quickness, vulnerability,

softness, and more, the rabbit—like many

animals—holds many different signifi cant

meanings as a potential logo candidate.

LOGOLOUNGE

MASTER LIBRARY

ANIMALS & MYTHOLOGY

introduction

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M A S T E R library

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reinforced over many years’ worth of parables

and experience. It becomes part of our toolkit for

forming opinions and making decisions.

Belief forms the bridge between real and

imagined. It is what allows our brains to easily

accept that a rabbit can somehow get into our

house to deliver jelly beans (which aren’t really

beans, but that’s a whole different story), or that

a simple logo can somehow represent a

bricks-and-mortar company.

The power that animals have over humans is

amazing. From the moment children are born,

their parents surround them with stuffed animals,

images of animals on clothing and décor, and

books about animals. Adults teach children

lessons and morals using stories about animals.

Children come to understand the world through

animal analogies and metaphor—“stubborn as a

mule” or “clever as a fox.”

In this way, people grow to understand the real

and sometimes unfairly infl icted personalities of

animals. They know which are “good” and which

are “bad.” For instance, a skunk may be strik-

ingly colored and have very soft fur, but it has

one single attribute that lands it with a thud in the

“bad” category. A dog, on the other hand, might

also smell awful as well as bite and ruin the

carpet, but it is almost universally categorized as

“good.” Dogs are loyal; skunks stink.

Animals are so powerful as symbols that people

will apply their image in the form of a tattoo to

the skin, graphically adopting the conceptual

nature of that animal. Images of animals are

used as sports mascots the world round that

people stay fi ercely loyal to all of their lives.

>

Consider the rabbit—or, for

purposes of this discussion, the bunny. The

Easter Bunny, although it is a mythical creature

(born of Christian culture), is clearly based on a

real animal from the real world. It’s soft, cute,

cuddly, and on a symbolic level, representative

of fertility.

It is based on a real animal that, over time, has

been imbued with human characteristics. It

(somehow) brings gifts of candy and eggs, is

often portrayed wearing clothing, can be shown

walking upright and smiling, and is, in general,

regarded as a benevolent creature that likes to

please children, like a favorite uncle.

People who have historically had the Easter

Bunny as part of their culture buy into all of this

100 percent, even the implausible parts. At

some level, they believe in the Easter Bunny.

Now consider another bunny, the Playboy bunny,

who turns the entire rabbit equation on its—well,

ears. This icon is represented in two ways: by

the company’s logo and by young women

dressed up as the animal. Ironically, these human

versions have been symbolically successful

because they adopt the exact same positive

attributes as the more wholesome Easter Bunny:

soft, cute, cuddly, and representative—in a very

different way—of fertility. (Imagine how immensely

unsuccessful either would be if they picked up

on negative attributes of rabbits, such as leaving

droppings everywhere and having large, yellow,

sharp incisors.)

People believe that the Easter Bunny and

the Playboy bunny (the logo or the fi shnet-

stockinged version) are “real” because we

believe that rabbits are real. Our understanding

of or belief in the physical and conceptual

attributes of any creature—its “realness”—is a

powerful tool, often developed in childhood and

A N I M A L S

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