problem description:

The female head on Starbucks teacup refers to the legendary witch, right?

Analysis:

Starbucks' reputation and green mermaid logo are household names, and you may have heard of the story, but it is really difficult to tell it in detail ~

Let's talk about the name of the store first ~, as we all know, Starbucks' name comes from Moby Dick's first mate who loves coffee. Few people know who came up with the name.

This goes back to Starbucks who sold coffee beans and spices in the early 197s. The name of Starbucks really bothers the elders (three) of Starbucks. Gordon Bowker discussed the name of the store with his creative partner artist Terry Heckler. In fact, he seems to want to use the name "Pequod", which comes from the ship in Moby Dick. Terry Heckle didn't agree with this opinion. What he wanted was a unique name that could be related to the northwest of the United States. He chose the name "Starbo" of the miners' gathering place near Mount Rainier, and after discussion, Gerald Baldwin reconnected the name with his favorite Moby Dick. Starbuck was the first mate who loved coffee on the Pequod. Howard Schultz said in his book that the name reminds people of the adventure story at sea, and also reminds people of the tradition of coffee merchants traveling around the world in the early years to find good coffee beans, which is somewhat implied by drinking water.

(1) The above information comes from Pour Your Heart Into It, Howard Schultz Dori Jones Yang 1997

and the logo of Starbucks is even more mysterious. It is said that after the name was decided, Terry Heckle began to study his ancient maritime books. Later, I found a woodcarving (print) pattern of a double-tailed mermaid in Scandinavia in the 16th century, so I designed the logo of Starbucks, that is, the word mermaid surrounded STARBUCKS COFFEE TEA SPICES in the middle. According to my investigation, this logo was first used on March 29th, 1971. At that time, the name of Starbucks Company was

Starbucks' Coffee Company (Washington Corporation)

and its registered address was 22 W.Emerson Place Seattle. Wash.98199

Later, on November 18th, 1986, the logo with only the words STARBUCKS was registered, and the appearance of the mermaid remained basically unchanged.

The trademark registered on June 6th, 1989 (which may have been used before) changed greatly, and the color changed to green, and the mermaid was still a full-length portrait, still retaining her belly button, but divorced from the print style.

Then on January 11th, 1994, Starbucks completed the logo registration of the current version. But the color is not defined accurately. In fact, this sign is said to have been used since 1992.

Later, small supplementary registrations were made in December 1995 and December 1997 respectively. The first time, the green color was clearly defined, and the second time, the pattern was slightly changed, which seemed to involve only the line thickness.

From the evolution of Starbucks logo, it is not difficult to see that the mermaid is becoming more and more subtle. From the beginning of bare breasts to the later, it is difficult to distinguish her two-tailed version. The first big change (94th edition) is to cover the mermaid's * * * with her hair like many subtle beauty photos. It is said that it comes from the opinions of customers, who think that the image of mermaid is very aggressive, and there are too many "sexual" seductive ingredients in it.

Is this because the starting sign is too realistic and direct? Therefore, the later changes are all about removing redundant elements, such as removing the fishtail that feels like split legs. That posture is really unsightly, which is also the biggest improvement of the current version.

this important change is said to come from quantum graphics &; By Mr. Micheal Parent of Design. He found that everyone was unhappy with the mermaid with her legs off, and then he took the initiative to find Howard Schultz and submitted his own modified design. Of course, he also made a lot of money for it.

However, half of the fish's tail (from three forks to two forks, like a crab clip) is often mistaken for a mermaid's hand. It is said that even Starbucks employees don't know that the crab clip is actually a tail.

I think Mr. Terry Heckle chose the mermaid as the symbol mainly because of its attractive ability.

at present, the original version of the logo is still kept in the Pike's Place Market starbucks in Seattle.

A big debate about Starbucks Mermaid is whether this image is Sirens or Mermaid ~

An important article I refer to, How the Starbucks Siren Becameless Naughty, also talks about the explanation of Sirens. He mentioned in the article:

basically, from what I gathered from different sources, including that book, there is a lot of confusion beeen the different mythological half-women. Typically they are called Sirens - both the half-bird/ half-woman and the half-fish/ half-woman varieties. The fish type are usually called Mermaids. Both types according to the ancient Greeks were in the business of seducing mariners w Ith songs and promises of sex and then killing them, but Hans Christian Andersen and Disney Mostly made everyone that. < P > He thinks that Sirens refers to monsters that are half beast and half woman, including half fish, half woman and half bird and half woman. And the one that is half fish and half woman is called Mermaid. For this reason, I also looked up the information in my hand.

excerpts from some of them are as follows:

the sirens

in Greek mythology sirens were sea nymphs who were lured sailors with their sweet singing, causing their ships to founder. Odysseus overcame the temptation by tying himself to his ship’s mast as shown in this painting by 19th-century French artist Leon Belly in the Musée de l’Hotel Sandelin in Saint Omer, France. Encarta Encyclopedia

Microsoft Encarta Reference Library 25.

And my 14th edition of Encyclopaedia Britannica in 1929 pointed out in more detail:

In Greek myth. ology, The daughters of Phorcys the sea-god. or, in later legend of the river-god Achelous and one of the nymphs. In Homer their are o in number; their home is an island in the western sea beeen Aeaea, the island of Circe, and the rock of Scylla.。

to be sure, they confuse sailors with songs. Odysseus (Odysseus) got the warning from Circe (the witch who can turn people into pigs) and sealed her ears with wax, thus escaping Sirens' singing ... < P > So I think it's not a mistake to translate Sirens into a Mermaid, although there is the word Mermaid, and some Starbucks shop assistants will call her Poseidon, but it's not a mistake.

and the place where Odysseus met Sirens is in Italy, which is similar to the place where we met espresso ~ I wonder if Terry Heckle thinks so (hahaha, I'm starting to talk nonsense. )

It is absolutely appropriate for Starbucks to choose this logo. Although mermaids have a bad reputation, so is coffee? The mermaid in Starbucks doesn't sing, but the coffee cup in her hand smells like singing. If you want to learn from Odysseus, I'm afraid you have to seal your nose with wax.

Thanks to the development of Starbucks, the designers have also endowed the mermaid with more and more rich images. On the comprehensive packaging of the new anniversary, we finally saw the full-length portrait of the mermaid, which is different from the designed version, but has returned to realism, but this time the mermaid is much more beautiful ~ We have long forgotten the one who once puzzled sailors, and Starbucks has turned her into our neighbor who treats guests with coffee.