Author: Gabriel Nibb
In a recent Toucan Tip (#22), San Diego Comic-Con published a brief guide to the display of badges used by guests upon entry. While it wouldn’t be noticeable in any other year, the artwork displayed on the conference’s current emblem is considered by some to be “uninspired.”
This is due to the use of the Paramount+ logo in lieu of any specific branding or property that would reflect attendee interests. As a result, many badge holders have talked about covering up the logo with their own images and stickers, including members of the r/comiccon subreddit.
The consensus among some attendees was that Comic-Con does not care about the uniformity or safety of its badges, but rather its bottom line. One Reddit user wrote: “Probably the biggest complaint about CCI because they pay CCI $x in sponsorships [sic] They dropped the ball in a boring crap design, people are covering it up and now the CCI is on defense to keep sponsors happy.
SDCC’s badge guidelines are as follows: “Do not cover the artwork image on the badge or obscure any important information. If decorations obscure your badge, it may delay your entry to the event, and security personnel may ask you to remove it.
Art design provided by Paramount+ Ironically, the logo currently on the SDCC ’24 badge may no longer represent Paramount. As part of the proposed merger between Paramount Worldwide (the parent company of Paramount+) and Skydance Media, a new logo is proposed that combines the Skydance logo with the style of Paramount’s traditional logo.
At the time of writing this article, beat SDCC officials reportedly asked to see if attendees’ badges were obscured. If the decoration is easy to move or remove, there’s no fuss for those who choose to cover a sign that may be about to expire. It’s also worth noting that for privacy reasons, some attendees may place easily removable decorations on their badges to obscure their legal names.
Stay tuned for more coverage from SDCC ’24 beat.
related
