New tech industry satire The Circle seems to be poking at least a little bit at Uber. The movie, based on the novel by Dave Eggers, is about a tech corporation with sketch morals. The company, The Circle, has a logo that looks like Uber's. Stranger still, the movie's version came first.
Director James Ponsoldt tells Vulture that The Circle logo “was designed before the new Uber logo came out (something we noticed with a bit of creeped-out amusement).”
Ride-sharing giant Uber is currently dealing with a corporate annus horribilis. So far, that's included widespread deletion of the app after they appeared to be engaging in union-busting practices during the protests against Donald Trump's Muslim ban. Lyft, which has gotten a reputation as a woke company largely by circumstance, has even been dunking on their big brother.
AdvertisementADVERTISEMENT
Those things are at least nominally out of Uber's control. More troubling are the numerous complaints about Uber's poor HR practices. Those have included a night involving an escort bar and heavy drug use and sexual harassment allegations. Even more troubling, Uber has been manipulating its driver using a video game technique called the ludic loop.
All that said, Uber probably isn't too bothered; the movie is largely regarded as terrible. You can watch the trailer below.