Red Star over Macy's

[Slyder]

Macy's recently returned to Kansas City. I cannot help but notice that the signs on the stores feature a large red star. As a person in his mid-50s, this brings back memories of the Moscow May Day parades, and the Great Proletarian Cultural Revolution in China. I realize that a red star may have many meanings, but cannot help but wonder if my money spend at Macy's is somehow going into the pockets of the Peoples Liberation Army! lol

Anybody know why this particular logo was picked by some marketing guru? I mean it is one of those great Communist symbol that fell by the side of the road in the 90s and were available for the picking. Like the crown of England Henry VII found on a bush after Bosworth Field. Symbols such as the hammer and sickle, red stars, the tune of the Internationale, the red flag, and so forth.

I don't actually see anything sinister here. I am just curious.

[grasswire]

1. Ha! That's been bothering me this week, too!

Although I knew that the red star was Macy's symbol, it didn't hit me until I was actually in the store yesterday for the first time since the takeover and I saw it everywhere. Shopping bags, signs, everywhere. I thought "Why did they adopt a symbol recognized by so much of the world as having totalitarian connotations?!"

And you know that if you and I are bothered by it, a whole boatload of other people are, too.

[Deja Q]

4. It's a small universe, isn't it?

I saw it last week and went "hmmm, that does seem weird" too.

[Richard Steele]

2. Joe McCarthy is hiding under your bed. nm

[qnr]

3. It comes from a tattoo the founder got when he worked on whaling ships. n/t

[Rabrrrrrr]

5. Nothing communist related - the founder had a red star tattoed on his hand

when he worked on a whaling ship as a 15 year old. He founded Macy's in 1857, and the red start has been a symbol ever since.

The ship was the Emily Morgan, which was eventually lost in north atlantic ice in 1871.

[Tinksrival]

6. I'm not sure about the star but....

Here in Chicago land Macy's is having a hard time of it. This is their first holiday season after buying out the Chicago institution, Marshal Fields. Some people are still pissed at the name change and are boycotting. I have never been to a Macy's and Field's was just too over priced for me.
Happy Holidaze! :hi:

[tritsofme]

10. My wife says she won't shop at Macy's

and I never had reason to go to Field's except when accompanying her.

But I must say the Field's logo was much more pleasing to the eye.

And the Macy's sign looks very out of place on Michigan Ave especially.

[Tinksrival]

11. Is the clocks still up?

They are awesome!

[magellan]

7. "Has Macy's gone communist?"

That's what I asked my husband (jokingly) when I saw the tv ad full of red stars. I grew up during the Cold War too, and there's no avoiding the gut reaction to the symbology. But while some can reason past the unintentional correlations, others won't. So it might not have been such a clever marketing strategy on their part.

[Rabrrrrrr]

8. Considering the red star was there 100 years before McCarthyism,

I think Macy's wins the battle on "who came first".

Macy's red star came 9 years after The Communist Manifesto and 10 years before Das Kapital.

[qnr]

12. Sure, Communism made me think of nothing so much as conspicuous consumption :) n/t

[Wiley50]

9. At this point in the NeoConservative drama

Marx seems quite benign to me