Could the defunct Twitter logo get a second life?
The paint isn't yet dry on the Twitter rebrand to X, but people are gradually accepting that the blue bird logo isn't coming back. Now one organisation wants to give it a new life. It's asking Elon Musk to donate the late Twitter logo to a good cause.
The World Parrot Trust (WPT) says that handing it the trademark would allow one of the best social media logos to raise awareness of a critically endangered blue bird in the real world, Lear’s Macaw. But will Musk set the bird free?
Hey .@ElonMusk, let’s do something wild and save the Lear's Macaw species. #LetTheBlueBirdFly pic.twitter.com/WvQiqAN81sAugust 23, 2023
We've already seen the WWF use the Twitter logo as a metaphor for environmental crises and the extinction of species. But the World Parrot Trust thinks the dumped design could be used to make a positive statement. If Twitter no longer exists, why let the logo be consigned to the past? It's asking the world's richest man to hand it over to help raise awareness of a species whose numbers are estimated to have fallen to just 1,700.
The Lear’s Macaw is a parrot native to Brazil, but its survival is threatened by a loss of habitat, hunting and the illegal trade in animals. WPT thinks that the recognition that the famous Twitter logo could provide would help support conservation and education efforts. It's calling on people to tag Musk and use the #LetTheBlueBirdFly hashtag to try to persuade X's owner.
Start your week doing something wild! Help us get .@elonmusk to donate the blue bird logo to us, the real blue birds! #LetTheBlueBirdFly ..#MondayMotivation #MondayMood #Mondaymorning pic.twitter.com/kscOrsHpcIAugust 28, 2023
So could Larry the bird turn out to be a phoenix? Musk's chaotic off-the-cuff approach to rebranding Twitter suggests he doesn't have a particular fondness for the Twitter logo, and it's unlikely that has any intention to use it again. Giving the logo away might help win over those people who are changing the X logo back to the bird on their phones or those who have shown no rush to start using the X brand kit.
That said, I'm not sure how moved Musk will be by the plight of a blue Macaw, and I can't recall any precedent of a company donating a trademarked logo to a cause. Musk may also prefer to leave the Twitter logo history in the past and never see it again in any form.
