A New Logo for the Swedish Defence Forces
It was today revealed by a major Swedish newspaper (SvD) that the Swedish Defence Forces are changing their logo. The traditional shield, including the royal crown and a sword has been removed in exchange for a more acceptable civilian variant. The new logo looks like the three crowns of the Swedish ice hockey team. In other words, all the terrible connotations towards the use of weaponry in the old logo is gone and now replaced with this business type logo. It is according to military HQ supposed to “better reflect the new tasks of the Swedish military”. Sure it was a long time since the defence used swords, but removing all military connotations from the logo… Come on!
Yes, it is true that the Swedish defence is going through a process of adjustment in order to better deal with the threats of the contemporary strategic context. This includes more of international peace operations, and assisting civil society in times of crisis. The Swedish Defence Research Institute is moreover supposed to start competing with civilian institutions and think tanks for civilian clients who may need a security or risk analysis. These changes take the Swedish defence a very long way from the traditional core function of large scale warfare in case of a Russian invasion, but let us not forget that defending the territorial integrity of
Rather than a useful adjustment to a changing context, this is evidence of an enormously oversized military HQ, filled with officers with nothing better to do than come up with new populist schemes. That they also broke the law by not consulting with the National Herald , or the officer corps for that matter, hardly makes thing better. The defence is still very much a military organisation, and its professionals are trained to apply deadly force for the benefit of Swedish and international security. Let us therefore keep a logo that reflects this reality.
posted by Robert Egnell at 7:40 AM
2 Comments:
I agree with you 100%. As much as I like the Swedish hockey team, this is just ridiculous - it wasn't as if the old logo featured severed heads or a bunch of tanks and artillery... A sword? Surely the connotations of a sword have more to do with honour, disciple, chivalry etc. than out-and-out war?
Ridiculous, I say.
All the best,
David U.
After being severely criticised by the a number of institutions, the Swedish Defence leadership withdrew the new logo that was previously descussed on this forum. The new logo, although pretty to the eye, is considered "ahistorical" by commentators. HQ has accepted the criticism but argues that the quest for a new logo continues. It should perhaps be noted that the quest for a new logo has costed 1,5 miljon Swedish Crown already and is likely to be very expensive to implement. Count on the fact that yours truly will continue to cover this farce!
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