Everywhere I look logo's be smilin' at me

By now, we all know that America is in a recession. I do kind of love how every few weeks the news tells me that the stock market has hit an 11 year low. It's like instead of a race to excellence, we just keep beating our score of doing worse and worse. So, obviously, companies have to make products even more desirable so that we spend our hard earned cash. The result? I've been seeing a lot more smiles lately.

In 2000, Amazon.com changed their logo from amazon.com underlined to this, i gotta admit, pretty brilliant gem:

They got the arrow pointing from a-z (which at this point, amazon does really have everything from a-z), not to mention the bright yellow smile. The upgrade makes their old logo look  like it's frowning, making this one seem even better! (Also, since I'm on the topic of Amazon, check out this website to see the progression of the Amazon logo. Can you believe what their first logo looked like?! I was flabbergasted by it's ungodly badness. That logo is definitely the early 90's in all it's glory...)

Ok fine, a smile from the year 2000 has very little to do with THIS recession but I believe in the rule of three. So I added it. Plus it's the only one I like. So next is the most famous smiley, the pepsi smile. I do believe I've shared my insight on the matter of this logo already so let's not go there. Again. 

And the third smiling logo is new and quite QUITE hideous. The logo was unveiled on February 17th (my dad's birthday...i rate this an awful present) and is only being used on the corporate level. What does this mean? Basically that they spent money to get this beaut on their letter head but not on their packaging so as not to confuse customers...or turn them away. 

The press release said this: 

With a new purpose and values setting a fresh direction, Kraft Foods also gave its corporate logo a facelift to more clearly deliver "delicious." Starting today, people around the world will begin to see the new identity that deliciously features a smile, the natural reaction to delicious foods and experiences, and a colorful flavor burst. It signals to employees, consumers and investors what the new Kraft Foods is all about.

To more clearly deliver delicious.....oy. Ooooh but lookie, this website has a progression of the Kraft logo. (you can kind of see how the current....well the one right before this lovely lady, started to begin in 1986. I like that)

I'll keep my eye's peeled for more smilin' logo's but let me know if you see any in the super market yourself! Maybe there is no trend at all and I am going off on a nudge but we shall see. We shall...see.