The Comic Sans Candidate
“I’m Pete Ricketts and I believe in kids, America, apple pie and fun fonts!”
Well, I’m Tom Nemitz and I believe when a congressional candidate uses Comic Sans in his television spots that he gets automatically DQ’d from my ballot. No iffs, ands, butts or serifs about it.
Comic Sans is the sweatpants-in-public of type. When you use Comic Sans, you’re telling the world, “I don’t care anymore. I’m wearing sweatpants to go shopping at the mall.” Is that the kind of “I don’t care” attitude you want from your congressman? Last time I asked myself, my answer was no. I’ll ask again but I’m reasonably certain the answer will still be no.
Comic Sans is cheap, easy, available, and people using it don’t think they’re doing anything wrong because its “Fun!”. Remember Marion Berry? That was just crack. This is Comic Sans!
Is this the kind of cavalier attitude you want from your congressman? Your mayor? Anyone in public office? Of course not!
My mother always told my brother and I when we were growing up that you’re known by the company you keep. So what does it say about a candidate when the company he chooses to keep is Comic Sans? It says “Don’t Vote For Me”, that’s what.
This poses a real moral dilemma: is it right to vote for the other candidate simply because he/she uses Futura in their television spots? Stumped, I sent this candidate’s office an email, asking them why I should trust, and therefore vote for a candidate who would so brazenly make use of bad type in their ads.
Their response was not exactly convincing.
“While we certainly appreciate your opinion and your honest critique of Pete’s television spots, we hope you’ll give us a chance to win your vote. Blah blah blah…blah blah Comic Sans…blah blah Pete is a fun guy who loves kids, dogs and apple pie…blah blah Pete’s Platform…blah blah thank for your correspondance and we hope we’ve answered your question. We sincerely hope you will consider voting for Pete.”
I still wasn’t sure I wasn’t off-base in my judgment. Then…
Wha…what’s this? Is that Times New Roman? Now you’ve done it! Now you’ve gone too far! How dare you claim “Nebraska Values” and then go use not one but two of the cheesiest fonts ever made? That’s not Nebraska Values. That’s just stupid.
How can I be sure this guy won’t make up sell sheets typeset in Funhouse to convince fellow congressmen to vote for his policies? That’s an embarrassment to the state! How can I be sure his re-election campaign won’t feature Papyrus?
You can’t trust anybody who uses Comic Sans, that’s my policy. And if you can’t trust them, do you want them in office representing you? Of course not. So my conclusion is any reasonable person could not in good conscience vote for such a candidate. You bet.
Click here to watch the actual television spot
[You shouldn't really pick a candidate based on their font of choice. The proceeding was just a satirical essay on one designer's reaction to the ad, and is not meant to be a serious political statement on how you ought to vote. Obviously.]
March 23rd, 2006 at 10:33 pm
Wait.
Comic Sans is bad?
March 23rd, 2006 at 10:58 pm
I’ve gone on record many times, often on this site, as stating my personal opinion that yes, Nate, Comic Sans is bad.
But presuming one likes Comic Sans, doesn’t it strike you as an odd choice — offbeat, even — for a political campaign? It doesn’t say “Strength of Conviction” to me, it says “Limp Wrist Handshake”. Just seems like a strange message to send constituents, that’s all.
March 24th, 2006 at 7:40 am
I knew from the beginning I didn’t like this Pete Ricketts character. At first I thought it was because of his funny little bald head. But now perhaps something more sinister is afoot…
March 24th, 2006 at 7:56 am
there’s nothing fun about comic sans. nothing fun at all.
March 24th, 2006 at 8:35 am
I was reading this article and was thinking it really can’t be that bad. Then I watched the video. I was mistaken.. Wow, that’s really bad. You really can’t blame him. He didn’t create the TV spot. although he did approve it, so maybe you can.
March 24th, 2006 at 9:30 am
I will punch every Comic Sans character in the face! Later for that noise!
Hi guys…I see you!
March 24th, 2006 at 9:42 am
Tom, thanks for this *hilarious* post. I totally agree that any candidate that uses Comic Sans is not worthy of my vote or anyone else’s.
And with a name like “Ricketts,” font choice cannot be taken lightly! You don’t be want to be using the most stereotypically kid-friendly of fonts when your name sounds (or at least looks) just like that of a potentially crippling childhood nutritional disorder. He should give away little packets of Vitamin D imprinted with ‘Vote Ricketts’ in Comic Sans.
March 24th, 2006 at 10:43 am
I dunno… were I still a resident of Nebraska… I would be more concerned with this guy’s conservative Christian pandering platform than his use of comic sans. I say… use the hell out of comic sans, Pete… it makes just as much sense as your social platform.
March 24th, 2006 at 10:44 am
Comic sans… the official typeface of Snoopy.
March 24th, 2006 at 12:07 pm
I knew I liked you Tom now you are Top Notch in my book. And yes yes I am an Ameritrade Employee.
