Elon’s official DOGE logo is stale meme branding at its worst

The Department of Government Efficiency (DOGE) debuted an updated version of its logo – only to swiftly remove it without a trace hours later. It’s no secret that DOGE leader Elon Musk is a fan of meme branding, but with legal troubles mounting, it seems the stale meme is no longer a laughing matter.

Akin to his infamous X logo, the Doge design is a wholly unoriginal creation. Ripped from the 2010s meme featuring a viral Shiba Inu named Kabosu, the Doge image was appropriated for Musk’s Dogecoin cryptocurrency. Since then the design has been synonymous with Musk’s meme-oriented personal brand, and now, the future of America’s government.

The logo itself is fairly unassuming, with an image of Doge supported by a rounded coin border synonymous with crypto logo design. Simplicity aside, the logo stands as a defiance of convention, much like Trump’s recent brooding presidential portrait, showcasing Musk’s rejection of ‘safe’, conventional political imagery. The website’s wider plain design only assists in furthering what the Doge logo represents – we are in an unprecedented era of political power unbridled by uniformity and professionalism, a place where meme culture coincides with government affairs.

Despite the initial confident logo launch, Musk has been at the centre of multiple lawsuits around the legality of the Doge department. Public interest law firm National Security Counselors claims that Doge qualifies as a “federal advisory committee,” (FACA) and must meet the regulations. FACAs are required to have balanced representation, including allowing the public to attend meetings. They must also keep regular minutes of meetings and file a charter with Congress (among other rules), steps that Musk and co-leader Vivek Ramaswamy have allegedly failed to abide by thus far.

While stale advertising like McDonald’s meme marketing already has a short lifespan thanks to the fleeting nature of internet trends, Doge rises from the dead meme graveyard as something that feels more sinister than an old internet joke. Whether legal complications have led to the banishing of the Dogecoin logo on the official Doge.gov website remains to be seen, but its presence undoubtedly marks a wayward shift in Trump’s new cabinet. From the new White House logo to his controversial executive orders, each turn of Trump’s new presidency marks a unique era of uncertainty.