Emblems of The International Red Cross and Red Crescent Movement - Use of The Emblems

Use of The Emblems

As specified by the Geneva Conventions, the four recognized emblems are to be used only to denote the following:

• facilities for the care of injured and sick armed forces members;
• armed forces medical personnel and equipment;
• military chaplains;
• International Red Cross and Red Crescent Movement organizations such as the International Committee of the Red Cross (ICRC), the International Federation of Red Cross and Red Crescent Societies (IFRC), and the 185 national Red Cross and Red Crescent societies.

In order to ensure universal respect for the emblems, the Geneva Conventions obliged their signatories to forbid any other use of the names and emblems in wartime and peacetime.

Nevertheless, the misuse of the emblem is widespread and it is often used as a general symbol to indicate first aid, medical supplies and civilian medical services especially walk-in clinics. Misuses appear in movies (A notable example is The Living Daylights, wherein narcotics were disguised as Red Cross care packages, as a plot device), on television, and in computer software and games. Service companies, such as those for car repair or lawn maintenance, tout themselves as service "doctors" and incorporate medical symbols to promote themselves.

Prior to 1973, ambulances in the United States and elsewhere in the Western Hemisphere were typically marked with a safety orange cross, differing from the red cross only in its hue. Toys and paintings of ambulances commonly ignored even that nuance, instead using a red cross. After protests from the American Red Cross that the safety orange cross was insufficiently distinguishable from the protected Red Cross symbol, the U.S. Department of Transportation developed the Blue Star of Life as a replacement for the safety orange cross. The blue Star of Life has since been adopted throughout much of the world on ambulances and in other related applications.

In 2006, the Canadian Red Cross issued a press release asking video game makers to stop using the red cross in their games; it is an especially common sight to see first aid kits and other items which restore the player character's health marked with a red cross.

In order to avoid this conflict, a green cross is often used as a generic alternative.

Some believe that the Geneva Conventions require the revocation of all trademarks that contain the Red Cross, Red Crescent, or Red Lion and Sun, even pre-existing ones such as Johnson & Johnson's (J&J) Red Cross trademark in the United States (see below). However, pre-existing trademarks are also protected in the implementing legislation of other countries, including Australia, New Zealand, and the United Kingdom and its dependencies. In many countries, it is a violation of the rule of law to seize intellectual property lawfully created prior to a ban without compensating its owner through eminent domain, with limited exceptions for offensive or dangerous uses. (For example, a Red Cross on a building—even a J&J building—conveys a potentially false and dangerous impression of military presence in the area to enemy aircraft, although the building itself would not be attacked; thus the U.S. reservations to the 1949 Geneva Conventions, as noted below, effectively ban that use even by J&J.) In recognition of this fact, Protocol III expressly preserves most pre-1905 trademarks containing the Red Crystal, as long as they cannot be confused with military uses. Of course, once implementing legislation is enacted, new trademarks bearing an emblem named in the law are banned.