Illustration Annual
Following on from our highly acclaimed Annual, and Photography Annual we are launching a version
just for Illustration
CR Blog
Diesel says Be Stupid
Posted by Eliza Williams, 18 January 2010, 16:15 Permalink Comments (70)
Jeans brands love a manifesto. Diesel has a new one, which is a call to arms to, um... Be Stupid.
Summed up in the film above, the new manifesto basically sees 'stupid' pitted against 'smart', with smart in this context meaning stuffy, risk-averse, geeky, while 'stupid' means brave, daring, and creative. "To be stupid is to be brave, when you risk something, that's stupid," says the manifesto. "The stupid aren't afraid to fail. Why? Because they're stupid! We think that you are probably pretty stupid too."
The manifesto includes reference to Renzo Rosso, the founder of Diesel, who built his manufacturing empire by initially selling jeans that looked secondhand. "Renzo Rosso is stupid," says the Be Stupid manifesto. "Stupid is motoring around in your Ford transit and visiting shop owner after shop owner, trying to sell your brand new denim made to look worn. 'It's a sign of innovation. When you are already doing the things nobody even thinks about.' That's a very stupid quote, Mister Rosso. Respect."
The campaign is backed up by a series of posters (a selection of which are shown here) shot by photographers Kristin Vicari, Melodie McDaniel and Chris Buck, each showing examples of people 'acting stupid'. In addition to this, Diesel are trying to recruit 'stupid people' (though judging by the call for entries, which asks if you "are you doing something particuarly stupid right now...like starting a band, building a tree house or creating an art installation", are in fact simply creative people) to be part of a forthcoming music video that will feature the new Diesel collection.
Created by Anomaly (who recently picked up the Sony account from Fallon), the campaign certainly takes a more bombastic approach than previous Diesel campaigns, which have been more noteworthy for their style than their taglines. But while it may be eyecatching, when we're all fed a regular diet of genuine stupidity via the media and TV most days already, will the 'Be Stupid' tag just prove grating? Or is everyone in fact longing to out themselves as stupid to Diesel?
The full Be Stupid campaign can be viewed online here.
70 Comments
I like the spirit of it, but am fundamentally put off by a marketing slogan that revolves around a misunderstanding of its own words...
2010-01-18 16:55:31
I dont get it. Does that mean I am stupid or smart?
2010-01-18 17:58:33
Stupid campaign.
2010-01-18 18:16:07
I like "be stupid".
but i think, in their video, they are trying to make it sound like it's a smart idea.
2010-01-18 18:43:43
I've seen posters for this plastered across some NY Subway Stations. What is truly stupid is the atrocious photoshopping that goes into some of the photographs, unfortunately.
2010-01-18 19:54:09
seems like another horrible manifestation of the kind of myth of dangerous rock and roll creatives that vice has caused and successfully gets people to buy rather dreary clothes and eastern bloc cameras from urban outfitters
oh and burgers
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_70xGUxznYY&feature=player_embedded
2010-01-18 20:17:30
What's the font anyone?
2010-01-18 22:04:30
WOW thats what you call stupid? Looks pretty tame and lame.
2010-01-18 22:04:46
fuck you i had this idea first
2010-01-18 22:31:13
NEVER CLEVER!!!! I agree, BE STUPID!!
2010-01-19 00:46:58
'grating' is a good word for my reaction. It's just a bit much, I mean, it's a turn off to be reminded of the stupidity we're fed constantly in media. I do like that last campaign poster with the happy face and the butts though ;-)
2010-01-19 04:54:44
hmmmm dunno about this one.... i really don't think the word they are looking for is stupid.... anyway pretty unimpressive.
2010-01-19 07:23:39
I like it, it's fun and dynamic. I especially like the ad, which is a nice example of some simple motion typography. Not sure if it's a good idea to promote fire as something fun and cool, even in the spirit of the ad, but still. Thumbs up!
2010-01-19 09:07:34
Stupid Idea, I like it!
2010-01-19 09:16:40
Stupid Stupid Stupid !
2010-01-19 09:26:01
another reason not to wear their jeans
2010-01-19 09:48:48
This looks more like a campaign for Diesel's sister brand 55DSL than for Diesel.
It's harking back to Diesel's advertising back in the 90's (but not as good).
Diesel is evidently suffering from a crisis of identity. Only a few seasons ago we were seeing ads positioning the causal wear brand against catwalk brands. Now it appears they have given up that battle and are trying to gain favour with the younger market once again.
2010-01-19 10:31:00
ironically clever
2010-01-19 10:59:40
Wouldn't it be better without the slogans? Seems a bit ... unnecessary, hammering the point home with those lines.
2010-01-19 11:00:18
The spirit of it is great but surely any expression of 'being daft can be fun' that needs a 2 minute video to explain what it means is err, stupid.
2010-01-19 14:31:06
I like the manifesto but what a horrible youtube spot...the music clashes with the gfx!!
Something in tune with the poster campaign would have been much nicer.
2010-01-19 14:31:48
Looks like a campaign aimed at students, who do stupid better than anyone. Shame they couldn't afford the jeans...
2010-01-19 14:32:18
I agree the butts and the smiley face is funny.
But there is something a bit patronising about a multi-billion dollar brand telling me to be stupid and expecting me to swallow it...how about they be stupid and lower thier prices or donate all thier profits for this year to charity?
2010-01-19 14:32:37
dirty sanchez were years ahead*
*ahead/behind
2010-01-19 14:35:19
It is truly stupid in the true sense of the word. Stupid is not clever, it's not brave, it's not creative. Stupid is unthinking and mindless. In the longer term, the glorification of stupid will be seen as damaging to society as cigarette advertising. Shame on Anomaly for cynically promoting an idea that in spite of any claims of irony is morally bankrupt.
