The Goldman Sachs-owned hotel chain, B&B Hotels, removed the brown color from its logo in Germany and across the globe for political reasons, arguing that brown is associated with the Nazi regime.
The circle with the “B&B Hotels” lettering in the middle remains the same. However, the new logo is green instead of brown, according to German publication Junge Freiheit.
The move comes following a concerted public push against the right-wing Alternative for Germany (AfD) party in Germany, including from the ruling left-liberal government, NGOs, and other activist organizations. Large demonstrations involving approximately 300,000 were held nationwide over the weekend; however, polling results show that the protests had relatively little effect on national polling for the AfD, with the party continuing to hold strong in second place.
“We have banned brown from our logo. Now, we’re banning it from our country,” the company wrote on its LinkedIn page.
The B&B Hotels company was founded in Brest, France, in 1990 and quickly expanded into various European countries. By the end of 2022, the chain operated more than 600 hotels in 14 countries, including more than 160 in Germany. In 2019, Goldman Sachs purchased the hotel chain from PAI Partners for €1.9 billion.
In Germany, the color brown, in the context of politics, is associated with the Nazi regime and was used by Adolf Hitler’s Sturmabteliung (SA) paramilitary organization in 1921.
