the approval process started on march 21 with the deputy army commander, followed by discussion among army public affairs officers at a townhall and then a briefing april 12 for top army leaders, the records showed. no objections to the new imagery were registered at the time.
but the rollout documents pointed out that the image could only be used a certain way. “icon should not be flipped horizontally or vertically,” the briefing documents noted, although there was no explanation for that instruction.
the image is supposed to highlight the colours used in the army’s new camouflage pattern. in particular, the icon resembles the pixels, in shades of brown, topped by a maple leaf and was extracted from this pattern, according to national defence.
the social-media backlash was immediate after the army posted its new icon may 3. besides the sexual references, much of the commentary focused on trying to figure out what the imagery was supposed to represent.
“looks like something i wipe off my windshield while pumping gas,” one commentator wrote on x, formerly known as twitter.
questions were also raised about who came up with the logo and who approved it, with suggestions that those individuals be fired.