Vintage stereo banners.
The alien Coca-Cola logo at Tomorrowland, Disneyland, in the 1990s.
Coke bottles, 1894-1996.
When was it? Summer of 1990 or thereabouts. I was a kid. This guy came up to me, “Have you ever tried Coca-Cola? It’s a delicious soft drink. Next time you buy a drink, why not try Coca-Cola? You will not regret it.” Like he was hawking some B-brand.
Evolution of Bibendum, the Michelin Man. Created in 1894, the tire-man is still being used today. Never retired.
With that joke out of the way—in the village where I grew up was a garage. In one of its windows sat a yellowed Bibendum doll. I wanted it, not because I found it pretty, but because I felt that toys didn’t belong in the world of adults. By rights, it belonged to me.
The Adidas logo throughout the years. The three parallel bars were a stroke—or rather, three strokes—of genius.
Wow, so corny. Did I really write that?
Adidas was very popular when I grew up. All that stuff was on the rise. You could say that in the 80s, brands came into fashion. Run DMC had their song, “My Adidas” (1986), tennis stars Steffi Graf and Ivan Lendl had Adidas, everyone wore Adidas.
Original design of the Nike logo, by Carolyn Davidson, then a 28-year-old student. 1971.
Nike didn’t like any of the designs they were offered, but production deadlines forced them to pick the “least awful” one.