Furore over 'pornographic' tourism logo

Furore over 'pornographic' tourism logo
Is this logo pornographic?

The design was unveiled at a local government meeting last week, and quickly polarised opinion, according to a report in The Kapiti Observer.

It features a stylised letter “K”, cut in half, above the word “Kapiti”. With its green and blue colouring, it was supposed to represent the mountains and the sea, but Jackie Elliott, an Otaki Community Board member, suggested that the curvy lines could be misinterpreted.

“I have had feedback from the public that this 'k' image with its bent leg, at the knee, is more than mildly pornographic,” she said. “Perhaps the caption underneath could be ‘come to Kapiti and let the earth move for you’.”

Ross Church, a councillor, was also unimpressed. “I showed it to a Scots person who said ‘it looks like the Loch Ness monster on legs’,” he said.

However, it did receive the support of another councillor, Tony Lester. “We've positioned ourselves for the future, it captures the hills, and the coast,” he said, adding that "pornography is in the eye of the beholder".

A decision on whether or not to approve the logo was eventually delayed.

The furore bears some similarity to one which followed the unveiling of the London 2012 logo (below), which some claimed to be lewd.

Meanwhile, the new logo for the Bulgarian tourist board is to be redesigned following claims it bore a suspicious resemblance to the motif of its Kyrgyzstani counterparts.

More controversial tourism logos and slogans

License this content