5 reasons Hillary Clinton's new logo is causing controversy

Find out why the Presidential contender's new logo design is generating such a stir.

In possibly the least surprising political story of the year, Hillary Clinton yesterday declared she's officially running for US President. This not being a political blog, though, we're more interested in the new logo design she's released along with the announcement. And it seems some of you quite like it...

I like the Hillary Clinton logo design: simple, effective and good strong colours with forward meaning. pic.twitter.com/gBYURGl37c— Ant (@antzclass) April 13, 2015

Hillary Clinton's campaign logo is Obama meets FedEx and I love it. #Hillary2016 pic.twitter.com/ZmwuQkny18— gina uriarte (@GinaUriarte) April 12, 2015

As is the way with social media, though, others have found much to criticise. Here we've grouped the main complaints into five easy-to-follow categories...

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01. It's 'stolen' from WikiLeaks

Hillary Clinton has stolen our innovative WikiLeaks twitter logo design. Compare: @WikiLeaks vs @HillaryClinton pic.twitter.com/mifka4mXf4— WikiLeaks (@wikileaks) April 12, 2015

The notorious secrets-sharing site WikiLeaks generally has a pretty relaxed attitude to ownership and intellectual property. So we think there's probably a certain amount of tongue in cheek from this plagiarism complaint. Either way, not everyone is convinced...

@wikileaks @HillaryClinton looks fuck all like yours— Dave Richards (@IlforddaveSCFC) April 12, 2015

02. It 'looks like a hospital sign'

When you're campaigning for the leadership of the Free World, it's generally best to avoid associations with death, injury and illness. So it's perhaps unfortunate that the main thing that leaps to mind on seeing Hillary's new logo is a medical facility...

Finally figured out what the Hillary logo reminds me of pic.twitter.com/rFF47dUlWR— Nate Cohn (@Nate_Cohn) April 12, 2015

"@YousefMunayyer: Hillary Clinton's logo looks like a street sign telling you the hospital is to the right."@Yc_clinton: lolz... Hilarious.— Yung ClinTon (@Yc_clinton) April 13, 2015

Hillary Clinton's logo doesn't make me think of her campaign as much as "take a right to get to the hospital".— Joe See? (@inturnaround) April 13, 2015

03. It symbolises a 'shift to the right'

When it comes to politics you can't get much more basic than the left/right metaphor – and so we can't believe the designers didn't know what associations would draw from the arrow in this logo. Social media users certainly haven't missed the irony...

Am I the only one who noticed #Hillary Clinton's new logo has the arrow moving clearly to the right? pic.twitter.com/Eup3r763Xu— Don Goldberg (@itwitnesss) April 13, 2015

If #Hillary #Clinton wants to improve the situation of the "common man" - why does the arrow in her logo point to the right? #Hillary2016— Fuldor Waeder (@Fuldor_Waeder) April 13, 2015

Any bets on how long before the Clinton campaign ditches that awful logo? The Arrow points to the RIGHT. Ooops.— Marc Ferris (@Axxman300) April 13, 2015

04. It contains other 'hidden messages'

The last point aside, when it comes to symbolism in politics you can read pretty much anything into a design that you want to see. And the jokers and conspiracy theorists have been predictably out in force with this one...

little none fact that the Hillary Clinton campaign logo is actually her way of saying "I'm just gonna slide right into the presidency"— Иосиф Зайцев (@cteremomat) April 13, 2015

.@HillaryClinton That's a terrible logo. Subliminal message is vote for Hillary Clinton to move the country sideways.— Richard Hornsby (@RichardHornsby) April 12, 2015

Here's where the plane hit the tower. Oops my bad, this is .@HillaryClinton​'s new logo h/t @Jami_USA #tcot #teaparty pic.twitter.com/SFPIaSIxOm— C. Steven Tucker (@CSteven) April 12, 2015

The #Clinton campaign #logo levels subtle criticism against the US education system: Reading direction is left-to-right, #duh!— Moritz Goede (@MoritzGoede) April 13, 2015

Hillary Clinton's logo promises to return our nation to the greatness of late 1970s NBC. pic.twitter.com/GWlpvjlJcS— Chris Regan (@ChrisRRegan) April 12, 2015

05. It's "amateurish"

Is Hillary's logo a masterful example of the 'keep it simple, stupid' concept in action? Or is just simple and stupid? While the Twitter audience is not necessarily known for being balanced, thoughtful and fair, it's still interesting to see some of the initial reactions which, it has to be said, were almost overwhelmingly negative...

So what lucky 3rd grader won the Design the Hillary Clinton Campaign Logo contest? pic.twitter.com/JlgthsKP8u— The Punditry (@massfubar) April 12, 2015

Seriously, that Hillary Clinton campaign logo looks like it was made in MS Paint. pic.twitter.com/kgUkWgpBsY— Ryan Duff (@ryancduff) April 12, 2015

If there is anything Hillary Clinton needs to delete is this logo. It looks like I made it… pic.twitter.com/It5y8ToFGh— Andre (@Hedgology) April 12, 2015

Hillary Clinton's logo couldn't be any funnier. A red arrow covering a blue H pointing right. What a demented old bat. #ReadyForHillary— Brunette Mess (@lilpup09) April 13, 2015

Damn that Hillary Clinton #campaign #logo is whack. looks like someone went #flatdesign trigger-happy at an airport Hilton.— ✈ Rahul (@quasirahul) April 13, 2015

@Independent Looks like Hillary Clinton bought her logo from the Tesco Value aisle.— Aristocritique (@aristocritique) April 13, 2015

Hilary Clinton's campaign logo looks like someone was like "oh fuck, we forgot to make a logo... quick open up MS Paint and make something"— Dave™ ¯\_(ツ)_/¯ (@DaveWuzzHere) April 13, 2015

My first reaction to the Hillary logo is that it looks like it belongs on a 90s Nautica windbreaker pic.twitter.com/mFo9CPYvyq— Nick Horowitz (@ztiworoh) April 12, 2015