So it appears that while we rejoiced the wonder that is the Make in India campaign’s mechanical lion, reports have surfaced that the Make in India logo may very well not have been made in India after all.
This lion with wheels logo was showcased at the annual Hannover Messe fair (25 to 29 April 2015.) in Germany with the hope of attracting foreign investment from far and wide.
However, aside from the fact that the lion didn’t roar quite as expected (what with the dismal-looking number of agreements entered into by Indian companies present at the fair) it seems that the logo – the work of the Indian subsidiary of the American agency Wieden + Kennedy (W+K) – is suspiciously similar to the sponsored campaign on the outer body of a train for the Cantonal Bank of Zurich which was designed by Swiss designer Nadine Geissbülher, and launched on July 4, 2013.
Department of Industrial Policy & Promotion secretary Amitabh Kant was on Defense Mode : Level 100 as he put up tweet after tweet in an attempt to justify the logo’s design :
“Since time immemorial Lion has been the official emblem of India. Stands for courage, tenacity & wisdom – all Indian values”.
“The industrial wheels design is just one of 30 lions, each represents a different sector auto parts, textiles, etc. This is amusing. There’s absolutely no reason for a country like ours to copy some random lion off a train”
“All d 30 vibrant & dynamic Make In India Lions. Not 1 of them resembles d dull, boring & monotonous Swiss or Cuban Lion,”
“The logo is inspired by India’s strongest symbol ever- TheAshoka emblem+ a bit of RBI,”
“Wheel in Ashoka Chakra forms the centerpiece of India’s national flag. Wheel denotes peaceful progress & dynamism,”
And then;
“These allegations are being made by a competing agency with malicious intentions. When we had announced the campaign, we made it clear that the wheels were from the Ashoka Chakra. This is defamatory”
We hear you, Kant ji, but can we believe you? The two images look pretty close to me – it does seem like W+B just MAY have derived inspiration for the Make in India emblem from the Swiss, but that could be an unfair presumption to make in the absence of any further information to follow up on.
We’re hoping to pick up more on this soon. Meanwhile, is a Kant v. Cantonal Bank of Zurich Twitter battle on the cards perhaps?
Only time will tell.
On first glance it does look that one is derived from or “inspired” by the other (mainly the use of metallic flywheels) . But the Make In India lion looks far better and livelier.
Furthermore, the slogan “Make in India” is just brilliant! (is that an alleged copy too?)
One would love to handle this (for either party) as a case of copyright infringement.