Ernst and Young accidentally rebrands itself as a gay mag

Worried that your company name is too long? Just too corporate and formal for this modern world of hoodie-wearing CFOs and sofa-hugging hipster programmers? Think it may be time for a change? Accountancy giant Ernst & Young clearly faced this dilemma, and decided to rebrand itself EY. Why not you may ask? Using your initials is strong and still in line with the original brand and message but just catchier - right? Well, in this case wrong. As it turns out, a homosexual magazine had already claimed the name EY, albeit with an exclamation mark at the end of it. This meant that when EY employees started googling their new company brand yesterday they were in for a shock. Images of EY were interlaced with rather graphic photos of EY! As indeed they still are, so you can check out the mistake here. The magazine, “EY!” launched in Spring 2008 and features young male models from around the world, with a focus on the “energy, power and vitality of young men”. EY!’s latest edition concentrated on youths from Brazil, with previous copies have honed in on the UK and Argentina (redubbed “Argenteena”). But while Ernst & Young may blush over the incident, it is unlikely they will be too embarassed, as EY are actually very loud and proud supporters of the lesbian, gay, bisexual and transgender (LGBT) community. So much so that they sponsored this year’s fantastic gay pride parade which took place in London last weekend. “It is wonderful to have the support of EY in our first year organising Pride. It costs nearly £450,000 to put on the Parade and entertainment in Trafalgar Square and Soho and to make sure that the event is inclusive and safe for everyone,” Pride in London chairman Michael Salter said. “The generous support of EY and other sponsors means that, despite those significant costs, Pride truly can be a community event that everyone can take part in.”