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Paris 2024 Olympics Bid Plagued With Plagiarism Issue

by . February 17th, 2016

Paris unveiled its logo for the 2024 Olympics and Paralympics bid superimposed on the Arc de Triomphe. But not without controversy.

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With the hashtag #Paris2024, supporting tweets from the French public were superimposed on the historic monument and then turned into pixels unveiling the proposed logo for the city’s bid for the 2024 Olympics. The year 2024 is coincidentally the centenary of the last Olympics held in Paris in 1924.

The new logo evokes an image of the Eiffel tower as well as the number 24 in a polychrome stroke. The block text below serves as a non-distracting foundation to highlight the logo above. The broad strokes also suggest movement. My only doubt is the use of gradients. But with the colors showing a subtle French flag with the red, white and blue, I’d let that pass.

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In an interview with Euronews, Paris 2024 bid committee co-chairman Bernard Lapasset said “We believe this logo captures the essence of Paris as a forward-thinking, modern capital city that is also proud to celebrate its rich culture and heritage.”

The logo was created by Paris-based design agency Dragon Rouge which has worked on several brands such as 3M, Perrier, and Coca-Cola.

Paris is competing against Budapest. Rome, and Los Angeles, for the chance to host the Olympic Games in 2024. The logo was elected by the committee and will be the official logo of the Paris bid until the selection of the host city in September 2017.

While the logo was met with positive reviews, it has also netted a plagiarism claim.

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In an article posted by the French edition of GQ magazine, a Twitter user mentioned the similarity of the Olympics bid logo to a London sports and events consulting agency, 4global.

The colors of the 4global logo are subdued and are segmented but tilting it sideways reveals an uncanny resemblance to the Paris 2024 logo.

Designer Kheireddine Sidhoum from the Dragon Rouge design agency said to GQ “You’re freaking me out.” The agency has since clarified that there was “no willingness to copy” and that there has been a “legal check”.

Last year, the 2020 Tokyo Olympics committee faced a similar plagiarism charge. The committee scrapped its logo and called for another set of logo proposals.

You can view the full Paris press release here.

Is the new logo plagiarized or are the differences enough? Comment your reaction below!

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