I've always admired Tempur-Pedic — the Kentucky-based manufacturer of high-end mattresses and pillows — for having the guts and the good humor to incorporate a prominent butt crack into the company logo:
Now that Tempur-Pedic has redesigned its logo and kept the butt crack — which crack is arguably the most daring and surprising feature of any mainstream company logo in the history of logos — I admire them even more. They've still got the guts, it appears. And they've still got the good humor:
Admittedly, the new crack is subtler than the old crack. But I would argue that "subtle butt crack" is — in the world of corporate branding, anyway — an oxymoron. A subtle butt crack is still a butt crack, and butt cracks aren't subtle visual flourishes.
So kudos to Tempur-Pedic for giving us the crack. And double kudos to Tempur-Pedic for sticking with it. If a braver mainstream company logo than these exists anywhere in the world, I'd love to see it.
(Dear YOKO ONO: If you're out there, what do you think of these logos?)
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I like it! The original logo didn't have the crease on the back. Although the crack is subtler on the new logo, the crease on the back draws the eye right to it
Wished they'd white-outed that ugly, dangling "+" with the re-design.
Like the redesign. Though, to be fair, they did remove the crack. Cheeks are still there (and good for them!), but the crack is totally gone. Buttcheecks ≠ Crack.
Am I the only one who thinks the whole point of the woman on the old logo was to point out how instead of resting on a flat surface, people who sleep on Tempur-Pedic beds have straight spines and the bed will give to match their contours? So the text was slightly deformed, and encroached upon on the top? And now that's gone? I think the spine line is a decent addition as far as pointing out that benefit, but the woman doesn't seem to make much sense as a logo element anymore, without that bottom curve.
And I'm with Ernie. A blog post about how they kept the crack seems a little strange when they have essentially removed it altogether.
Yeah, I have to agree- I don't understand the praise when the butt is essentially gone. Sure, the outer-shape is there, but so is the case in any depiction of the reserve side of a person.
The crack is what tells you it's a naked butt! This new logo is more like a sheer and/or tight garment. Most places in the world aren't so squeamish and puritanical about the matter. European TV shows will show the occasional breast or bottom and no one thinks of it as prurient.
I actually feel disappointed that the company didn't stand their ground. Also, the figure of the new logo looks somewhat less curvy. The hip/waist ratio is less pronounced.
I think the crack is still present! Look at the sharp arrowpoint. That spells "crack" to this commenter. --Krug
("A subtle butt crack is still a butt crack." Agreed.) --Krug
Do butt cracks sell mattresses? What I like in the new design is that they cleaned up the lines but they cleaned it a bit too much because now the body not touching the letters. What does the logo say other than its a mattress company? Before its purpose is to illustrate that the unique foam mattress contours to the shape of the body to keep the spine aligned. They should have pursued this more in the new design by having the imprint of the body in to illustrate the memory of the foam. Done right it won't be too busy at all. The focus should be on the memory foam not a butt crack.
how have I not noticed this before?? well done
The way the old body squished the mattress was inconsistent. Only the E was foam-like. The P was more like a spring. Better to do away with it than do it badly. At least they fixed that really weird foot thing.
Right on, Elie! I agree that they should have kept the body touching the words to make shape of the mattress on the new logo. That's exactly what the company is all about...