Fans of the vintage Virginia Tech logos should go ahead and purchase any merchandise they have been wanting now, because the university will be discontinuing the line at the end of 2012.
The vintage logos being discontinued include the "TV” logo — the logo with the T sitting inside the V — and the Fighting Gobbler logo. After Dec. 31, merchandise with these logos will no longer be available.
“Virginia Tech has a long, long history of name confusion,” said Larry Hincker, the associate vice president of University Relations. “To us, this is just a prudent measure of brand protection and brand enforcement so that we don’t cause continuing confusion in the market place.”
Over the years, the names of both the university and its mascot have gone through various changes. Although the school’s official name is currently Virginia Polytechnic Institute and State University and is referred to as Virginia Tech, it was once referred to simply as VPI. The HokieBird was once known as the Gobbler, then the Fighting Gobbler.
As the university and its mascot changed names, the logos changed as well. Now, according to Hincker, University Relations feels that it is not a good idea to have too many logos being merchandised in reference to Tech.
Many current and former Tech students have responded negatively to this announcement.
Kelley English, a senior marketing management major, created a petition in an attempt to save the vintage logos, as well as a Facebook event page to get the word out about the petition, which has accrued over 1,200 signatures.
“I get where they’re coming from on why they’re discontinuing them, but I definitely like the T-in-the-V logo,” said Russell Dowell, a senior human nutrition food and exercise major. “It was clean, and I thought it looked good on merchandise.”
Vintage logo merchandise is currently on a sale shelf at the University Bookstore and the supply is sparse. The demand, however, is not.
“There have been people who have come into the store and asked why we didn’t have more items with the old logos,” said Gina Zanarini, an employee in the clothing and gift department of the University Bookstore and wildlife science major.
Dave Wilson, the associate director of the University Bookstore said the vintage logo merchandise still continues to sell despite its age.
“(The vintage logos) are popular, especially with some of the older alumni who are familiar with those logos from when they were in school,” Wilson said.
University Relations gave the vendors carrying the vintage logo products one year to discontinue sales of the merchandise, and the clock runs out on the last day of this year.