LG: 'Life isn't that good right now'

With economic-downturn on everyone's minds, LG's director of marketing plans on downplaying the company's ubiquitous "Life's Good" slogan. Time for Lucky GoldStar to make a comeback? Nothing says "recession proof" like a quasi off-brand cereal name.

[Thanks, ugotamesij]

[vvtopkar @ Oct 28th 2008 7:38PM]

Well that's depressing...

[Rollins @ Oct 28th 2008 7:52PM]

I agree.

At least my year-old LG Chocolate is still happy.

I think?

:(

[Mike V @ Oct 28th 2008 8:27PM]

Death being the alternative, Life actually IS good -- present economic situation notwithstanding.

[Dave @ Oct 29th 2008 1:01AM]

But life is good with an LG phone!

I've used the LG Fusic, the LG Muziq, and now the LG Lotus.

All three of these are very solid phones.

My only LG complaint is that they let Microsoft screw them over and now I can't get the TV listings on my LG LRM-519 DVR that is based on the Microsoft Media Center. Screw you Microsoft and stop bullying LG.

[phanbouy @ Oct 28th 2008 7:38PM]

new slogan idea: "life's ok, i guess"

[lowdef @ Oct 28th 2008 7:39PM]

not like life was good with LG products anyways.

[Moofree @ Oct 28th 2008 7:50PM]

Life's livable (with a 2 year contract).

[KAIKAI @ Oct 28th 2008 7:54PM]

well LOIG has a nice ring to it ...

[tom @ Oct 28th 2008 8:29PM]

I hardly buy LG stuff. They are known to be "Low Grade" I had a LG chocolate once, what a piece of crap

[Urza @ Oct 28th 2008 10:16PM]

Eh, I've never had a problem with an LG product. Well, I did have one LG phone break...I was playing laser tag and rolled on it and cracked the screen. But I mean, I've seen iPod screens that have cracked from being dropped, so practically jumping on the thing...breakage is expected. My current phone is also an LG...it's several years old, not sure how old exactly because I got it from a friend who happened to have it laying around...but it's quite nice. I remember the old RAZRs used to start running slow after a year, by two or three they were almost entirely unusable. This thing's still running great. Got a decent camera, it can generally go up a _week_ on a charge, and it's generally just a good phone. I mean, hell, I've seen phones that won't even last 12 hours on one charge. This thing's a bit of a brick, but it works well and it's quite durable.

[WickedEast @ Oct 28th 2008 11:00PM]

@tom: "Known to be Low Grade".

What a stupid comment. I guess this guy makes his buying decision based on brand name alone?!

Just because your LG phone was not working to your satisfaction doesn't mean every LG product is crap. Same goes with the price. Some company overcharges for their products because they are well-known but that doesn't guarantee you a good product. Every company has their own good and bad products. Some LG HDTVs are of better quality than a Panasonic, for example.

Making sweeping generalizations is juvenile. Grow up.

[fraxyl @ Oct 29th 2008 12:13AM]

Cheer up, Murray.

Yes. I have been waiting a while to use that legitimately since I saw your avatar.

[OCEAN 'CLAK' 20th @ Oct 28th 2008 7:38PM]

FIRST, SECOND, LOL

[Alwin @ Oct 28th 2008 7:40PM]

How about SLG? Second Life is Good.

[jay.viz @ Oct 29th 2008 2:43PM]

Second Life sucks.

[Alwin @ Oct 30th 2008 4:08PM]

Well it's paying my monthly fuel costs, so IMHO Second Life is Good.

[Aguiluz @ Oct 28th 2008 7:41PM]

Life's Gone.

[OCEAN 'CLAK' 20th @ Oct 28th 2008 7:43PM]

Lifes Good, im going back to sleep

[POW! @ Oct 28th 2008 7:45PM]

i have one of their monitors and its effing amazing 5k:1 contrast ratio f-engine 16801050 2ms response time 20in. One year and still ticking strong

[iEye @ Oct 28th 2008 7:53PM]

I have a no-name 15" widecreen LCD from over 4 years ago... still works like a charm and the brightness is set on level 1...

[Poom @ Oct 28th 2008 7:46PM]

I think it's more about how old the slogan is instead of the economy?

[iEye @ Oct 28th 2008 7:50PM]

I like "Gold Star"

reminds me when I was a kid and the teacher used to put a gold star up next to my name...

they don't do that anymore I fathom... perhaps that is what is wrong with society today...

[Ignatius @ Oct 28th 2008 8:20PM]

Probably because it makes other children feel less worthy and therefore, was outlawed because instead of making individual children feel good about themselves, it's about making them all feel equally worthless and downtrodden.

[james @ Oct 28th 2008 8:25PM]

No, the teacher is now required by law to give every student equal number of gold stars, cause "every one is a winner!!!"

[MyHeadisFed @ Oct 28th 2008 10:27PM]

gold star....the name of a decent legal weed alternative.

