'Offensive' logo replaced after a police complaint (but we still can't unsee the blunder)

We've seen plenty of plenty of logo design blunders over the year, but few that have ended in a police complaint. That's exactly what has happened to Indian fashion website Myntra, whose "offensive" logo has now been replaced with a subtly tweaked (but not altogether different) design.

A complaint was filed against the logo with Mumbai Police’s cyber crime department, claiming that the original 'M' logo (below) "resembled a naked woman". We're not sure we'd have spotted it before, but now, erm, well, um, yes. Many of the best logos of all time feature secret messages, we're assuming (hoping) that Myntra's wasn't intentional.

Myntra logo

The original logo (left) vs. the new version (right) (Image credit: Myntra/Future Owns)

According to Indian Express, the logo was described as "insulting and offensive towards women" in the complaint, filed last month. Responding to the complaint, Myrtna agreed to change its logo within a month, and has now replaced it across its website and social media.

Myrtna's logo tweaks are subtle. The orange and purple elements no longer overlap to create a red centre, and the colours are no longer symmetrical. The new design manages to dial down the supposedly "offensive" imagery of the original while maintaining its essence. However, the logo is still so similar we still can't unsee the initial blunder. 

Twitter has, of course, made light of the incident, with many suggesting other logos based on the letter 'M' ought to be worried (more bad news for Google's ill-received new Gmail logo?). Others, meanwhile, have likened the original design to other famous logo fails. 

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Still, Myntra can at least take some comfort from the fact that even the biggest companies are prone to the odd design faux pas – just last week, Amazon's new app icon drew some unfortunate comparisons online. And hey, we'll always have room in our lives for a good old design blunder – check out these 12 design fails that were so bad they were actually good for our hall of shame. 

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Daniel John
Senior News Editor

Daniel John is Senior News Editor at Creative Bloq. He reports on the worlds of art, design, branding and lifestyle tech (which often translates to tech made by Apple). He joined in 2020 after working in copywriting and digital marketing with brands including ITV, NBC, Channel 4 and more.