Here’s an interesting question: What do Star Trek and the Country Music Awards have in common? The answer is literally right under your nose.

Give up?

It would seem that whoever was responsible for the design of the 41st Annual CMA Awards on ABC decided to “borrow” the iconic Starfleet arrowhead emblem–I noticed it myself while leafing through this week’s edition of Entertainment Weekly. I was so taken aback by the color scheme (a charcoal-colored brushed metal, or a stone/smoke color, as seen below) and the presence of the emblem (embossed) that for a moment I thought I was looking at an ad for a boxed set of Star Trek DVDs.

Take a look for yourself–here’s the poster for J.J. Abrams’ new Star Trek movie alongside the CMA’s collateral:

And it seems that I’m not the only one who’s noticed this weird design decision. I don’t have a problem, per se, with the CMA’s use of the arrowhead in their collateral (after all, many designers borrow from each other, not to mention the fact that the emblem as shown above isn’t a straight rip-off); however, I do wonder if they were even aware of the symbol’s widespread recognition in the realm of pop culture. If they were trying to create a unique identity for the show, unfortunately they have failed, but they have at least created some (minor) buzz for themselves.