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Logos—they’re the concentrated sweat and tears of brilliant artists crafting away to create the ‘perfect’ image representing their client’s brand. After hours and days of toil, deleted drafts, and angry coffee breaks, the final version’s ready. It’s being rolled out worldwide… and that’s when thousands of people report seeing a completely different image than they intended.

When Headspace content director Freddie Campion shared how his wife had thought that Colonel Sanders had a stick body instead of a bowtie in the KFC logo, other Twitter users pitched in with their own hilarious misinterpretations of well-known logos. Check ‘em out below and upvote your fave tweets, dear Pandas. Just don’t say we didn’t warn you—you’ll have a hard time unseeing these! Be sure to share your own misunderstood logo moments in the comments.

This isn’t the first time that Bored Panda has written about people misinterpreting the KFC logo and the stick body now being seared into our minds for a long, long time. I’d forgotten all about it a few months after learning the truth, but Freddie brought everything back. And I knew just who to talk to about all of this. Curious? Read on!

#3

Misunderstood-Logos

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Rattle Battlesnake
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3 years ago DotsCreated by potrace 1.15, written by Peter Selinger 2001-2017

yup, a bit late to the party but the bear is the symbol of Bern The legend goes that, in 1191, Duke Berthold V of Zähringen vowed to choose as namesake the first animal his hunt met in the wood, "Then they caught a bear first, which is why the city was called Bern; and so the citizens had their coat and shield, which was a black bear in a white shield, going upright"

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Andrew Gibb
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3 years ago DotsCreated by potrace 1.15, written by Peter Selinger 2001-2017

it's because you roar like a bear when the chocolate hurts the roof of your mouth

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Pearl Of the SeaWing RainWings
Community Member
3 years ago DotsCreated by potrace 1.15, written by Peter Selinger 2001-2017

Haha! Actually bc smthg to do with Bern... I don't remember well. But it sounds far fetched to me, so I'm going to adopt your theory instead!

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IFXO
Community Member
3 years ago DotsCreated by potrace 1.15, written by Peter Selinger 2001-2017

omg yes. I always wondered why the mountain had a huge cutout but never got my head around the fact that it actually is a bear. BEARY GOOD AT HIDING THINGS. (no pun intended)

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Amazon QT
Community Member
3 years ago DotsCreated by potrace 1.15, written by Peter Selinger 2001-2017

This one has been my favorite logo bc of the Bear!!! 👍🏻

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Petra Pan
Community Member
3 years ago DotsCreated by potrace 1.15, written by Peter Selinger 2001-2017

Centaur bear... lower body looks like a horse standing on hind legs.

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Éva Nemes
Community Member
3 years ago DotsCreated by potrace 1.15, written by Peter Selinger 2001-2017

Because of: "JEAN TOBLER startet mit den industriellen schoggiproduktion in Bern", and Bern = Bärn (berndütsch) > Bär (in Hochdeutsch)

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Oskar vanZandt
Community Member
3 years ago DotsCreated by potrace 1.15, written by Peter Selinger 2001-2017

I haven't eaten Toblerone in ages, but when I did I was too busy stuffing my face to notice the bear! LOL

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Cindy Jarrett
Community Member
3 years ago DotsCreated by potrace 1.15, written by Peter Selinger 2001-2017

Well, here is another one...thanks for pointing it out!

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Auktje Kazemier
Community Member
3 years ago DotsCreated by potrace 1.15, written by Peter Selinger 2001-2017

wauw valt me nu pas op.............en ik eet ze al wel 20 jaar.................

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Lamb Taylor
Community Member
3 years ago DotsCreated by potrace 1.15, written by Peter Selinger 2001-2017

I've eaten thousands of Toblerones and didn't notice it once. Thanks for this feature as I probably would never have seen it myself.

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Bored Panda spoke about Freddie’s thread with comedy writer, author, and musical comedian Ariane Sherine, who had previously gone viral for her tweet about her friend misinterpreting the KFC logo as well. Twitter users brought Freddie’s thread to her attention as well.

I was incredibly curious to find out whether Freddie’s wife was Ariane’s friend. It sounded like too much of a coincidence. Maybe this was a sign from the Universe? Alas! Ariane confirmed to Bored Panda that there’s no connection between her friend and Freddie.

“They’re clearly kindred spirits though! I should hook them up (though Freddie’s wife might not like that much!),” Ariane joked.

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I wanted to find out the best way to make myself forget that Colonel Sanders looks like he has a stick body and Ariane made my day with her quips. “Why try to unsee the stick body? Just accept it. Colonel Sanders is like a stick because he doesn’t eat his own products! That is not the body of a man who has eaten much fried chicken,” she shared.

Unfortunately, acceptance seems like the only path forward, dear Readers. Hopefully, we’ll forget all about stick-Sanders over the next few months… until someone else makes a viral thread about the logo. With Freddie’s thread having gotten over 425k likes, KFC couldn’t ask for better exposure.

According to Comedian Ariane, logo designers can try and minimize the chances of their illustrations being misinterpreted by running them past as many people as possible. The bigger the pool, the bigger the chance of spotting that something’s off. However, Ariane hopes they don’t do that because then there’d be no hilarious misunderstandings.

#7

Misunderstood-Logos

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#13

Misunderstood-Logos

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Pamda Panda
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3 years ago DotsCreated by potrace 1.15, written by Peter Selinger 2001-2017

Just in case anyone is curious, the Chinese symbols for New York are 纽约

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#18

Misunderstood-Logos

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#25

Misunderstood-Logos

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Sleazy Weaver
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3 years ago DotsCreated by potrace 1.15, written by Peter Selinger 2001-2017

Wow, that's such a great design! I saw both the letters & the picture straight away. It's simple & to the point but unique enough to be memorable. Sorry, as someone with a graphic design passion I'm geeking out over this! It's genius!

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#28

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Marshk
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3 years ago DotsCreated by potrace 1.15, written by Peter Selinger 2001-2017

I'm SO GLAD this one is here. I always thought it was a man delivering mail. I'm in my thirties and just realized it's an eagle lol

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#29

Misunderstood-Logos

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