Logos are commonplace and many companies and events are as recognizable by their logo as they are by their name (think of the Nike swoosh, which is more familiar than the name the company adopted from the Ancient Greek goddess who was used to personify victory.
With logos, an array of colors and images are used. The most common image to be used is that of a heart and just under 3 percent of U.S. business adopt this image. Three percent may not seem like a high number, but it is way before other types of logos and it represents thousands of different companies and organizations.
Why select this image? The heart shape is instantly recognizable. It conveys a set of emotions centered on either “love and affection” (to quote Joan Armatrading) or caring, warmth, or humanity.
The symbol is also embedded in human culture. It may not actually look anything like a real human heart, but uses of the image have been traced back to 3000 BC (or BCE, depending on your dating preference.)
The original intention of the symbol, according to some scholars, was a simple representation of a fig or an ivy leaf. In some cultures, the ivy leaf represented a brothel. Other theories say it represents an extinct plant called Silphium, which was used for birth control. There are other possibilities as well and the website Listverse has 10 alternatives.
Moving back to U.S. companies, the high adoption rate if the symbol has been examined by sociologist James I. Bowie for The Slate. Bowie drew his data from the logos registered with the United States Patent and Trademark Office.
In his review, Bowie notes a big take up of the heart symbol from 1977, when the “I ♥ NY” mark was first registered. The popularity of the emblem has not slowed down, with companies like Southwest Airlines, CVS Health, Airbnb, and Thomas Cook each recently incorporating a heart into their logo. To add to these, Twitter last year changed its starred “favorites” to heart-denoted “likes.”
Given that the heart remains the second most commonly used emoji (after the smiley face), and remains widespread in society, from greetings cards to playing cards, the adoption of the heart symbol by businesses will probably show no sign of abating.