The above is what a 76 gas-station sign, bowl-style, ought to look like.

The 76 emblem has been orange for nearly 80 years. It was orange when it was successively shaped as a shield, a vertical rectangle, a disc, a sphere, and finally a bowl. It was orange under the successive managements of Union Oil Co. of California, Unocal, Tosco, and Phillips 66.

This abomination is the new red 76 bowl, imposed after Conoco bought Phillips. Corporate powers-that-be apparently decreed that since the Conoco lozenge logo and the Phillips 66 shield logo are red, so should the 76 bowl.

The red bowl signage has been installed at the chain’s longtime outlet at Westlake and Mercer, and more recently at an ex-Chevron station on Broadway (across from an apartment building built on a former 76 station site). It will probably be phased in across the brand’s marketing territory over the next few months. There’s not much any of us can do about it, except register our complaints and fly our antenna balls at half-staff.