Jose at Thick Culture sent us this design for the Catholic Church’s Archdiocesan Youth Commission logo in 1973 (via The Daily Dish).
The logo nicely shows how images are polysemic. That is, the same image can be read very differently by different people or, as this image illustrates, at different times. Because of the shift in the social construction of the Catholic priesthood–from benevolent child chaperones to evil child molesters–the logo, though likely lovely then, would be very ill-advised today.
Comments 5
Rachel — April 26, 2009
I had to look at it for a minute to even "get" it...I didn't see a priest and a child, just a priest with a target on him...i think it fails as a logo even for 1973
Vidya — April 26, 2009
I think the child figure would have been immediately recognizable to most viewers at the time, as that particular stylistic representation of the human figure was common then (and is obvious to those of us who grew up frequently exposed to the similar stylized figure in the logo of the National Film Board of Canada, lol). But the placement of the figures is certainly...unfortunate. :-p
anna — April 26, 2009
hahha... oh dear... this is so not funny but i can't help but laugh....
Village Idiot — April 28, 2009
Wow.
Was the logo prophetic or merely ironic? Back then the naughty priests just hadn't started getting caught or accused as often as they are now (recall that many accusations have been made by adults about molestation incidents that happened many years ago, even back when this logo was in use).
SFViscount — October 13, 2009
I instantly saw a priest and a child - but that comes from the eyes of one who was raped by a priest as a child.