The non-offending brand mark
The company began life as The Simplo Filler Pen Company. It used the snow-cap motif from its early days but only adopted the Mont-Blance name in 1934. This was not a good time to announce your Jewishness in Germany, through the use of hidden symbols or otherwise. Somehow however, a rumour began, grew and persisted.
That rumour concerned one of the two recurring branding devices used by the company.
Now branded Mont Blanc they began to note the eponymous Alp’s height in metres on their fountain pen nibs – 4810. They also adopted a beautifully elegant symbol which caps the lid, thereby being displayed when worn upright in a shirt pocket. The symbol is a rounded edged white six-armed shape, which reflects the six valleys surrounding the mountain.
While the exact meaning of both these symbols are lost in the main on the vast majority who see these, exquisitely crafted, pens in shop windows, it is the star shape that causes the confusion.
The Rumour
A rumour abounds that this is a subtly amended Magen David, the Jewish Star of David. The speculation goes further; the pens are reportedly sold in the arab world sans-mark, presumably on the understanding that discretion is the better part of valour. Of course! say the Teutonic manufacturers, those silly arabs are easily confused, let leave it out for fear of offending!
In truth the company just issued a statement refuting this reading of their logo.
In Conclusion
Amateur, conspiracy-obsessed semioticians take note. Consumer goods are not the place to look for hidden symbols denoting membership of nefarious groups. Producers have no say over who buys their goods. They may indeed be bought in bulk by our hidden Zionist overlords, for whom quality writing implements are a social imperative, but probably not.
The shape in question
Bibliography
A Short Course in International Marketing Blunders: Learn from Mistakes of Others, Charles Mitchell and Michael White, World Trade Press, 2002
Marks of Excellence, Per Mollerup, Phaidon, 1997
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