Red and blue are primary colors. So it could just be a coincidence. But in the heated battle for Kyrgyzstan’s presidency, one website is pointing out that Prime Minister Almazbek Atambayev’s new logo bears a striking resemblance to … Valvoline motor oil!
Bloggers in Kyrgyzstan have been sniggering at the comparison since the campaign began last week. In Atambayev’s logo, the letter ‘A’ in his name looks very much like the Valvoline ‘V’ flipped upside down.
This was not lost on the “information-analytical portal” Sayasat.kg (politics.kg, in Kyrgyz), which describes itself as independent, but is actually backed by one of Atambayev’s competitors. Sayasat.kg calls Atambayev disingenuous and two-faced, using perevyortysh, a Russian word with the root “to turn upside down.”
This is not the first time that Atambayev’s campaign team has been accused of zealously trawling the Internet for inspiration. In 2009, when he ran against then-President Kurmanbek Bakiyev, Atambayev was teased for using a logo that looked suspiciously like that of a very popular American candidate – namely, Barack Obama.
David Trilling is Eurasianet’s managing editor.
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