Jean brands love a good manifesto and Diesel’s latest is Be Stupid. The manifesto sees ’stupid’ pitted against ’smart’, with smart referring to the conformist and prudent, and ’stupid’ to the bold, audacious, and creative. There’s an unarguable logic to this campaign for embracing one’s stupidity. Stupid is watching apples (Newton + gravity); flying kites in a thunderstorm (Franklin + electricity). The campaign is backed by a series of posters each showing examples of people ‘acting stupid’, though they don’t really show the depth of thought. In addition, Diesel is trying to recruit ’stupid people’ to be part of a forthcoming music video that will feature the new collection. In a time when recession’s hitting Diesel’s audience and making us all more serious and cautious, this is a great cultural antidote.


Created by Anomaly, the campaign continues Diesel’s noisy and controversy-seeking advertising, which we’re big fans of. It’s another perspective, another way of thinking – a stupid way of thinking that highlights the notion that people don’t have to conform to other people’s so called ‘smart thinking’. That it’s good to break rules, be idle, go mental.


Thanks to Gavin and sarah for this story.


References:
Creative Review

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