[Anthony @ Oct 28th 2008 10:35PM]

I liked Goldstar too. Reminds me of when I was a kid too, but it is because our first VCR was a Goldstar. But here's the kicker: It had a corded remote!

Rock on Goldstar.

[iEye @ Oct 29th 2008 4:34PM]

"Probably because it makes other children feel less worthy and therefore, was outlawed because instead of making individual children feel good about themselves, it's about making them all feel equally worthless and downtrodden."

You mean like the way we RANK each other's comments here on engadget?

[giuliop @ Oct 28th 2008 7:51PM]

Some alternatives:

Laughing Gollywog
Looming Godzilla
Lacking Goods
Losing Ground
Lone Gorilla
Looking Gloomy
Lethal Gas
Laxatives, Gratis

[Anthony @ Oct 28th 2008 7:56PM]

no.

[giuliop @ Oct 28th 2008 8:11PM]

Take the laxatives, then.

[dave5264 @ Oct 28th 2008 11:47PM]

is that grim fandango?

[OCEAN 'CLAK' 20th @ Oct 28th 2008 7:57PM]

steve jobs ''Life Good with apples'

[melo @ Oct 28th 2008 7:58PM]

Life is still good... just because americans can't buy as many latte's doesn't mean companies should start rebranding.

[Atropos @ Oct 28th 2008 8:05PM]

Seriously, people need to chill the fuck out. If LG was based on sales to Uganda or something, okay life's not that great. But the average American's life is off the charts awesome even for the lower middle class.

[Funke, Tobias Dr. @ Oct 28th 2008 8:08PM]

Obviously, you've never been to business school.

[Funke, Tobias Dr. @ Oct 28th 2008 8:10PM]

That comment was directed at melo by the way.
Atropos, you're the fastest gun on Engadget.

[melo @ Oct 28th 2008 8:13PM]

Funny enough.. no I haven't been to business school which is ironic as I do own and run a successful business. Entrepreneurship has no relation to Business school. I'm sure all the dickheads on wall street who put the economy were it is have pretty pieces of paper framed on their walls. They have less value than the DOW.

[Funke, Tobias Dr. @ Oct 28th 2008 11:08PM]

You're right about the ability to run a successful business without business school training. Entrepreneurs with that background have some of the most fascinating stories that you'll hear, often because they didn't come from money like many of the people who went through business school.

My point though, is, that in business "branding" isn't simply for the sake of art or aesthetics, but a tool for marketing to consumers. If consumer tastes or sentiments change, the branding must change in order for the business to not appear crass or unintentionally ironic. If a slogan like LG's doesn't connect with consumers the way it once did, perhaps because of a popular sentiment like "things aren't so good right now", then they would be stupid to not change it. Besides, they've long since broken into the American market with this branding, and a refresh is long overdue; it isn't going to kill their brand recognition.

[OCEAN 'CLAK' 20th @ Oct 28th 2008 8:03PM]

LiFES GOOD WiTHOUT LG

[Chris @ Oct 28th 2008 8:09PM]

If the GM Volt contract goes through with the batteries LG should be in a pretty good position.

LG has been the most amazing products as far as durability goes. I dropped my 8300 phone in the creek twice, and once off a 2 story building. And nearly 3 years later it still works great!

[DBrim @ Oct 28th 2008 8:09PM]

This isn't on topic at all, but I love it when you guys make a logo sad.

(Or give it eyebrows.)

[yoshi @ Oct 28th 2008 8:12PM]

um i work for LG and the slogan is definitely NOT dead, nor is it being removed from the LG logo.

[FLaSHBaCK @ Oct 28th 2008 8:14PM]

well, if that's true then the director of LG is lying? Or are you the director? *SARCASM*

[Captain Courageous @ Oct 28th 2008 9:35PM]

Ummmmm, yeah. The article says they plan on "downplaying" the slogan, not removing it entirely, so Yoshi is right. The slogan isn't going anywhere, LG just won't call as much attention to it.

[Fusion Fuzo @ Oct 28th 2008 8:15PM]

NICE,

NICE 'LOOKING GADGET GIRLS'

Lifes Gadgets
Lifes Great
Lifes Girls

[TubeTop100.com @ Oct 28th 2008 8:17PM]

I just found out a new Engadget feature.

If you click on the date/time of a post, it sometimes gives you another rating. Only for low-ranked and high-ranked posts though.


So if you click on a few low ranked posts, the posts are rated neutral on the next page. That's amazing. I don't have to feel bad anymore after getting a low rank.

[TubeTop100.com @ Oct 28th 2008 8:18PM]

Oh wait, sometimes you'll get a lowest rank after it was listed as an ordinairy low rank.

Life sucks.

LG

[Fernando @ Oct 28th 2008 8:38PM]

Low ranked

[OCEAN 'CLAK' 20th @ Oct 28th 2008 8:34PM]

LiFES GOOD WiTH STEVE JOBS APPLES, LOVE TASTiNG THEM

[OCEAN 'CLAK' 20th @ Oct 28th 2008 8:42PM]

Lifes Good WITHOUT me (ocean 'clak')