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The vast majority of companies that decide to rebrand typically do so after a lengthy process that usually involves spending a ton of money on consultants and focus groups that help them determine the best way to reintroduce themselves to the world.
Now, I can’t say I’m intimately familiar with the series of events that led to Elon Musk deciding to transform Twitter into X in July, but it’s pretty hard to imagine he went that particular route when you consider the generic nature of the logo the platform embraced and the fact that the company didn’t even have the rights to the trademark for its new name.
That schadenfreude-inducing pivot wasn’t exactly embraced with open arms after it was literally rolled out overnight, and X also found itself facing some unintended consequences thanks to the kinds of websites that have traditionally been associated with the letter X, as it didn’t take long for Indonesia to ban people within its borders from accessing it.
Now, some people have pointed out another issue with the rebrand after seeing how it shows up on credit card statements.
When Musk officially became the begrudging new owner of Twitter in 2022, he wasted no time trying to recoup some of the $44 billion he spent to acquire it by rolling out Twitter Blue, the subscription service that charges people $8 a month to gain access to a number of features.
In the wake of the rebrand, that offering is now known as “X Premium,” which one person claimed had led to a somewhat awkward conversation with his wife after she apparently assumed the $8 that showed up on their statement was going to a different type of website.
My wife just texted me this, I'm sleeping on the couch tonight pic.twitter.com/ORhswSwPaj
— Alex Cohen 🤠 (@anothercohen) August 6, 2023
While there’s a chance this user was simply riding that viral wave, they also posted a screenshot of a text they supposedly received from their mom after their X Premium payment was deemed “suspicious” by the folks at Bank of America.
the twitter x rebrand getting me in trouble already smh pic.twitter.com/WuDChTfen5
— 🕸️ (@60404) August 6, 2023
I didn’t really need more proof the rebrand wasn’t exactly thought out all the way, but that only reaffirms my feelings.