Obama Recovery Logo and Branding

First, I want to point out I placed this in the opinion section for a reason. As a common, stay at home mother who has recently embarked on freelance to supplement income for the extras her family needs, I am the market this logo idea is targeted at. By writing this, in some small way I am letting my voice be heard. If you oppose, leave a comment. If you agree, leave a comment. If you don't care, well you probably already clicked on the next link anyway.

Obama has had two logos made to indicate the serious attention he is giving the current economic recession. The idea is that the logo will speak to the American public and mean something to us. That seeing this logo will inspire us. Make us feel better when the milk costs a quarter more than what we have in the budget to spend.

What feelings and thoughts do the logo actually inspire in me, the average American woman?

Baloney. Hogwash. Propaganda. Those are the first three words that came to mind as I read the article about the logo's. Someone should really explain to him he won the election, and like it or lump it, we have to give him time to make a difference. Putting out pretty logo's or decorated words are not going to give me any more confidence in him than if he sent us all a personal letter apologizing for the mess America is in financially.

Apologies and logo's are not what the average American is looking for when they are in a budget crisis. When there are people unhappy with their jobs but terrified to put out resumes or accept a better position because that puts them at the bottom of a ladder that could topple. When people may miss out on vacations with the family this year because there is barely enough left to pay bills much less, do anything extra. With warm weather and summer around the corner people are already fretting about what ungodly level the gas is going to skyrocket to this year!

If anything, putting a logo out there just goes to show those of us who may be clueless, if that is possible, to the economy that we are in the midst of a bigger crisis than originally thought. Why? Well didn't the Great Depression use a logo? So are we saying this current crisis is that big of a scope? I am aware that this has been the subject of a great many political debates as well as financial articles. But there are people who had managed to flit through their lives without ever giving this a thought. Putting a logo out there is more likely to scare those folks than if they had just remained immune.

I would rather get answers to questions that are plaguing the common working family than a fancy logo that is going to appear on a semi truck or a billboard. How high is gas raising this summer? How many more companies are going to move to overseas and lay off the American blue collar employee? How are the food banks going to help the people that need it when everyone needs it?

Let's take away the pretty toys and pictures and make some real change! Why is it cheaper for companies to move overseas than stay in the states? Don't we purchase the products? Aren't they shipped back in for us to buy after they slapped us in the face and took away our job? Let's give those companies a boot in the bottom instead of making a logo! Up those import taxes. Make it more expensive for them to bring their finished products back in here to sell to those they can't employ.

Set a limit on the gas economy. Open up new sources or control the sources we have. It's not rocket science. For years, we have had laws in effect for average utility companies, put laws and restrictions on gas. Why should they be allowed to raise their rates to 20.00 a gallon overnight when postal companies have to spend months and years begging for an extra nickel on a stamp price? The very people the government and states employ couldn't afford gas at some point in this last year. There are government and state employees lucky if they make a few bucks over minimum wage at a fast food chain. A lot of these folks even have degrees or high credentials in their fields.

Health insurance is contributing to an unstable economy. Why is it okay to go have seven babies with seven baby daddies and never pay a dime for an insurance but the working class man pays more for his health insurance for his wife and two kids than he does on his mortgage?

Everyone will have their opinions, perhaps some see the logo in a positive light. Perhaps some are embracing this as a sign of change. I am choosing to embrace it as a sideshow. Time and energy that could have been spent making the difference, enforcing plans, and creatively thinking up solutions to problems have been wasted on a pretty sign.

Sources: http://themoment.blogs.nytimes.com/2009/03/10/graphic-content-making-obamas-marks/