Was a ‘sexy cow’ logo the real downfall of a New Jersey ice-cream shop?

(This post originally appeared on The Guardian)

It’s an issue that has vexed small business owners since the beginning of time: how do you make your business stand out among your competitors? The owners of an ice-cream shop in New Jersey thought they came up with a brilliant branding idea. It was something unique, innovative, creative and memorable. Why not create a logo featuring a sexy cow?

Yes, a sexy cow. That’s what Anthony Tortoriello, one of the owners of Dairy Air Ice Cream Co in Montclair, New Jersey, decided to do last year. His shop’s logo is a drawing of a cow that has blond braids, a beret and a fully visible, unmistakably human-looking derriere. OK, here’s a picture of it because I know that’s what you want to see. Offensive? Artistic? I guess it’s up to the individual. Tortoriello and his partner certainly thought it was a good idea.

“Dairy Air was created with one goal in mind – to make delicious dairy desserts for our customers. To us, it’s all about the ice-cream and serving it in a super unique, family-friendly store, with awesome customer service,” Tortoriello said in a press release. “We simply created a fun illustration to complement our fun name.”

Unfortunately, not everyone thought the logo was fun. “A hypersexualized cow with her ass upended and poking through a circle, tail raised up, waiting for what? I’m not sure, but I do know that I am repulsed and offended,” one local business owner told the New York Post. “This kind of marketing scheme is the reason we currently have a sexual predator in the White House.” Other opponents – both online and in the community – found the logo to be demeaning and sexist and the shop’s college-aged manager quit as a result of the controversy, according to a report last year in the Montclair Local News.

The two owners of the shop, wilting under public pressure, promised to “rebrand”. But then something happened. Well actually, nothing happened. After looking at the significant cost to make the change, the owners ultimately reversed course. That decision proved fatal.

Fast forward a year later, and the shop has recently shut its doors. The reason for the closure? According to the shop’s owners it was not the sexy cow, or even their ice-cream. It was radical liberals. “They were on a crusade to destroy my business and my life,” Tortoriello told the Bergen Record. “I was totally berated and accused of being a woman-hater. It was nonstop harassment; it never ended.”

So was it the sexy cow that brought down Dairy Air Ice Cream Co? Radical liberals? A below-average product? Perhaps all three, perhaps none. One observer experienced in the matters of retail trade had another point of view. According to the landlord, the store was only open from Thursday through Sunday. “They couldn’t pay the rent with their limited hours,” he said.