Bad times for brand consultant Wolff Olins. From the U.K.’s Sun:

The controversial 2012 London Olympics logo was rocked by another blow last night — after it was ruled too dangerous to view on-screen … An animated version of the symbol used on TV and the internet had to be dropped because it could trigger fits in thousands of people.

The logo, a graffiti-style spelling of 2012 in shades of pink, blue, green and orange, was branded “hideous” when it was launched on Monday.

And Olympics bosses were left squirming with embarrassment after an epilepsy group reported 12 cases of people collapsing through looking at it. Epilepsy Action warned that 23,000 mainly young people in the UK were at risk from the TV and internet version.

Epilepsy Action spokeswoman Ingrid Burns said: “The logo was not safe for people with photosensitive epilepsy. Within hours of it being launched we received 12 reports of people suffering seizures.”

Leave it to the British tabloids to go with that “squirming with embarrassment” turn of phrase.

The Independent chimes in by offering a brief history of failed logos — just two days after the unveiling on Monday.

The “broken swastika,” as it has been dubbed, was designed and selected at a cost of about $800,000.

(Via Colin McEnroe)