Bosses of the 2012 Olympics were plunged into a fresh row last night after spending £400,000 on a controversial new logo for the London Games..

In a move billed as the most significant event since London beat Paris in 2005 in the race to host the Games, the organising committee unveiled a striking, jagged emblem as the official symbol for the Olympics.

Aimed at the younger, "internet generation", it will will also be used as the logo for the Paralympics and will be crucial to hopes of raising private sponsorship for both events.

Based roughly on the figures 2012 and apparently inspired by graffiti artists, the image - which replaces an earlier logo devised for London's bid to host the Games - was hailed as "dynamic" and "vibrant" by organisers.

Lord Coe, chairman of the London Games organising committee (Locog), said the new logo was "edgy" and appeared to suggest it was designed to provoke a strong reaction: "We don't do bland - this is not a bland city. We weren't going to come to you with a dull or dry corporate logo that would appear on a polo shirt and we're all gardening in it a year's time."

Tony Blair raised hopes that the symbol would leave people "inspired to make a positive change in their life" while Jacques Rogge, president of the International Olympic Committee, praised it as a "truly innovative brand" that would appeal to the young.

But the logo, which cost £400,000 and took the best part of a year to be devised by brand consultants Wolff Olins, came up against widespread disapproval yesterday, with one Jewish person even ringing the BBC to complain that it was reminiscent of the infamous Nazi SS symbol.

Design guru Stephen Bayley condemned it as "a puerile mess, an artistic flop and a commercial scandal".

An online petition to get the logo scrapped already had more than 16,000 signatures by 10am today, and on the Telegraph website readers were heavily critical. The London Games has been plagued by rocketing costs, with the original budget of £2.375 billion now standing at £9.3 billion.

Although LOCOG last night stressed that the logo was paid for by private money, Mr Bayley voiced his astonishment that the emblem - available in blue, pink, green and orange - had cost £400,000. "That's outrageous," he said. "There are 5,000 talented designers who could have done the job for £10,000."

【新闻快讯】2012年伦敦奥运会的会徽共有粉色、橙色、蓝色和绿色四种颜色，会徽可以根据不同时间、场合选择使用。伦敦奥运会的举办年份“2012”通过上下不规则变体形式成了会徽的主体，表示举办地点的“London”和奥运会五环标志被嵌在第一个“2”和“0”里面。

伦敦奥组委主席塞巴斯蒂安·科表示，这一标识说明了这次盛会举办的地点和主题，“阐释了我们所建造的场馆、所承办的奥运会，并提醒我们屡行承诺，用奥林匹克精神去激励世界上的每个人，拉近与青年人的距离。”

会徽一经公布网友们就迅速作出了回应，但大多数评价却是负面的。由于这一会徽耗资40万英镑，一名网友在英国广播公司互动空间栏目中说，“这真是太糟糕了。有人得解释解释这40万英磅究竟花在了什么地方。”另一位网友说，“简直糟糕透顶，完全是浪费钱财。” 还有一位网友表示，“我希望他们在决定这个会徽之前先咨询一下公众的意见。那么，这个2012年奥运会才会真正成为值得我们骄傲的事件。”

不过英国首相布莱尔则认为，这一设计不会在一开始就符合每人的口味，但这确实是可以激励年轻人参与的一个品牌，“这也是我们未来五年面临的挑战”。这一会徽将由2012年伦敦奥运会和残奥会共同使用，这在奥运史上还是第一次。