Nike's logo for Beckham was far from an instant hit on social mediaNIKE
Nike has "filed a trademark" for Giants WR Odell Beckham Jr.'s new logo, which features his "OBJ" initials "warped together into one," according to SNY.tv. Before the start of last season, Beckham "renewed his deal with Nike which came out" to about $5M per year for five years -- the "richest NFL shoe deal in history" (SNY.tv, 5/7). In Newark, Ryan Dunleavy noted upon close inspection, the three intertwined letters in the logo "can be seen separately, with the 'O' on the perimeter, the 'B' in the top right and the 'J' in the bottom right." Nike and the NFL "never commented on Beckham's off-field behavior incidents this offseason." But the trademark is a "pretty clear indication that Beckham's relationship with Nike remains as strong as ever." The newly released Beckham logo "was far from an instant hit on social media" (NJ.com, 5/7). ESPN's Jalen Rose said personal player logos "can't always be a corny iteration of the person's initial." Rose: "Can we get a little more creativity?" ESPN's Michelle Beadle said, "What would you want there? Like his hair?" ESPN's Mike Greenberg said the logo should be a "one-handed catch." Beadle: "I don't always hate the initials, (but) that was a little too calligraphy 101" ("Get Up!," ESPN, 5/8).
TWITTER REAX: Twitter commentators were quick to pillory the logo design. SB Nation's Big Blue View feed: "This is the best Nike could do? Really?" RotoExperts.com's Jake Ciely: "Just an Old English G?" ESPN's Dan Graziano: "Looks like somebody stepped on it." Deadspin's Drew Magary: "Big congrats to Odell on becoming the opening letter of a fairy tale printed in a leatherbound volume 600 years ago." SNY's Ralph Vacchiano: "You could've given me 500 guesses and I wouldn't have come up with 'OBJ' after looking at this." NFL writer Tom Downey: "This is the worst logo in the history of logos."
