Comments on: What fictional evil has great corporate branding?

Question: What fictional evil has great corporate branding?

cowbellemoo — Tue, 20 Nov 2007 01:09:22 -0800

What fictional evil has great corporate branding? I'm knitting myself sweaters and want to use the merchandising logo of fictional and cinematic dystopian/corrupt/evil corporations or organizations.

A few examples I've thought up with a great deal of satisfaction:

Black Mesa from Half Life
Aperture Science from Portal
Umbrella Corp. from Resident Evil
uNorth from Michael Clayton
Three Bees from The Constant Gardner

I'm really interested in a fully-realized brand identity, not just any old evil corporation/organization. Ideally they'd have a nice little logo design and have short names, since it'll look better knit. It takes forever to knit up sweaters, but patterning out different logos keeps me really excited about them. Thanks!

By: SageLeVoid

SageLeVoid — Tue, 20 Nov 2007 01:25:17 -0800

Globo Chem from Mr. Show. The company is used the same way the old WB cartoons used the Acme corporation.
Anything that sucks or is evil or stupid is being manufactured by globo chem.
There's also a list of fictional companies at wikipedia.
And of course the OCP.

By: lou

lou — Tue, 20 Nov 2007 01:27:19 -0800

Blue Sun from Firefly.

By: headspace

headspace — Tue, 20 Nov 2007 01:31:27 -0800

LuthorCorp.

By: mdonley

mdonley — Tue, 20 Nov 2007 01:31:45 -0800

Fox Books, from You've Got Mail.

By: grouse

grouse — Tue, 20 Nov 2007 01:33:03 -0800

Weyland-Yutani from Alien et seq.

By: Riki tiki

Riki tiki — Tue, 20 Nov 2007 01:34:02 -0800

Complex Corporation from Kevin Smith films, with a particular emphasis on its evil nature in Dogma.

By: oh pollo!

oh pollo! — Tue, 20 Nov 2007 01:56:31 -0800

The Parallax Corporation from The Parallax view.

By: michswiss

michswiss — Tue, 20 Nov 2007 02:03:58 -0800

Zorg Corporation from The Fifth Element. Sorry, I can't do links from my current location.

By: grouse

grouse — Tue, 20 Nov 2007 02:10:28 -0800

Sure you can. Just type <a href="URL HERE">LINK TEXT HERE</a>.

By: hjo3

hjo3 — Tue, 20 Nov 2007 02:17:30 -0800

Zomcon from the zombie flick Fido.
The Ankh-Morpork Assassin's Guild from Discworld (they have a coat of arms).
Conglom-O from Rocko's Modern Life -- has a great logo: A martini glass holding a miniature Earth with a toothpick through it.
Cyberdyne Systems -- the corporation that built SkyNet in Terminator.
Momcorp from Futurama.
zOrg from The Fifth Element.
Virtucon -- Dr. Evil's company from Austin Powers.

By: betweenthebars

betweenthebars — Tue, 20 Nov 2007 02:24:48 -0800

NERV from Evangelion. I was thinking of sticking the logo on the end of a scarf, but I realized that by the time I finished, it would be summer again.

By: allkindsoftime

allkindsoftime — Tue, 20 Nov 2007 02:32:31 -0800

CyberDyne from The Terminator movies. We actually used this as our team name in a college business-marketing simulation course and got away with it.

By: vagabond

vagabond — Tue, 20 Nov 2007 02:36:58 -0800

Can not remember the name right now, but the company Joe works for in Joe Versus the Volcano.

By: allkindsoftime

allkindsoftime — Tue, 20 Nov 2007 02:39:00 -0800

...missed it in hjo3's answer, sorry.

How about US Robotics from I, Robot?

By: Bruce H.

Bruce H. — Tue, 20 Nov 2007 02:49:30 -0800

Manpower Incorporated, the slave cloners in the Honor Harrington universe.

By: spasm

spasm — Tue, 20 Nov 2007 02:52:47 -0800

US Robotics from I, Robot
They're not evil in the book.

