SHOPPERS worldwide will instantly recognize the Target logo, but could most people draw it from memory?
According to some consumers, the store’s iconic symbol underwent a major change – and you might not remember it as well as you think you do.
The curious phenomenon first came up on a Reddit board dedicated to the Mandela Effect, instances in which a group of people shares the same false memory.
A Reddit user posted on the forum, asking, “Anyone recall the Target logo changed to three circles? It’s back to two.”
The Target logo includes three concentric circles: two red circles with one white circle in between them.
The original poster incorrectly recalled the logo having three red circles, as did other users, who tried to determine why.
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Though the Target logo did have three circles at one point, that was over 50 years ago.
“It was three circles, in 1962,” a Reddit user explained, but the logo changed to two red circles in 1968 and hasn’t shifted since.
The confusion actually stems from a totally different change to Target’s signage, and one savvy sleuth was able to reveal the answer.
“I think it’s the fact that the signs got changed from red background style to the white background style,” the poster said.
On signage within Target stores, you’re now much more likely to see a red logo on a white sign instead of a white logo on a red sign.
That can make it look like the logos have “fewer” red circles than before, but it’s actually just less red altogether, the theory argues.
“It really messes with my eyes and it seems like my brain has a harder time seeing two vs three rings,” the poster continued.
“I know it’s only two but,” they wrote, “but for a quick few seconds my brain will count three just because of the illusion that an extra ring gets added.”
Another Reddit user voiced a supporting theory that could also explain why the logo looks different to shoppers.
Target’s plastic bags, and their reusable totes, have changed designs several times, and the number of rings on the logo has changed, too.
Some bags sport the original logo, with two red rings and a single white one in the center.
Others, though, feature lots and lots of circles. One of the most common designs on the store’s bags features at least five red circles rippling outward from the center.
The poster said that those varied bag designs could be contributing to a false memory of a logo with three red rings.
“I don’t know about now, but I still perceive three circles on the old plastic bag,” they admitted.
