Most Illiterate Logo Failing | David Boles, Blogs

We love logos and their unintentional hidden meanings. We are sometimes even shocked by logos that are, but should never have been:

Over the weekend, we stumbled upon a sad and unfortunate logo that makes one wonder who is watching the graphic designer.

We “blowed up” the logo for the “Massachusetts Literacy Foundation” — a noble and important group with a great mission… and one lousy logo… so you could see the semiotic of the message unwittingly being presented.

Am I the only one who sees “MILF” in that logo instead of just “MLF?”

Sure, sex sells, but do we want that sort of sex selling our mothers?

Not only does the “MLF” logo look like “MILF” — it also strongly steals semiotic juice from the Google Gmail logo:

So, in a single logo, we have one stolen semiotic employed to wrongly suggest a MILF sex site!

Here the “MLF” logo in context on their homepage:

Sorry, I still see “MILF” and “Gmail” and not “Massachusetts Literacy Foundation” — and those mistaken identities alone are enough of a clarion call to fix the Most Illiterate Logo Failing.

6 Comments

David Boles – New York City – David Boles was born in Nebraska and holds an MFA from the Oscar Hammerstein II Center for Theatre Studies at Columbia University in the City of New York. He is an author, dramatist, editor, publisher, and teacher who writes across the live stage, print, radio, television, film, and the web. With more than 50 books in print, David continues to write 2MM words a year and has authored over 25K articles. He is a member of the Dramatists Guild, the Authors Guild, and PEN America, and founded The United Stage advocacy platform on the principle that playwrights have a duty to direct their own work. Read the Prairie Voice Archive at Boles.com | Buy his books at David Boles Books Writing & Publishing at BolesBooks.com | Study with Script Professor at ScriptProfessor.com | Touch American Sign Language mastery at Hardcore ASL at HardcoreASL.com | Explore the Human Meme podcast at HumanMeme.com | Train with Boles Bells at BolesBells.com.

Gordon Davidescu says:

August 24, 2009 at 11:29 am

Milfs are almost as bad as wrinkled Penis-Cola!
David Boles – New York City – David Boles was born in Nebraska and holds an MFA from the Oscar Hammerstein II Center for Theatre Studies at Columbia University in the City of New York. He is an author, dramatist, editor, publisher, and teacher who writes across the live stage, print, radio, television, film, and the web. With more than 50 books in print, David continues to write 2MM words a year and has authored over 25K articles. He is a member of the Dramatists Guild, the Authors Guild, and PEN America, and founded The United Stage advocacy platform on the principle that playwrights have a duty to direct their own work. Read the Prairie Voice Archive at Boles.com | Buy his books at David Boles Books Writing & Publishing at BolesBooks.com | Study with Script Professor at ScriptProfessor.com | Touch American Sign Language mastery at Hardcore ASL at HardcoreASL.com | Explore the Human Meme podcast at HumanMeme.com | Train with Boles Bells at BolesBells.com.

David W. Boles says:

August 24, 2009 at 11:30 am

Gordon —
Do you mean “almost as bad” or… “better” — ha!
scratj

TJ says:

February 4, 2011 at 1:08 pm

Haha, I noticed the same thing when I saw their logo at the bottom of Boston Herald’s website..I thought I was the only one who noticed it..until I googled and found this!

Good look for them.

TJ
1. David Boles – New York City – David Boles was born in Nebraska and holds an MFA from the Oscar Hammerstein II Center for Theatre Studies at Columbia University in the City of New York. He is an author, dramatist, editor, publisher, and teacher who writes across the live stage, print, radio, television, film, and the web. With more than 50 books in print, David continues to write 2MM words a year and has authored over 25K articles. He is a member of the Dramatists Guild, the Authors Guild, and PEN America, and founded The United Stage advocacy platform on the principle that playwrights have a duty to direct their own work. Read the Prairie Voice Archive at Boles.com | Buy his books at David Boles Books Writing & Publishing at BolesBooks.com | Study with Script Professor at ScriptProfessor.com | Touch American Sign Language mastery at Hardcore ASL at HardcoreASL.com | Explore the Human Meme podcast at HumanMeme.com | Train with Boles Bells at BolesBells.com.
  
  David W. Boles says:
  
  February 4, 2011 at 1:57 pm
  
  Thanks for the comment, TJ. I’m glad I’m not the only one “seeing” these crazy things!
Roger Robie says:

February 26, 2012 at 9:58 am

LMAO, Saw this logo on another site and instantly saw MILF as well. The graphic designer is probably still laughing on that one.
1. David Boles – New York City – David Boles was born in Nebraska and holds an MFA from the Oscar Hammerstein II Center for Theatre Studies at Columbia University in the City of New York. He is an author, dramatist, editor, publisher, and teacher who writes across the live stage, print, radio, television, film, and the web. With more than 50 books in print, David continues to write 2MM words a year and has authored over 25K articles. He is a member of the Dramatists Guild, the Authors Guild, and PEN America, and founded The United Stage advocacy platform on the principle that playwrights have a duty to direct their own work. Read the Prairie Voice Archive at Boles.com | Buy his books at David Boles Books Writing & Publishing at BolesBooks.com | Study with Script Professor at ScriptProfessor.com | Touch American Sign Language mastery at Hardcore ASL at HardcoreASL.com | Explore the Human Meme podcast at HumanMeme.com | Train with Boles Bells at BolesBells.com.
  
  David W. Boles says:
  
  February 26, 2012 at 11:14 am
  
  I happened upon the logo in the wild again the other day — and it made me laugh! It’s still out there in all its MILF-y goodness! SMILE!

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