The Boston Phoenix reported on disgruntlement over the widespread use of the font, especially its incongruous use for writing on serious subjects, with the complaints focused around a campaign started by two Indianapolis graphic designers, Dave and Holly Combs, via their website "Ban Comic Sans".
[9] The movement was conceived in 1999 by the two designers, after an employer insisted that one of them use Comic Sans in a children's museum exhibit,
[3] and in early 2009, the movement was "stronger now than ever".
[3] The web site's main argument is that a typeface should match the tone of its text, and that the irreverence of Comic Sans is often at odds with a serious message, such as a "do not enter" sign.
[10]
In the 2005 session of the youth
model parliament in Ontario, the
New Democratic Party included the clause "Ban the font known as Comic Sans" in an omnibus ban bill.
[11]
Comic book artist
Dave Gibbons, whose work was one of the inspirations for the font, said that it was "a shame they couldn't have used just the original font, because [Comic Sans] is a real mess. I think it's a particularly ugly letter form."
[12]
Film producer and
New York Times essayist
Errol Morris wrote in an August 2012 posting, "The conscious awareness of Comic Sans promotes — at least among some people — contempt and summary dismissal." With the help of a professor, he conducted an online experiment and found that Comic Sans, in comparison to five other fonts (
Baskerville,
Helvetica,
Georgia,
Trebuchet MS, and
Computer Modern), makes readers slightly less likely to believe that a statement they are reading is true.
[13]
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