What's missing from Wal-Mart's new logo?

For 16 years, Wal-Mart used a star in its logo to separate the Wal from the Mart. Now, it renders its name as a single word with an asterisk at the end that reminds me of the “asshole” symbol Kurt Vonnegut drew in some of his books. He was a great writer. An asterisk usually denotes an explanatory notation, but the Wal-Mart (Walmart?) version is followed by nothing but white space. At the very least, the retailer could have added a note further down to explain what happened to its Smiley Face icon that disappeared last year.