Ad critique of the now.

A lot of people have taken offense to this recent outdoor ad by the American Freedom Defense Initiative. And why not.

I mean it was created with a total disregard for the hallowed craft of art direction and copywriting. I've seen anal wart removal ads on the subway which exhibit more refinement and subtlety. All creatives should be horrified and demand a complete revision.

Here are a few of tips:

• Remove the crescent and star. Right now it looks like a building with a skewed one-eyed happy face. It had me smiling for a second until I realized the aim was to horrify/scare/anger.
• Lose the double arrow. Not sure what it means other than "neither here nor there". Rather have the arrow lead from left to right, which symbolizes "then and now".
• "Why There?" Really, is that the best way of capturing attention. How about something more New York, like "Are you fucking kidding me?"
• The color scheme is all over the place. If this message is to be direct and coherent, then so should the art direction. Also the colors need to be more threatening. I'm not getting Armageddon from this. Red could be particularly effective. Stay away from pink though.
• Make your logo bigger. Proudly own the ad.

(Sharing credit to adfreak)