Comics I Don’t Understand

Toyota: The Symbol

Cidu Bill on Mar 5th 2010

Filed in Bill Bickel, CIDU, Toyota, comics, humor, political cartoons | 44 responses so far

44 Responses to “Toyota: The Symbol”

Sue Ellen Mar 5th 2010 at 07:22 am 1

OK…don’t get this one, and I’m not ashamed to admit it.
Brian Leahy Mar 5th 2010 at 07:23 am 2

My only thought - the ‘after’ logo is supposed to be a sad, downcast eye?
Nicole Mar 5th 2010 at 07:34 am 3

I have two interpetations of this comic , both of which migh end this up on the Arlo page.

In the after logo, it is not hard to imagine the long upright part as a middle finger., the lower horizontal oval as a fist.

The second interpetation could be that the after logo looks like a stylized male member.

Both indicating Toyota’s true feelinging toward their customers.
Dave Van Domelen Mar 5th 2010 at 07:49 am 4

The addition of the dot at the bottom suggests the “downcast eye” is the correct interpretation. The other ones would work just as well with just flipping the logo and not adding anything.
GP Mar 5th 2010 at 08:13 am 5

I immediately thought finger, until the dot was pointed out. But now I don’t get it. Why is the eye looking down? Is it supposed to be sad? It doesn’t look like a sad eye. It barely looks like an eye.
Mark Mar 5th 2010 at 08:47 am 6

My first thought was that it looked like a smiley turned into a frowney but when I saw the dot, I wasn’t sure anymore…
Nicole Mar 5th 2010 at 08:51 am 7

The dot is the knuckle
Silviya Mar 5th 2010 at 08:56 am 8

Looks like a car that just crashed into something, with the dot being the driver to me.
and at the same time, looks like stylized male genital…
Can’t decide which one I like better, but both are a “finger up”/LOL to me
CaroZ Mar 5th 2010 at 09:33 am 9

I think you’d have to be completely sex-obsessed to see any anatomy at all in that! But I don’t get the comic at all either so I can’t say what it might actually be.

I always used to think the Toyota logo looked like a bull’s head with horns, but I can’t figure out how that would explain the comic either. Just at a loss on this one.
Nicole Mar 5th 2010 at 10:04 am 10

CaroZ #9
” think you’d have to be completely sex-obsessed to see any anatomy at all in that!”

Um …. you must be new here
hia5 Mar 5th 2010 at 10:25 am 11

I thought that the central ellipse was supposed to represent a gas pedal and that the addition represents whatever it is that they’re putting under the gas pedal to prevent the problem.
Judge Mental Mar 5th 2010 at 10:26 am 12

I don’t have much to add here. While I think you *can* see either a middle finger, or another part of the anatomy, I don’t understand why the artist would have been compelled to add the dot in either case. Maybe the dot looks vaguely like knuckle, but I don’t think it looks any more like an extended middle finger with the dot than it does without one. The dot certainly does not add anything to the phallic interpretation, in fact, it diminishes it. There are certainly better ways the logo could be subtly tweaked to better convey either sentiment.

That leaves the eye interpretation, though IMO, it is quite a stretch. Maybe its not meant to be “sad” so much as “embarrassed”. Similar to a child who won’t look you in the eye when it has does something to disappoint you. :shrug
Dyfsunctional Mar 5th 2010 at 10:31 am 13

I’ve been staring and staring at this and I’ve got nothing. The logo (a stylized “T,” I guess) is pretty non-representational to begin with. And the previous logo was–hey, there was no previous logo! They just put “TOYOTA” on the cars in plane-Jane Helvetica!
Nicole Mar 5th 2010 at 10:44 am 14

Judge Mental #12

If it is a male member, the dot represents a rash … C’mon people work with me here
Kamino Neko Mar 5th 2010 at 12:18 pm 15

I think it’s a toilet…the dot is the drain hole.
Keera Mar 5th 2010 at 12:29 pm 16

Whatever Nicole says, goes. Especially since I interpreted the upside-down logo exactly as she did.
RyanE Mar 5th 2010 at 12:37 pm 17

I think this and the last Toyota cartoon just show that:

a) Editorial cartoonists are struggling to find good subject material, and
b) It’s hard to make people crashing and dying due to Toyota’s arrogance into something funny.
RyanE Mar 5th 2010 at 12:37 pm 18

Oh, and BTW, I’m in the ‘phallic symbol’ camp. Dirty, dirty mind.
Darren S. A. George Mar 5th 2010 at 12:43 pm 19

I just assumed it was belly-up.
Jeff Schwarz Mar 5th 2010 at 01:00 pm 20

I don’t know if this was the intent, but I kinda see the upside-down logo as a rocket. Given the uncontrolled acceleration, this could make sense.
Dyfsunctional Mar 5th 2010 at 02:01 pm 21

Rocket kind of works for me too, kind of. The dot could be the rocket’s thruster, and the larger ring could be either an exhaust cloud or a set of old fashioned Buck Rogers-style wings.
paperboy Mar 5th 2010 at 03:11 pm 22

The vertical symbol in the middle, with the dot, looks like a safety pin(remember those? used to use them to secure cloth diapers,which you washed and re-used), and the problem with Toyotas is safety, but that’s as far as I got.
Kevin A Mar 5th 2010 at 03:17 pm 23

It’s a guy on a luge, no wait, it’s the baby Jesus, no, baby Jesus on a luge, no, “Kilroy was here”, ack!, …

Okay, according to Toyota, the vertical line of the ‘T’ represents the company and the horizontal part, the customers. The gap is still at the top, so only the customer ellipse has moved to the bottom.

