from WSMV
Say goodbye to the stars and flag and say hello to a little red square.
The state of Tennessee is about to get a new logo, and it’s come at quite a cost.
The Channel 4 I-Team has uncovered what it looks like and what it cost. Some are already questioning whether it was money well spent.
“This is something a fifth-grader could easily produce on his or her computer at home,” said Chris Butler, with watchdog.org.
The state paid $46,000 to Nashville advertising and marketing company GS&F to design the new logo.
Gov. Bill Haslam’s office confirmed the logo will replace several others. A spokesman said part of the reason it was necessary was to give the state a unified look.
In time, state officials said the logo will be on all signage and letterheads.
Butler said he wonders how much more it will cost to do that and if it’s necessary.
“This is going to be a lot of taxpayer money,” Butler said. “This is going to be a lot of time on behalf of state employees.”
Butler also questioned the simplistic design. He started a contest on his Twitter page saying, “Can your child, 12 or under, who lives TN, design a better state logo?”
“We’re going to give the winning participant a $50 Amazon gift card to see if they could produce something better than what this firm produced,” Butler said.
A spokesperson for the governor’s office said the new logo will be implemented in a cost-effective way. For example, he said when stationary with the old logo runs out, stationary with the new logo will then be used.
[poll id=”25″] More Local News
