Channel 4 Rebrand Sees Broadcaster’s Logo Ferrying Migrants to Dover

Channel 4’s latest rebrand has been hailed as a “celebration of immigration in Brexit Britain”, with a new short featuring the UK broadcaster’s new logo ferrying migrants across the English Channel.

In it, the channel’s logo  — which is usually shaped like a ‘4’ — emerges from the sea as a metallic stick figure, and drops off on the cliffs of Dover a group of mostly third world migrants dressed as firemen, doctors, nurses, and businessmen.

The new ‘ident’, which was unveiled Tuesday night during the Great British Bake Off 2017 finale, is one of four short sequences the broadcaster will air between programmes to advertise its brand.

“This exciting evolution of Channel 4’s main channel identity celebrates Britain in all its glory and reflects our public service remit to take creative risks, champion diversity and provoke change,” said Dan Brooke, the broadcaster’s chief marketing and communications officer.

The idents were designed to reinforce the channel’s “values”, according to 4Creative chief Alice Tonge, who said in a statement: “Our new idents couldn’t be more Channel 4 — they celebrate inclusion, diversity, youth and the channel’s big noisy alternative voice.”

“We use these idents as an opportunity to remind people why they’re watching Channel 4. Not just what they’re watching with a spinning logo,” she said.

“The ‘white cliffs’ ident is showing that Channel 4 knows that different cultures and backgrounds and ethnicities make the UK a better place to live.

“It’s a real celebration of that – I think it’s a really positive message,” added Tonge.

In its other new idents, the broadcaster’s logo  — in metallic stickman form  — engages in other activities such as playing street football with children, and running alongside people racing in wheelchairs.

In the final ident, the metallic ‘giant’ climbs atop a hill and bellows down over a rural village, causing traffic accidents and a class of schoolchildren to fall flat on the ground.

The broadcaster’s rebrand was hailed as “celebrat[ing] immigration and diversity in Brexit Britain” at a time when “the topic [of mass migration] is still controversial”, by marketing news magazine AdAge, which added: “As a pro-immigration message, it couldn’t be more overt.”