The Blanding of America

There's a lot at stake when selling presidential candidates--so why is their branding so stupifyingly dull?

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One of the most indelible and enduring images of the 2008 presidential campaign was candidate Barack Obama's logo: a simple, clean, blue "O" rising like a sun above a prairie of receding red stripes. The design was instantly iconic, evoking hope, change, and a new dawn–all major themes of the Illinois senator's campaign.

Close your eyes and you can probably conjure it. The same can't be said of the logo for John McCain's campaign, or Hillary Clinton's.

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