Tim Pawlenty’s Bizarre Campaign Roadkill
Oh God, not another.
Taking dual inspiration from teen horror movies and questionable design practices of the 2008 Republican National Convention, the nascent Pawlenty campaign, in their infinite wisdom, have created a fascinating logo for their candidate:
A squashed, run over American flag.
Way to go, boys.
If campaign logos were candidates, the Pawlenty logo would have to be rechristened the ‘Newt Gingrich’. Talk about a car accident.
But what, praytell, do I mean by ‘another’? Why the aforementioned 2008 Republican Convention logo debacle of course, where clever Republicans took hallucinogens while dabbling in magical Photoshop wonderland.
Keith Olbermann ranked the artists of this nightmare as the ‘Worst Persons in the World’ that week, due to its
unfortunate depiction of a dead Republican elephant (or at least comatose), run over with wide tire tracks. The dead, cartoon-looking star-eye didn’t help either.
Republicans aren’t the only culprits of misguided logo design. Remember the seizure-inducing logo of the 2012 London Olympics?
Thin-skinned, right-brained Iranians even threatened to boycott the games due to its resemblance of the word ‘zion’. Just admit that you’re afraid of losing, fellows.
Inspiration for the Pawlenty logo?
Even Pawlenty’s logo, with its hammered-down cartoon stars and CSI murder-scene smears, doesn’t compete with the US Chamber of Commerce logo from 2009. From the site Central Intelligence Art:
What were they thinking? Aside from the obvious substantive dissonance, it’s a thoroughly wretched bit of design. The deep shadow behind the splatter appears mindless and irrelevant. Is floating road kill more appealing? Surely this bloody pulp of a pennant can’t be trying to wave? There is a different version on their website that emphasizes the ethereal light at the expense of theshadow. Among it’s other charms, consider also the logo’s vapid, sloppy exploitation of familiar twentieth century art — gestural painting, drips, Jasper Johns, Robert Frank and, perhaps, especially Claes Oldenburg’s 1960 USA Flag. I’m having fun imagining the internal Chamber meetings in which the merits of this design were pitched and debated.
The greater question in all of this is: does a candidate’s logo reveal the type of presidential he or she would be?
When choosing our presidents, Americans seek a strong, forward-looking candidate with a balance of ideas and a charming personality. Hm…
