Recently, I read a tweet a fellow student at MTO posted and it really got me thinking. The tweet wrote “If a pharmaceutical drug had a similar logo to a candy bar. That would be a problem #sufirights #takeoffjustlogo #cavalli #robertocavalli” – @_donyaxo_
I got thinking about how valid this point really is and how comparable the situation is to the use of our faith’s Emblem on the “Just Cavalli” products. As someone who works at a pharmacy we try to completely distinguish prescriptions and boxes with numerous labels and alerts to notify the patient that the medication about to be utilized is in fact very distinct from one another.
Now if people were to mistake a prescription medication for a candy bar due to the problem of having a similar logo, we would obviously have a huge problem– maybe even deadly. What I am comparing this to is seeing the “Just Cavalli” logo sold on perfumes, shirts, and tattooed on naked models with a message of sexual lust. Faith and belief is a beautiful thing but Cavalli has abused the meaning of it.
It is not only offensive and disrespectful to the meaning of the Sacred Emblem which represents universal harmony, unity and awakening of the heart to the heart to the reality of infinite existence, but also completely infuriating when people approach me and ask if my necklace that has my faith’s Emblem printed on it is supposed to signify the messages of sexual lust that Cavalli is bringing upon their add campaign, and ultimately our faith’s sacred logo. All just because the two images look extremely similar!
In Roberto Cavalli’s case it is extremely simple to design a new logo that does not resemble MTO’s, but after all the attempted contact our students’ have tried with Cavalli and his PR team, they just simply choose to ignore us as if we don’t exist. We shouldn’t have to keep constantly reminding Cavalli to take off our logo, but if that’s what it takes for him to listen we will.