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1535660cookie-checkMasterCard Drops ‘MasterCard’ Name From Branding Amid Deplatforming Controversy
Industry News
2019/01

MasterCard Drops ‘MasterCard’ Name From Branding Amid Deplatforming Controversy

MasterCard announced that they will no longer be using the word “MasterCard” with their branded logo. Yes, they will be removing the words of the brand from the brand’s own logo. Now it will just be two circles of the red and orange variety.

The news comes courtesy of an official press release issued by the credit card company on the official MasterCard Newsroom.

It claims that it’s evolving its brand by dropping its name.

Raja Rajamannar, chief marketing and communication officer at Mastercard stated…

“Reinvention in the digital age calls for modern simplicity. And with more than 80 percent of people spontaneously recognizing the Mastercard Symbol without the word ‘mastercard,’ we felt ready to take this next step in our brand evolution. We are proud of our rich brand heritage and are excited to see the iconic circles standing on their own.”

They claim that the logo has changed over the years since the company has been around since 1966, where it started off with an “Interbank” logo and eventually adopted the iconic two red and orange circles with the “MasterCard” text located either within, below or near the two trademarked ellipses.

This change has happened shortly after news began ramping up that MasterCard and other payment processors, along with PayPal, have been deplatforming people.

Most people see it as a move from MasterCard to distance themselves from the blame being passed around that the company is engaging in illegal business disruption.

There’s a lengthy but detailed video about all of the deplatforming covered by YouTuber ShortFatOtaku.

However, that’s just a small piece of the puzzle. There’s a much larger, and far more nefarious element at play putting pressure even on MasterCard and PayPal.

Journalist Nick Monroe has been chronicling his investigation into “Operation Choke Point”, which was a 2013 initiative from the Department of Justice to curb “fraudulent” money lending, laundering, and processing for “terrorist” activity.

This, however, spiraled out of control, and the FDIC took charge of Operation Choke Point to start deplatforming legitimate businesses that various members did not like or took issue with.

This eventually spread to pressure being applied to MasterCard, Patreon and PayPal to deplatform pundits such as Sargon of Akkad, and Jihad Watch, as well as entire payment platforms such as SubscribeStar or BitChute, all in an attempt to starve out the finances of individuals who were opposed to the agenda of those higher up in the government.

It’s not just political activists who are being affected by this measure, music artists have also been hit as well, including a death metal label.

MasterCard may be changing the name on its branding logo by removing the name altogether, but it certainly doesn’t change the fact that they’re still involved in an ongoing conversation about demonetizing people for exercising speech that certain ideologues don’t like.

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