March 24th, 2006 at 12:31 pm
Now now, Mr. Kerr. That Peanuts typeface is different than Comic Sans, they use it at the Panera Bread next to my house. Every time I go there and order a You Pick Two I think, ‘ah, just like reading Snoopy. Thank gods its not in Comic Sans.’ I swear.
March 24th, 2006 at 1:08 pm
I have been waiting for someone to analyze the ‘design’ choices of the various campaigns. Some are so bad, some are the usual. Jim Esch for Congress is way different from the usual Serif + Flag, Serif + Star, or White on Green crud.
March 24th, 2006 at 4:42 pm
Since I am on record criticizing Design Observer for their politics, I have to say that this is a great example of how a designer can talk about politics without pushing a political agenda. Nice job, Tom! And the comments even made it pretty deep before Bill Kerr blew it by turning a discussion about typography into a platform for his political rant. Bill, save your spin for Design Observer, we play by different rules over here.
March 24th, 2006 at 5:36 pm
Nicely put Adrian.
March 25th, 2006 at 12:43 am
He lost my vote. Someone made a bad faux pas.
March 25th, 2006 at 5:24 pm
I can’t believe noone commented on the fact that this is very obviously not Comic Sans? Talk about a faux paus.
March 25th, 2006 at 7:08 pm
It’s actually Apple’s Chalkboard.
March 26th, 2006 at 12:59 am
This is why all political candidates should have at least one person with creative advertising experience on their staff.
March 26th, 2006 at 12:53 pm
I think Franz just blew the lid off this post with the revelation that it’s not even Comic Sans.
Does this mean Ricketts gets your vote back now?
March 26th, 2006 at 1:00 pm
Looks to me like Chalkboard is a bogus rip-off of Comic Sans, which actually makes it worse. I mean look at those two fonts, theres only a half dozen characters with a discernable difference, otherwise its basically just a bold version of Comic Sans.
March 26th, 2006 at 1:10 pm
I can’t believe someone would know enough about Comic Sans to be able to tell at first glance that this is “very obviously not Comic Sans”…that disturbs me.
The fact that it is not actually Comic Sans but a quite similar font named Chalkboard is like when GM in the 1980s used to sell the same crappy car under different brands (for example Buick Skyhawk, Oldsmobile Ferenza, Cadillac Cimarron, Chevy Cavalier, Pontiac Sunbird all the same crappy car) — you can fancy it up with a new name and a few minor changes, but the inherent quality of suckiness remains.
March 26th, 2006 at 1:31 pm
Regardless, the fact that it is not in fact Comic Sans but an incredibly similar font named Chalkboard does not change the basic premise of the post:
The font choice in the ad is ridiculous. As I stated above, it doesn’t say “Strength of Conviction‚Äù to me, it says “Limp Wrist Handshake‚Äù. Regardless of what you call the font, he doesn’t get my vote, because that thing is butt ugly.
Never in my wildest dreams would I have imagined someone would be foolish enough to create a font so similar to Comic Sans that it could be confused for it by very nearly everyone who looks at it. That’s the real revelation here. Talk about a faux pax.
March 27th, 2006 at 9:44 am
Since Pete is running for Senate under the banner of those Repuglican clowns that are so intent on reducing our once great nation to ashes, perhaps Comic Sans is the perfect font for them.
March 27th, 2006 at 10:53 am
Oh wow, that says so much on so many levels. Seriously, this is just another example where the typographic choice speaks volumes about the message.
Great post.
March 29th, 2006 at 11:59 am
Watkins College of Art + Design had created a “Ban Comic Sans” poster a few years back.
When I was in art school in Louisiana we had an anti-Revue and anti-Cooper Black guerilla campaign.
March 30th, 2006 at 2:11 pm
I’m pretty sure that’s not Times New Roman. I think it’s some condensed version of Garamond.
April 2nd, 2006 at 9:52 am
so umm whoever said your font on this page shouts “strength of conviction”???
perhaps you should realize that personal preferences for font vary from person to person, so it is ridiculous to assume that your opinion is supreme. don’t you have anything better to analyze???
April 29th, 2006 at 3:24 pm
Arguing that he won’t get your vote because of the font he used in his advertisements is about the stupidest issue that could be focused on.
nonetheless, it’s still funny as hell, ricketts is an idiot.
June 2nd, 2006 at 8:35 am
Apparently, the dislike of Comic Sans is far reaching enough to have a web site devoted to banning it…
http://bancomicsans.com/home.html
June 2nd, 2006 at 8:45 pm
The PC font that keeps on giving! This is too funny. This could be the worst font ever. Besides Brush Script all CAPS.
Designdump.com
June 14th, 2006 at 11:34 pm
This was really funny. Now I have another reason not to vote for Pete Ricketts.
May 6th, 2008 at 12:34 pm
Hi Tom,
Perhaps this is a candidate for Congress that you can support.
http://www.nemitz.net
Cheers!
Gregory Nemitz
Candidate for US House of Representatives
Idaho’s Second Congressional District