I think it represents the downturned eye of sadness or humble embarassment.
Heather D Mar 5th 2010 at 03:38 pm 24

I think I like the “toilet” interpretation… it fits the best, visually, of all the other guesses.
mkilby Mar 5th 2010 at 05:25 pm 25

I like Bryan’s “downcast eye” explanation better than the “toilet bowl” or any of the other anatomy theories. In America, tits on TV result in $500K fines, so it’s unlikely that a published comic would be intentionally phallic. And in any case, circles and ovals normally represent female anatomy, which would lead to a very obvious (if crude) suggestion for the meaning of that dot peeking out at the bottom. Think of it as a “navel” perspective of the object in question.

However, I still don’t think anatomy is the answer. It’s more likely to be an allegory for the “quick fix” that Toyota is applying to the accelerator pedals. Given that this problem has been brewing for several years, I still don’t trust any solution that they rigged up in less than two weeks of frantic engineering.
mark doeffinger Mar 5th 2010 at 05:28 pm 26

The vertical circle on the “after” is supposed to represent a shoe–heel and front sole, much as you might see on a scale. And the shoe is, of course, on the accelerator, where the problem is. The cartoonist turned the logo upside down so that the shoe could be depicted this way. Actually, you would probably get the same effect by coloring in the entire vertical circle of the original logo.

(That’s the best I can do.)
Clark Mar 5th 2010 at 06:10 pm 27

Is this a British cartoonist? I know that “cock up” is popular slang in the UK for when someone screws up. If I’m right, then this is definitely Arlo material.
Matthew Mar 5th 2010 at 06:10 pm 28

Nicole, what you said to CaroZ truly made me laugh aloud!

I thought that the new logo was supposed to represent everything sinking, perhaps swirling down the toilet.
Jelli Mar 5th 2010 at 06:54 pm 29

Wow, I got a really different one. The circular part of the new logo looked to me like a screaming face, while the arc at the bottom looked like a steering wheel. So basically, a view through a circular windshield at someone about to crash into the viewer.
chuckers Mar 5th 2010 at 07:25 pm 30

The dot was probably added to give the “illusion” that it was an eye rather than a finger/phallus as was probably intended.
David N Mar 5th 2010 at 07:48 pm 31

Paging Dr. Rorschach!

I’m with Nicole and RyanE in the ‘phallic symbol’ camp. Not only is it the cool place to hang out, but the poles holding up the tents are much bigger than everyone else’s. Maybe the comic is an inkblot, writ in red curves.
Kevin A Mar 5th 2010 at 07:52 pm 32

Oh! Look how the sides have thinned near what we’ve been calling the “dot”;
it’s as if material has rearranged itself, and not been added (to?).

(MD - The space is still at the top so, unless the artist was completely distracted by a deadline, I can only think that the logo is still right-side up. Even so, I enjoy everybody’s image, right-side-up or not.)
Matthew C Mar 5th 2010 at 08:17 pm 33

Okay, I have a theory. Maybe the vertical ellipse is an angel’s head, and the horizontal ellipse is its halo. It’s not flipped like Kevin A said, but the halo fell, representing Toyota’s lost image. The “dot” could be an abstract smile on the top, and a frown on the bottom.
Robert Mar 5th 2010 at 08:25 pm 34

I may be all wet, but I’m thinkin’ it shows the “halo” fallen down…
cydu Mar 5th 2010 at 08:25 pm 35

I took it as loose parts of the logo flying to the back under the force of acceleration, but that’s pretty weak, too.
Pete Mar 5th 2010 at 08:42 pm 36

Yeah, I agree. The image hasn’t been turned upside- down. The horizontal oval has fallen from the top to the bottom. Some of the vertical oval has collected into a dot, leaving some of the sides thinner.

But what it means is a mystery.
Elyrest Mar 5th 2010 at 09:12 pm 37

I have no idea what the switched symbols mean, but I enjoy the speculation. After reading the Star Wars stuff and Toyota I am now seeing the word Toyota as “Toy Yoda”.

I think it is time to put down the computer.
Rachael Mar 5th 2010 at 10:47 pm 38

well, i was a “Holt Rocket” for two years, and the first thing i see with the flipped one is, well, a rocket. so, when i saw the first, i sawing a rocket crashing to Earth. i doubt that’s what it’s supposed to be, but that’s what i see…
Nick B Rowler Mar 5th 2010 at 11:25 pm 39

It looks like a rocket ship.
Powers Mar 6th 2010 at 08:09 am 40

Oh for pete’s sake, it’s an EYE!
The Bad Seed Mar 6th 2010 at 08:18 am 41

It could be a simple “belly-up” thing, but my first thought was a middle finger. After all, the news yesterday was that Toyota is under federal investigation for not investigating the reported problems thoroughly enough - namely, hastily blaming the floor mats and sticky pedals, rather than looking at the electrical system. Definitely could be construed as an F-you to consumers, huh?
Kevin A Mar 6th 2010 at 10:04 am 42

Now that I noticed the thin sides, I see the vertical ellipse alone as a full smiling face in the BEFORE and a sad face in the AFTER. The horizontal ellipse outlines the top of the mouth area; above, it reflects the lifted or dropped cheek area just below the eyes.
I feel that having experience with vertically exaggerated cartoon faces may be essential for seeing it; for me, the image is very elusive but very strong.

(If I can remember an example, I’ll post it.)
Rain Mar 6th 2010 at 11:19 am 43

I’m with Matthew C. The first thing I saw was a fallen halo.
J-L Mar 8th 2010 at 10:29 am 44

I’m pretty sure that the inner horizontal oval is supposed to be a steering wheel, while the vertical oval is supposed to be a driver’s face (with the “dot” at the bottom being the driver’s mouth in the act of saying “Oh, no!” or “Aaaaaaaaaah!”).

The outer horizontal oval could be viewed as the frame of the windshield, or just ignored.