Hey HBO Max, self awareness can’t fix your identity crisis

It's not unfair to say that HBO Max (formerly Max) has been going through somewhat of an identity crisis. – so much so that even the brand itself seems to be getting fed up, deflecting its rebranding mess with good old-fashioned brand banter. After cutting ties and ditching its HBO tag back in 2023, the streaming service unveiled a lacklustre rebrand back in February, but the tepid logo design fell flat with fans. Max's response? Bring back the HBO Max name and pretend it was all part of the plan.

Emotional whiplash aside, fans got what they wanted and now we can all sit back and pretend it was one big ol' joke – or at least that's what Max is doing. Taking to social media, the streaming service has subtly referenced its onslaught of rebrands in a humorous deflection. Whether it reads as erratic desperation or playful marketing is up for debate.

Over on X, Max addressed its identity crisis in a bio switchup, writing "These rebrands are trying to murder me" (a reference to actress Jennifer Coolidge's iconic line from White Lotus). The painfully self-aware humour continued with an announcement video captioned "We belong together. HBO Max returns this summer," featuring various kissing scenes from its iconic shows.

With a cloying mix of self-awareness and self-gratification, Max painted the brand name resurrection as a grand reunion worthy of celebrating, but fans were unconvinced. "You don’t get extra credit for fixing a problem you caused," one scathing X user wrote. Another added, "Nobody cares. Just make good content."

Max's messy rebrands are a prime example of the 'if it ain't broke, don't fix it' mantra. As we've seen with the best rebrands across the decades, if you're going to mess with an iconic identity, you have to stick with it – even if it proves unpopular (I'm looking at you, Jaguar). While Max's self-aware humour can't fix its branding crisis, at least it's (somewhat) owning its mistakes and putting fans first.