by Gabriel Neeb
In a recent “Toucan Tip” (#22), Comic-Con International: San Diego issued a brief guide to the display of the badges used by guests to enter the show. While this would be unremarkable in any other year, the Convention’s current badge featured artwork that some considered “uninspired.”
This was due to the use of the Paramount+ logo in place of any particular brand or property that would have reflected the interests of the convention-goers. As a result, many badge holders have spoken about using their own images and stickers to cover up the logo, including members of the r/comiccon subreddit.
The consensus among some attendees is that Comic-Con International isn’t concerned about badge uniformity or security, but rather its bottom line. One Reddit user wrote, “It’s probably paramount complaining to CCI in that they paid $x to them for sponsorship [sic] and they dropped the ball in a boring crap design and people are covering it up, and now CCI to go on the defensive to keep the sponsors happy.”
SDCC’s badge guidelines are as follows: “Don’t obscure the artwork image on the badge or cover any important information. If decorations obscure your badge, it could delay entry into the event and you may be asked to remove them by security.”
The irony of the art design provided by Paramount+ is that the logo currently on SDCC ’24 badges may not represent Paramount much longer. As part of the proposed merger between Paramount Global (Paramount+’s parent company) and Skydance Media, a new logo has been proposed combining styles of Skydance’s logo and Paramount’s traditional logo.
At the time of writing, The Beat can report that SDCC officials are asking to see attendees’ badges unobscured. If decor is easily moved or removed, there’s no fuss for those choosing to cover the potentially soon-to-be defunct logo. It’s also worth noting that some attendees may put easy-to-remove decor on their badge to cover their legal name for privacy reasons.
Stay tuned for more SDCC ’24 coverage from The Beat.
