As I work in graphic design, I'm highly sensitized to...oh, how do you say...gaffes of the graphic sort. I was on vacation once, and wasn't able to supervise a promotional brochure my company was sending out. It was a book promotion featuring the Judy Blume series of “Fudge” books. (Tales of a Fourth Grade Nothing, Superfudge, Fudge-a-Mania, and Double Fudge—all about a kid named Peter Hatcher whose little brother was nicknamed “Fudge”) It was bad enough that the marketing division had myopically given my department copy—that no one caught—calling the asssortment of books a “Fudge Pack”, but then, the designer for the ad depicted the books on a brown “splash” field with the words “Fudge Pack” on what appeared to be a dark hole. Ostensibly done to pop the letters out, but you can imagine what it looked like.
I thought about that awful, but minor graphic goof-up when I saw the GOP's '08 convention logo last week. Here that is:
Now...I was on vacation for a week when the minor-in-the-grand-scheme-of-things “Fudge Pack” debacle went down. Who in the name of sweet, fancy, Moses was out to lunch for the—I'm guessing—three months at least while the GOP's abomination of a convention logo was designed and vetted by God knows how many people at the RNC? Did no one there have even a remotely critical eye?
Markos noted the following about it:
Wide stance? Check.
In Minneapolis? Check.
Prison stripe-wearing? Check.
Starry eyed? Check.
As for the elephant humping the "2008"...
Are they going for a "Still screwing the country in 2008" theme, or is it a reference to hypocritical adulterers like David Vitter and just about the entire Republican presidential field?
How drunk did they have to be to sign off on a logo featuring a wide-stanced, bent-over elephant wearing stripes, promoting their convention in Minne-fucking-aoplis—where Larry Craig infamously tried to Fred Astaire his way into a blow job?
I sent a link to a fellow designer who replied with a practically stifled-laugh spittle stained e-mail reading “Are you kidding me?”
I wasn't. And they sadly aren't.
So, I got to thinking about Minneapolis...and things Minneapolis, like Prince. Thought about his songs. Especiaally the “nasty” ones, and “bloop!” 1984's “Erotic City” popped into my head. It's the “B”-side of the 12" single “Let's Get Crazy”. I listened to it. Minneapolis? Erotic City? Erotic City?!
It wrote itself. Grabbed some video. chopped it up. Threw in some “ephemera” for flavoring, and there you have it. The Group News Blog's “tribute” to Senator Larry Craig, bathroom sex, a monumentally idiotic graphic choice by the GOP, and of course, Mr. Nasty Minneapolis himself (albeit less so since finding God), Prince!
So without any further ado I give you...
“Erotic City '07”
“Let's Go Crazy! Let's Get Nuts!”
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