By: fire&wings

fire&wings — Tue, 20 Nov 2007 03:03:27 -0800

Same idea here in tshirt form.

By: SpacemanRed

SpacemanRed — Tue, 20 Nov 2007 03:04:24 -0800

Norsefire from "V for Vendetta"

By: misozaki

misozaki — Tue, 20 Nov 2007 03:04:48 -0800

Acme from Looney Tunes?

By: ReiToei

ReiToei — Tue, 20 Nov 2007 03:47:49 -0800

Lil Lisa Recycling from the Simpsons

By: Nugget

Nugget — Tue, 20 Nov 2007 03:55:35 -0800

The Goliath Corporation from Jasper Fforde's Thursday Next series of books.

By: Tixylix

Tixylix — Tue, 20 Nov 2007 03:58:05 -0800

Spectre - James Bond movies
Kaos - Get Smart
Alternative Tentacles - not evil or fictional, but a cool logo, probably with guilt about copyright implications.

Sorry I can't do links, lazy.

By: milarepa

milarepa — Tue, 20 Nov 2007 04:05:58 -0800

Globex Corporation - From the simpsons episode with Hank Scorpio.

By: Gungho

Gungho — Tue, 20 Nov 2007 04:21:25 -0800

The bicycle thingee featured in The Prisoner?

By: Thorzdad

Thorzdad — Tue, 20 Nov 2007 04:21:57 -0800

Initech. Truly the most evil place possible.

By: sandra_s

sandra_s — Tue, 20 Nov 2007 04:23:45 -0800

OCP, Omni Consumer Products. From Robocop

By: nalyd

nalyd — Tue, 20 Nov 2007 04:25:02 -0800

The Decepticons (Transformers)
Bad Wolf (Dr Who)
Cobra (GI Joe)
Slytheryn (Harry Potter)
The Empire (Star Wars)

By: adamvasco

adamvasco — Tue, 20 Nov 2007 04:27:43 -0800

Fictional Intelligence Agencies - might be worth a look at some of these.

By: phrontist

phrontist — Tue, 20 Nov 2007 04:49:33 -0800

Conglomo, from Rocko's Modern Life.

By: DoctorFedora

DoctorFedora — Tue, 20 Nov 2007 04:53:15 -0800

Dunder-Mifflin from The Office

By: ClanvidHorse

ClanvidHorse — Tue, 20 Nov 2007 05:09:11 -0800

Zorin Industries from A View to A Kill.

By: TedW

TedW — Tue, 20 Nov 2007 05:27:20 -0800

Manchurian Global

By: dobbs

dobbs — Tue, 20 Nov 2007 05:41:00 -0800

Yo-Yo Dyne Propulsion Systems from Buckaroo Banzai.

By: OilPull

OilPull — Tue, 20 Nov 2007 05:52:28 -0800

Mega Lo Mart from King of the Hill.

By: Pallas Athena

Pallas Athena — Tue, 20 Nov 2007 05:53:00 -0800

The Psi Corps, from Babylon 5

By: caek

caek — Tue, 20 Nov 2007 05:54:47 -0800

Last Exit To Nowhere has t-shirts that are precisely this, e.g. Thorn Industries (Damien), Tyrell (Bladerunner), Omni Consumer Products (Robocop), Weyland-Yutani (Alien).

By: neilkod

neilkod — Tue, 20 Nov 2007 06:00:09 -0800

Surprised nobody has mentioned Andrew Ryan's Rapture yet. Rapture is where Bioshock takes place. Ryan Industries is the name of the company-its VERY well branded.

I am Andrew Ryan and I am here to ask you a question:
Is a man not entitled to the sweat of his own brow?

No, says the man in Washington. It belongs to the poor.
No, says the man in the Vatican. It belongs to God.
No, says the man in Moscow. It belongs to everyone.

I rejected those answers. Instead, I chose something
different. I chose the impossible. I chose...
Rapture.

