I’d like to proudly and sadly introduce our newest series, “Did No One Look at That Before It Went Out?” (DNOLATBIWO), honoring advertising gaffes that 100% ABSOLUTELY should have been caught by SOMEONE before they went live.
We all make mistakes. We all skim over errors and bad calls from time to time. An art director friend of mine passes logo designs around for a “Does this look like a swastika?” check before sending them to the client, because it is a very balanced and harmonious shape and it can be easy for balanced and harmonious logos to drift in that direction. That’s why the third-party review is so crucial — she knows her intent, she knows she wasn’t trying to make the logo look like a swastika, and thus fresh, more objective eyes are a must.
Like the fresh eyes that would have saved IndyCar a lot of stress, embarrassment, expense, and unintentional 14 Words-esque associations.
IndyCar: “One Nation, One“ — Oh, honey, no.
The administration’s Freedom 250 semiquincentennial celebration didn’t stop with the apocalyptic fireworks display in the wee hours of the morning July 5 — late August will see an IndyCar race through the streets of Washington, D.C. So of course IndyCar wanted to commemorate this occasion with merch, with t-shirts and stickers and so on in its online store.
The image? Undeniably boss: a line drawing of Abraham Lincoln sitting in his giant granite chair in the Lincoln Memorial in a racer’s helmet and fire suit, against a background of vertical red and white stripes.
The copy? “One Nation,” it proclaims.
“One Race.”
I.
I just.
It’s just so.
I feel commentary isn’t really needed here.
Just have someone — several someones, even — have a look at your creative before it goes out into the world, to see if what you had in your head isn’t expressed on the page exactly the way you were intending. For IndyCar’s part, it pulled the t-shirt from its store within hours of its release, “following feedback from customers.” Which is the correct response. But you still have to ask.
Did no one look at that before it went out?