‘Sexual’ Airbnb Logo: What’s This Look Like To You?


Airbnb, the international room-home sharing website, has unveiled a new logo and the internet has exploded with ideas of what the image represents. Some say the design resembles a vagina, others say it looks like a pair of testicles. Some people have gone so far to describe the image as a pair of buttcheeks and an anus. All suggestions revolving around the region known as “below the belt,” and most of them sexual in nature.

The official Airbnb company line is the the design is called Belo, and is the new “universal symbol of belonging.” It was designed by London-based DesignStudio and was revealed to the world yesterday right before a veritable Twitter storm began with theories of what the simple design looks like. Airbnb said, in a statement on their website:

“It’s an iconic mark… that, like us, can belong wherever it happens to be. It’s a symbol for people who want to try a new tea they’ve never heard of from a village they couldn’t find on the map. It’s a symbol for going where the locals go—the cafe that doesn’t bother with a menu, the dance club hidden down a long alleyway, the art galleries that don’t show up in the guidebooks.”

As most of the social media world sees something sexual in the logo, Airbnb’s explanation seems a bit “out there,” and maybe, just maybe, Airbnb missed the mark here. One thing is for certain, the world is definitely talking about Airbnb now, good or bad, and that is the desired end result of any marketing push.

Airbnb, or Air Bed and Breakfast, began in 2007 with two people renting a room on the internet and was officially launched in San Francisco in 2008. Airbnb revolutionized travel accommodations, giving people the chance to offer up spare bedrooms or even empty apartments, homes, and condos to travelers to stay in instead of pricey hotels. Many times, the locations are better and the rates are more competitive than hotels due to travelers avoiding various municipal taxes.

Airbnb, and others like them such as Vacation Rentals By Owner (VRBO), are changing how people travel in the 21st century, much in the same way Uber and Lyft have changed ride sharing. All of these services and more are part of a much bigger revolution dubbed the “share economy,” and their effects are starting to be noticed by those adversely affected, such as hotels and cab companies. This is ultimately resulting in legal actions. But Airbnb, as well as Lyft and Uber, are decidedly here to stay as they all work to benefit weary travelers and the smart phone generation. The only difference between Airbnb and these other titans of the share economy is that these other companies don’t have logos which look somewhat sexual in nature. What do you think the Airbnb logo looks like?

[Image Courtesy of Airbnb.com]

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