—Andrew Ryan: ruler of the city of Rapture in the game

By: TomMelee

TomMelee — Tue, 20 Nov 2007 06:00:46 -0800

The WESAYSO corp from Dinosaurs!

Oh, and Enron of course.

By: JaySunSee

JaySunSee — Tue, 20 Nov 2007 06:01:18 -0800

A better image for the Weyland-Yutani, which is also my person fave.

BTW, awesome question cowbellemoo!

By: filmgeek

filmgeek — Tue, 20 Nov 2007 06:02:19 -0800

The Tyrell Corporation from Blade Runner. After all, they're all for the idea of synthetic slaves (and the termination of such).

By: cashman

cashman — Tue, 20 Nov 2007 06:04:37 -0800

Libria from Equilibrium (the film) - that "T" symbol. You can also use Tetragrammaton Council if you get ambitious, as well as Prozium (the drug they produced that everybody took to stay in check). I'm pretty sure the lead cleric invented the gunkata too, so you could use that image of two guns, one pointing up and one down, with "gunkata".

By: cashman

cashman — Tue, 20 Nov 2007 06:11:28 -0800

Equilibrium Fans for all the graphics and images.

By: waraw

waraw — Tue, 20 Nov 2007 06:11:29 -0800

The Guild Of Calamitous Intent from the Venture Bros.

By: notswedish

notswedish — Tue, 20 Nov 2007 06:11:40 -0800

U-North from Michael Clayton (the movie)

By: i_am_a_Jedi

i_am_a_Jedi — Tue, 20 Nov 2007 06:16:29 -0800

Please post pictures when you get them done - they sound awesome!

By: cowbellemoo

cowbellemoo — Tue, 20 Nov 2007 06:19:39 -0800

caek & fire&wings: Perfect! I'm totally making a Sulako hoodie.

lou: I just finished the series (and movie) and never noticed that at all! Wonderful!

neilkod: I'm a big bioshock fan. I even printed out the city motif (on the loading screen) to convert into a knit pattern, but rejected it for being too complex. I can't believe I didn't think of Ryan Industries or Fontana Futuristics!

By: Wild_Eep

Wild_Eep — Tue, 20 Nov 2007 06:22:24 -0800

Destro, from GI Joe works for "Extensive Enterprises"

By: farishta

farishta — Tue, 20 Nov 2007 06:30:34 -0800

GloboChem, from Mr. Show

By: I Foody

I Foody — Tue, 20 Nov 2007 06:33:10 -0800

Trystereo from The Crying of Lot 49.

By: zennoshinjou

zennoshinjou — Tue, 20 Nov 2007 06:39:01 -0800

BigAnt from William Gibson's two latest books is morally ambiguous. I don't know if that counts. I think certain people could see what they do as evil.

By: misteraitch

misteraitch — Tue, 20 Nov 2007 06:49:13 -0800

Silver Shamrock Novelties from Halloween III: Season of the Witch.

By: anansi

anansi — Tue, 20 Nov 2007 06:53:09 -0800

Yoyodyne Propulsion Systems from Buckaroo Banzai.

By: slowfasthazel

slowfasthazel — Tue, 20 Nov 2007 06:57:15 -0800

Dharma Initiative from Lost?

By: yeti

yeti — Tue, 20 Nov 2007 06:58:11 -0800

The Hanso Foundation.

By: Salamandrous

Salamandrous — Tue, 20 Nov 2007 06:58:13 -0800

One of my law profs had a t-shirt with the firm name and logo of the law firm from the television series Angel, I don't remember what it was called though.

By: Faint of Butt

Faint of Butt — Tue, 20 Nov 2007 06:58:45 -0800

Clamp Enterprises, from Gremlins 2.

By: yz

yz — Tue, 20 Nov 2007 07:00:40 -0800

TCRI, a front corporation for unsavory aliens, from the original Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles comic. (See issue #4, pages 13 and 14–15. ) But it's perhaps not an especially inspiring logo; wear it only to make a somewhat obscure reference, I guess.

