Either way, I marvel at the mass of companies that employ these patriotic symbols as identifiers for their businesses. "The flag is our logo! That's how people recognize us." I hear that from someone different at least once a week. I commend these people's patriotism, regardless of which Republic they're being loyal to. But I find it difficult to believe that anyone recognizes anybody's business by their logo if it's a flag, simply due to the general flag saturation in our world. Really quick, let's do that game where you try to identify businesses by their great logos!
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See what I mean? These logos, with the exception of possibly the second one, do not embody American patriotism in the least. Indeed the fourth from the left isn't even American, but do you care? You'd buy one if you could. When you see these logos, you recognize them immediately and know exactly what they sell. Additionally, you don't wonder whether it's the company you think it is, or that company's competitor, or the mortgage broker down the street, or the guy that poisoned your termites last year. These emblems are entirely void of intrinsic meaning, yet they work better than anything else out there!
So, while we're on the subject, what's the company with the white kangaroo on the orange background? That's right! Every day someone asks what the kangaroo is for.
"Are any of you guys Australian?" someone invariably asks.
"Nope. I'm from Arizona. Nate's from Memphis."
"So...what's with the kangaroo?"
"Everyone loves kangaroos."
"Well, yeah, I think it's awesome, but what does it mean?"
"Melaroo is a portmanteau (meaning, of course, a noncanonical compound word made by combining the first part of one word with the last part of another). It means 'Mellow Kangaroo'.
"Oh! It's a mellow kangaroo! Yeah, he's sitting on his tail and I see his squnty little eyes, like he's relaxed. A mellow kangaroo...a Melaroo! Cindy and I spent, like, an hour yesterday trying to figure it out."
That's right. You and Cindy spent an hour talking about our logo. No inner meaning, no core values, no inspirational story, nothing. Just a mellow kangaroo. I'd like to see you get that kind of mileage from your American flag.
On the bright side, if you ever go international, at least they'll now what country you're from.
