I doubt whether or not two of anything counts as a frequent enough occurrence to be classified as a pattern, but it might be a good start. Has anyone else noticed that car dealerships like to use major corporations’ logotype in their own adverts? I am very curious to hear from those outside Florida about this pseudo-phenomenon.

My first example I saw many years ago when I started making regular weekend trips to Tallahassee. If you take the scenic route, you eventually pass through Lakeland and by Cecil Clark Chevrolet. As you can see from their website, the ubiquitous Coca-Cola Company typeface is emulated.

Driving home today from a client appointment I spotted the second of what I hope proves to be a succession of dealership logos that partly steal identity elements from widely recognized businesses. Unfortunately, the afternoon downpour mostly obscured the sticker placed on a Chevy pick-up truck, but the font used for the name was that of Holiday Inn’s logo.

By the way, did you know that in addition to Holiday Inn, Crowne Plaza, Staybridge Suites and Candlewood Suites hotel properties InterContinental Hotels Group also owns Britvic? Of course, look at Carlson—they own everything from T.G.I. Friday’s to Radisson Hotels and even a few cruise lines—but I digress.

So as I was saying, the sticker was not completely visible but it was definitely a first and last name that started with the letter “j” and looked something like “Janis Jacklyn.”

Is it an epidemic or an interesting coincidence? Please let me know if you have an automobile dealership in your area that uses a popular corporate identity to promote itself.

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