By: Clyde Mnestra

Clyde Mnestra — Tue, 20 Nov 2007 07:08:24 -0800

Great question, great suggestions. I thought of Tyrell Corporation too: "more human than human."

Odd thing is, there may be a real one.

P.S. I think Yoyodyne has to be credited to Pynchon.

By: breaks the guidelines?

breaks the guidelines? — Tue, 20 Nov 2007 07:11:45 -0800

Obey Giant

By: Paddle to Sea

Paddle to Sea — Tue, 20 Nov 2007 07:13:37 -0800

Yoyodyne Corporation (presumably the propulsion company's mothership) appears in The Crying of Lot 49 along with the "trystero" symbol, a horn logo visible in the link.

While I can't recall a logo being described for "The White Visitation" -- sinister British paranormal researchers from Gravity's Rainbow -- some kind of school crest might be fitting.

By: adamrice

adamrice — Tue, 20 Nov 2007 07:21:58 -0800

Prescott Pharmaceuticals

The Penny-farthing from the Prisoner

By: mediareport

mediareport — Tue, 20 Nov 2007 07:25:40 -0800

Check out Conglomerated Baddies: The 22 Most Evil Corporations in Movie History, a four-part series with clips from Nerve's Screengrab blog. Not mentioned above:

Engulf & Devour from Silent Movie
Soylent Corporation
Energy Corporation from Rollerball
Connex from Syriana

By: bruce

bruce — Tue, 20 Nov 2007 07:27:29 -0800

i don't know if they have logos, but...

several kurt vonnegut books feature something called the ramjac corporation;

frank herbert's dune had a "choam company."

the company (name forgotten) in total recall which would provide you canned memories of your vacation to mars.

By: hilby

hilby — Tue, 20 Nov 2007 07:30:25 -0800

The Sheinhardt Wig Company

By: yeti

yeti — Tue, 20 Nov 2007 07:31:24 -0800

Apparently CHOAM does have a flag.

By: cashman

cashman — Tue, 20 Nov 2007 07:33:42 -0800

That would be Rekall.

By: hilby

hilby — Tue, 20 Nov 2007 07:40:44 -0800

Globo Gym from Dodgeball "The Purple Cobras"

By: seanyboy

seanyboy — Tue, 20 Nov 2007 07:44:28 -0800

Angel would be : Wolfram & Hart.

By: brownpau

brownpau — Tue, 20 Nov 2007 08:16:45 -0800

Brawndo.

By: natabat

natabat — Tue, 20 Nov 2007 08:20:41 -0800

Primatech Paper from Heroes.

By: NotMyselfRightNow

NotMyselfRightNow — Tue, 20 Nov 2007 08:24:26 -0800

Hewes and Associates from Damages

By: middleclasstool

middleclasstool — Tue, 20 Nov 2007 08:44:08 -0800

Can't find a decent image of the logo itself, but Hudsucker Industries.

By: jet_silver

jet_silver — Tue, 20 Nov 2007 08:46:37 -0800

Redshift Limited from Delany's Nova.
Barrayaran Imperial Security from Bujold's Barrayaran series (they're not really evil, just awfully sinister.)
M&M Enterprises from Catch-22

By: Zed_Lopez

Zed_Lopez — Tue, 20 Nov 2007 09:26:47 -0800

Central Services from Brazil.

By: Scoo

Scoo — Tue, 20 Nov 2007 10:02:33 -0800

Insuricare from the Incredibles.
INGSOC from 1984

By: infinitewindow

infinitewindow — Tue, 20 Nov 2007 10:26:22 -0800

Gracen & Gracen, "The Family Company" from TV's short-lived Profit.

By: nicwolff

nicwolff — Tue, 20 Nov 2007 10:27:16 -0800

Union Aerospace Corporation, from Doom

By: moonlet

moonlet — Tue, 20 Nov 2007 11:04:56 -0800

Here's Zorg.

By: slogger

slogger — Tue, 20 Nov 2007 11:18:01 -0800

Ultor Corporation from Red Faction.

