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You know what they say in business: New year, new logo. Or at least, that’s how Walmart decided to ring in 2025. On Monday, the company decided that in lieu of paying their workers a living wage, they would be doing a “comprehensive brand refresh” to reflect their evolution over the last 74 years. In fact, they’ve unveiled the new logo, which they’ve transformed using a “modern, custom font” that’s really going to make that world-famous Walmart “spark” pop. Maybe it’s better if you get a look at it yourself. Get a load on how different their new logo is:
it's like they selected everything and pressed Control/Command+B
— Jonathan Khoo (@jonk.org) January 14, 2025 at 11:06 AM
Are you baffled by what you see? So is everyone else!
Walmart’s latest brand and logo update has left some social media users baffled.
On Jan. 13, the company announced in a press release on its website that it was launching a “comprehensive brand refresh” to show how Walmart and its brand have evolved since being founded in Bentonville, Arkansas, in 1951.
The press release said the wordmark was being altered to feature “a modern, custom font” that will make the corporation stand out from its competitors.
As for the symbol part of the logo — or the “spark,” as Walmart refers to it — it contains a color palette of True Blue and Spark Yellow that “leans on the retailer’s most recognizable tones and its heritage of blue, while ushering in new updates to keep the brand fresh.”
Essentially, the colors are slightly more vibrant while the lines on the spark are more rounded.
In a statement, William White, senior vice president and chief marketing officer, Walmart U.S, said, in part, “This update, rooted in the legacy of our founder, Sam Walton, demonstrates our evolving capabilities and longstanding commitment to serve our customers of today and tomorrow. While the look and feel of our brand is more contemporary, our refreshed brand identity reflects Walmart’s enduring commitment to both Sam’s principles and serving our customers however they need us.”
Walmart has already updated its social media accounts to reflect the new logo and wordmark, leading to critical and confused reactions from users.
One shared the “before and after” images of the logo and said “I can’t believe someone got paid for this.”
Another tweeted, “Whoever designed this is laughing behind the scenes.”
A third X user joked that the update was the equivalent to “cutting off 1 cm of my hair and expecting people to notice.”
One poked fun at the new design by posting a screenshot from “The Office” of Jenna Fischer’s character Pam saying, “They’re the same picture.”
Journalist Sophie Vershbow reacted to Walmart’s news by sharing a screenshot of Brian Cox’s “Succession” character Logan Roy chastising, “You are not serious people.”
“This has to be some sort of inside joke between all of the large corporations,” one X user suggested.
Ummm… Wally World, ya got played. This is laughably bad, right? Surely, somebody working in the C-suite of that company is getting paid the big bucks to know what an actual brand reboot is, right? This “new” logo just looks like someone made the font bold and then used a color boost filter from Instagram. At least when Apple updates their logo, they tend to actually change the color of the apple. The funniest part of all of this is that Walmart probably paid millions of dollars for a “new” logo that I could have done myself using Canva. Speaking of, if anyone from Walmart is reading this right now, next time you need a little refresh, hit me up. I promise to only charge like mid six figures for it.
me after cutting off 1 cm of my hair and expecting people to notice https://t.co/p9EmlKrA4w
— veronica⸆⸉ | fan acc. (@thisisvertrying) January 14, 2025
This kinda reminds me of the BRF “new Fab Four “, that they keep trying to push.
Or the Early Years Centre for Poor Kids. Or the ShapingUs (or whatever) campaign.
Wow THIS should be my new side hustle! I’m doing brand refreshing now for ummm 10K euros plus expenses. I’m already logging in to linkedin to announce. I could easily do one every time I wait for my kids to finish gymnastics practice.
Side by side you can notice a slight difference but this “change” didn’t deserve an announcement.
Exactly my thoughts. The minor tweaks do update it and make it more modern, in a subtle way. They didn’t need to make an announcement about these minor updates.
And more importantly, this company does not deserve your money. Please vote with your pocketbooks, it’s one of the only ways left to speak in the US right now. Some people don’t have choice, but hopefully those of us who do can spend wisely.
We’ve barely shopped there since the start of Covid. There are a few things we need from there about every 6 months or so. Otherwise Wally World never sees us coming thru the door. We do Aldi/Lidl..Kroger/Publix and SuperHMart.
Deserve? No. Need? Maybe, considering no one would have ever noticed otherwise.
The best part is this will now cost them $$$$$$$ because corporations are so on top of everything being correctly branded, right shades of specific colours on all branded materials, etc. So in addition to what they paid for this ‘new’ look, they have to roll it out and make sure everything is on brand.
That’s what I was thinking too – all their signage and everything will need to be “updated”. They’ll spend millions making this tiny slight change, but won’t pay their employees a living wage.
This is the corporate version of the “banana duct-taped to a fence” scam. Somebody at Walmart needed to transfer a large amount of money to somebody shady so they paid them to “update the logo.” It’s all money laundering and it’s not even creative.
I just showed them to my six yr old and even she rolled her eyes and said they’re idiots.
@kiera, sounds like you raised her well 🙂
I saw where someone said the logo just did a kegel.
It’s a process called brand evolution. As one of the most recognised brand logos, there is a lot of equity that brand asset. They change it bit by bit over time to keep it fresh, rather than one drastic change all at once. Over the course of a decade or more, it will evolve into something more different, but will take a generation of users along the journey with it and we will hardly notice the change.
Many other major brands have gone through the same.
Maybe on their next “brand refresh” they’ll provide higher salaries and more benefits to their employees — who now use billions in welfare benefits, thus subsidizing one of America’s largest corporations with public dollars. Hmmmm. Or, maybe on their next “brand refresh” they’ll decide not to kill their “diversity “ programs. Cute logo though. Nice and Yellow.
This isn’t any going to make it any more likely that I go to their stores. Vast warehouse with half the inventory missing and self checkout machines broken so I end up having to buy the stuff I need at CVS anyway.
Somewhere in New York, an SNL writer is planning the new Ryan Gosling/Avatar/Papyrus font skit. Just like his nightmare in the second skit on the font, “they just bolded it.” They tried to fool everyone, but NOOOOOOOOOOOO…
Still reads as a b-hole to me 🙄
Still reminds me of the Glendale Community College logo.
Well, perhaps it does show their evolution as a company. Little to none.
Kikiki not going to help much