Misspelled logotypes: the hidden threat to brand identity
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Abstract
Brand names are valuable company assets often accompanied by a unique graphical composition (i.e., as logotypes). Recent research has demonstrated that this uniqueness makes brand names and logotypes susceptible to counterfeiting through misspelling by transposition in tasks that require participants to identify correct spellings. However, our understanding of how brand names are incidentally processed when presented as logotypes is incomplete. To address this gap in knowledge, we conducted a virtual reality experiment to explore the transposed-letter confusability effect on brand name recognition. Participants were immersed in a virtual reality setting and incidentally exposed to logotypes that had correctly spelled brand names or included letter transpositions. Offline analyses revealed that participants were more accurate at recognizing brand names that had been presented with correct spellings than those that had been misspelled. Furthermore, participants exhibited false memories for misspelled logotypes, recalling them as if they had been spelled correctly. Thus, our findings revealed that the incidental processing of misspelled logotypes (e.g., SASMUNG) affects the accuracy of logotype identity recognition, thereby underscoring the challenges faced by individuals when identifying brand names and the elements that make counterfeits so effective.
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Because misspelled familiar commercial logos can be accepted as correct, even expert readers may overlook subtle identifier misspellings.
“Furthermore, as misspelled versions of familiar commercial logos can be recognized as if they were correct (46), even expert readers might not notice subtle identifier misspellings.”
From Misspellings or “miscellings”—Non‐verifiable and unknown cell lines in cancer research publications (2024) · cites this paper as [46]
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Self-citation
- Authors
- Rocabado, F., Perea, M., & Duñabeitia, J. A.
- Affiliations
- Universidad Nebrija (ES)
- Universitat de València (ES)
- Corresponding author
- Duñabeitia, Jon Andoni
- Venue
- Scientific Reports
- Published
- 2023-10-19
- Volume
- 13
- Issue
- 1
- Pages
- 17817-17817
- ISSN
- 2045-2322 (ISSN-L)
- PMC
- PMC10587100
- OpenAlex
- W4387776315
- Cited by
- 5
- References
- 65
- Citations by year
- 2025: 1 · 2024: 4
- FWCI
- 1.32
- Type
- journal article
- Language
- en
- Open access
- gold
- doi.org
- Locations
- Scientific Reports (publishedVersion, cc-by)
- Research Square (acceptedVersion, cc-by)
- PubMed Central (publishedVersion, cc-by)
- PubMed (publishedVersion)
- DOAJ (DOAJ: Directory of Open Access Journals) (submittedVersion, cc-by-sa)
- NORA - Norwegian Open Research Archives (submittedVersion, cc-by)
- Funders
- Generalitat Valenciana (CIAICO/2021/172)
- Agencia Estatal de Investigación (PID2021-126884NB-I00)
- UiT The Arctic University of Norway
- Topics
- Social Sciences › Business, Management and Accounting › Marketing › Consumer Behavior in Brand Consumption and Identification
- Life Sciences › Neuroscience › Cognitive Neuroscience › Memory Processes and Influences
- Social Sciences › Psychology › Developmental and Educational Psychology › Reading and Literacy Development
- Keywords
- brand recognition, letter transposition, brand identity, false memory, virtual reality
- MeSH terms
- Humans, Language, Memory, Names, Mental Recall, Recognition, Psychology
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