By: TheSecretDecoderRing

TheSecretDecoderRing — Tue, 20 Nov 2007 11:26:19 -0800

Deep 13 from "Mystery Science Theater 3000."

By: washburn

washburn — Tue, 20 Nov 2007 11:28:12 -0800

Let's not forget about the United Earth Directorate that runs the Earth and its neighbors in the Starcraft rts franchise.

You can spot the UED's totalitarian branding, in this sequence from Starcraft--a UED propaganda piece that conceals the truer nature of the UED as we've seen it. Blizzard has done a nice job with the atmospherics of the UED, as you can also see in the prisoner/soldier trailer of the much-anticipated Starcraft II.

By: ikkyu2

ikkyu2 — Tue, 20 Nov 2007 11:30:52 -0800

Versalife, from Deus Ex. The VersaLife lobby sculpture is about as corrupt as it gets. There are several other corrupt organizations in the game as well.

By: a_green_man

a_green_man — Tue, 20 Nov 2007 12:28:31 -0800

SmileCorp from I Married a Strange Person! See this movie if you like weird shit.

By: sad_otter

sad_otter — Tue, 20 Nov 2007 12:36:28 -0800

Torchwood

By: robotot

robotot — Tue, 20 Nov 2007 14:21:59 -0800

Momcorp from Futurama.

By: enfa

enfa — Tue, 20 Nov 2007 14:59:50 -0800

Not explicitly evil or a corporation, but wonderful fictional brand from a dystopian comic book: Weeping Gorilla Comix in Alan Moore's Promethea.

By: Rash

Rash — Tue, 20 Nov 2007 15:24:44 -0800

I have heard of some of these, but most are a mystery. Of those I recognize, the only with a recognizeable (potentially knitable) logo (as the OP requested) would be NERV from Neon Genesis Evangelion.

(Also the Penny Farthing from the Prisoner, but that doesn't seem to symbolize a corporation.)

By: nakedcodemonkey

nakedcodemonkey — Tue, 20 Nov 2007 16:10:59 -0800

You'd get to pick your own polygon, but otherwise Zephyr Holdings fits the bill.

By: mediareport

mediareport — Tue, 20 Nov 2007 18:53:18 -0800

*smacks head*

New-Path from A Scanner Darkly. Duh.

By: Frank Grimes

Frank Grimes — Tue, 20 Nov 2007 19:46:23 -0800

Devlin-McGregor from "The Fugitive"

By: perpetualstroll

perpetualstroll — Tue, 20 Nov 2007 21:51:10 -0800

Imperial logo from Star Wars.

By: secretary bird

secretary bird — Wed, 21 Nov 2007 06:34:12 -0800

Not a company but a brand: Quietus, from Children of Men. There were also a lot of creepy ads in the periphery of the movie, so maybe something in there.

By: cowbellemoo

cowbellemoo — Wed, 21 Nov 2007 07:28:52 -0800

Thanks again, gold stars all around!

Favorites are:
Guild of Calamitous Intent
Weyland-Yutani
Blue Sun
Connex
Norsefire
Tyrell Corp.
the Equilibrium stuff (schlocky, but good graphic design)
both Bioshock companies (maybe even the vending machines...great icon work on everything)

And thanks zennoshinjou for reminding me of Gibson's Maas Biotek and all the other great zaibatsus he's thought up.

By: i_am_a_Jedi

i_am_a_Jedi — Wed, 21 Nov 2007 08:59:08 -0800

I'll just snark and point out that zennoshinjou actually meant that the company is called Blue Ant (whose leader is Bigend, Hubertus).

By: cowbellemoo

cowbellemoo — Wed, 21 Nov 2007 19:14:37 -0800

It's not Gibson's best. This coming from a guy who sat through New Rose Hotel. Twice. :P

By: numinous

numinous — Wed, 28 Nov 2007 22:16:07 -0800

I'm a little late on this, but upon review: scoo has the right idea, but the link doesn't go anywhere, so I thought I'd add some.

Here are some great logos for Ingsoc (wiki link) from 1984: Ingsoc 1, Ingsoc 2.