This logo’s the butt of a lot of jokes.
Airbnb — the website that lets hosts rent out rooms, apartments and houses — debuted a new logo Wednesday.
While the company tried to paint it as a symbol of love, community and comfort, some users had a field day online with a more frank analysis: It looks like a vagina. Or maybe a butt. Or both.
The hotel alternative dubbed the symbol “the Bélo,” or the universal symbol of belonging. But some critics said it belongs on another website and accused the lodging giant of stealing the new emblem from a smaller tech company, Automation Anywhere.
The squiggle is part of a massive site rebranding effort, which emphasizes community and human connections. “Airbnb is returning us to a place where everyone can feel they belong,” the company’s founder wrote on the website.
In a video introducing the new look, the rental company said the symbol is a mash-up of a person’s head, a map pin point, a heart and the letter A — meaning it stands for people, places, love and Airbnb.
But the Bélo is not a universally recognized symbol yet, and some people have some very different interpretations.
On Twitter, Airbnb users scoffed, cringed and poked fun of the new logo.
The letter-heart-pinpoint-person hybrid looks like a vagina or a butt to some users. Others said it looked like a bear, a dog and a paperclip.
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The rebranding effort comes at a time when Airbnb is fighting for validity in New York. A 2010 law forbids New Yorkers from renting out a whole apartment for less than 29 days — a law that threatens much of Airbnb’s businesses.
In April, State Attorney General Eric Schneiderman said the site promoted illegal hotels. Since then, Airbnb has appealed to New York City, plastering ads on streets and subways, discussing how beneficial the company’s model can be for hosts and visitors.
But there’s another layer to the logo controversy: It might be a rip-off of a small tech company’s logo, that of Automation Anywhere, a San Jose-based software developer.
But the two companies said it’s just a misunderstanding. They released a joint statement to Valleywag:
“In early 2014 both Airbnb and Automation Anywhere began use of new logos that, by coincidence, have similar designs. Airbnb and Automation Anywhere are working cooperatively to address this issue, and,” the statement read.
“Automation Anywhere is in the process of transitioning to a new logo design that is not similar to the Airbnb logo,” it continued.
