RIO DE JANEIRO — Usually, a logo is just a logo. But when it comes to the official emblem of the 2014 World Cup — a global sports mega-event with more political and social baggage attached to it than many in recent memory — some see more.

Much, much more.

Rodrigo Constantino, a columnist for the widely read conservative Brazilian magazine Veja — it's comparable in the minds of many Brazilians to Fox News in the U.S. — found a bone to pick with the World Cup logo this Monday, speculating it as some sort of subconscious mind-control put forth by the country's leftist Workers' Party.

How could the World Cup logo double as subliminal political propaganda? First, here's a look at it.

Now let's zoom in.

See the "L" there in that crop? Constantino writes that "a reader" pointed out to him that it could stand for Luiz Inácio Lula da Silva, commonly known as "Lula," the popular former Brazilian president whose successor, Dilma Rousseff, now holds office. Brazil was named as host of the 2014 World Cup back in 2007, during Lula's presidency, and Rousseff has managed the tournament since taking office in January 2011.

And the "2014" that the suspicious shape frames — why is it red? Constantino posits that it could again be a nod to the Workers' Party, which is represented by the color red, in his Monday column. "Subliminal advertising? Probably," he writes, according to a translation of the article. "Work? I leave the answer to the industry experts."

Constantino suggests the "2014" in question should, in fact, be blue to better align with the colors of the Brazilian flag (even posting a follow-up mock of what the logo would look like with blue replacing red).

In an election year — Rousseff is up for a second term this October, and many on the Brazilian right would love to see her ousted — nothing, it seems, is out of the question.

But Constantino isn't the only one to conjure deeper meaning from the World Cup logo.

Some equated the logo to the Internet-popular face-palm gesture of disapproval, exasperation and disgust before the cup — a parallel only underscored by pre-tournament anxieties about Brazil's preparedness to host the world's most popular sporting event, and the tournament's cost in the face of widespread social issues.

Then there's the bizarre and paranormal case of one Chico Xavier. Born in Brazil in 1910, some believed Xavier was a psychic medium. Viewers of the national television network SBT voted him the "greatest Brazilian of all time" in 2012, 10 years after his death.

Xavier, who often wore his trademark wig, was believed to be able to channel the thoughts of spirits and transmit them to paper by writing with one right hand while pressing the other to his head. That prompted, via a Brazilian blog called the The Good Blood, this tongue-in-cheek spin on the logo shortly after it was unveiled.













Image: http://thegoodblood.blogspot.com.br/









The logo for the 2014 World Cup was fist revealed in 2010, during that year's tournament in South Africa, following submissions by creative agencies from around Brazil. It may be not be the most lovely emblem of all time; that's a matter of personal opinion. But for those who see — or even hypothesize — a deeper meaning, we can offer only this.













Image: http://www.reactiongifs.us/facepalm-commander-sisko/









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