Paul McManus
2010-01-19 14:47:17
I think this campaign is just showing people another way of thinking, a stupid way of thinking, in other words...we don't always have to conform to other people's 'smart' thinking. We can break the rules sometimes
or go nuts or just not bother lmao
I have designed a tshirt using Nikes own words along the same thinking as this campaign, take a look.
http://www.zazzle.co.uk/just_dont_do_it_tee_mens_tshirt-235935480361225181
Its basically, Just Dont Do It - cos u cant be arsed lmao, an ironic take on Nikes positive words using a cross instead of a tick. I think this kind of campaigning will be the future as some people are getting fed up of conforming to other peoples rules and beliefs, myself being one of them!
2010-01-19 14:56:06
Stupid or Smart?... Why does anyone actually give a **** about their new branding?
It's just another frustrating display of how the talents of some probably very creative, however completely soulless folk - this time from Anomoly, with their trendy ad firm name - are wasted on the advertising of a boring corporate fashion giant like Diesel. What a bunch of Ad whores!
2010-01-19 15:07:24
It's often easy to pick holes in campaigns like this, but is 'stupid' really the correct term to express a calculated risk? Someone somewhere's been stupid.
mb
2010-01-19 15:31:19
the font is monotype placard bold,
effectively gilding a turd in this instance...
2010-01-19 16:16:12
I don't get it. So what, their target demographic for their 120dollar jeans is 13-19y.os? They were gaining some popularity in the fashion scene as upmarket casual wear for the 20-30somethings. But this is very unlikely to impress them -poor choice of words, syllogisms, condescending, and, well... shall we say childish?
That being said, I like their photography, and the graphic style of the ads is interesting and eye-catching. And I think it will appeal the very well-to-do teenagers out there, with its rock-n-roll trashy party feel. But it will also alienate other consumers. We'll see.
2010-01-19 16:23:17
Fantastic! Further celebration of all that's moronic in popular 'yoof' culture. The fruits of our vacuous, mentally debilitating society are fermenting nicely.
2010-01-19 17:04:01
...and I'm so stooopid I can't even post to a website correctly.
2010-01-19 17:06:38
hang on a minute, yes I can, my comment is showing. Blasted internetz...
2010-01-19 17:22:49
Either way, certainly discussion-worthy.
2010-01-19 17:39:29
Absolute bollocks. I'm so tired of Creatives trying to appropriate words in the name of brands and having a complete inability to articulate why that product has the right to claim ownership over that word in a way that is cohesive never mind interesting.
Another boring, badly conceived, stream of consciousness manifesto masquerading as an idea in the same vein as Blackberry's tedious and patronising Love campaign.
2010-01-19 17:39:57
SMART CRITIQUES. STUPID CREATES.
WE NEED LESS CRITICS. WE NEED TO ENJOY MORE.
LONG LIVE STUPID
2010-01-19 18:03:16
So this is new and radical advertising, is it? Worthy of inclusion on the CR Blog? It's a pretty thin idea and it's trying too hard. It's like the sad git at a party who says "I'm MAD, I am... crazy!!!"
2010-01-19 18:07:51
Diesels image has gone way down hill - not just here but for the last 5 years or so (i remember the collections being way cooler). The jeans make me think of 30 to 40yr olds walking around London with north face body warmers and Starbucks?
Still though the U:Music face is ace.
2010-01-19 18:17:42
I'd expect that campaign in a (bad) student book.
2010-01-19 18:30:47
The video is awful!!!! the photography is poor and the slogans absolute rubbish! However... this campaign will be a success due to the fact the majority of the target market are not normally creative people. They are sheep that buy the jeans because they are Diesel and will like the campaign because it is Diesel.
2010-01-19 18:34:58
Is this comment section restricted to bitter account people, tight ass clients/marketing folk, and talentless washed up hacks?
2010-01-19 19:57:28
Advertising should have closed up shop after "Where's the Beef?" ... pure magic...
2010-01-19 20:17:35
The intention sounds cool, but the executions are rather boring and old fashion! The play with typography in the video drags on too long, and seems to be a copy of by Paul Arden's book 'Whatever you think. Think the opposite.' which was first published in 2006! I prefer they don't spell out 'Be Stupid' and take it even further.
2010-01-19 20:52:40
So is stupid, cool now? You'd have to be stupid to pay £180 for a pair of jeans...
2010-01-20 07:32:51
get the sense there's a bit of doublethink in this? Or am I just being too smart? Ignorance is Strength
2010-01-20 10:52:20
Looks like a campaign aimed at students, who do stupid better than anyone. Shame they couldn't afford the jeans...
2010-01-20 13:59:07
Sorry, what was it they were selling again? . . .
2010-01-20 15:27:10
It's funny to be stupid but not always. I act stupid most of the time. Lol!
2010-01-20 17:27:44
I think that if it causes this much debate then it is a success. Would Marcel Duchamp have been successful if he wasn't a bit weird?
2010-01-20 21:09:27
The button execution works really well - when being stupid is really fun. The others are people actually being stupid, which isn't fun at all. The lines grab my attention, thats good - the imagery is hit & miss though.
2010-01-20 21:59:00
I think they got carried away and forgot about the product, it’s bloody Stupid.
2010-01-20 23:42:22
Generates an instant reaction whether you like it or not - in the same way that someone er... being stupid would.
Reminds me of Reginald Perrin's hugely successful GROT empire. Where totally useless products where conceived, designed and marketed with great success (that was a TV comedy series remember, but doesn't it all sound rather familiar?)
Jackass, Dirty Sanchez, Dom Jolly and Fonejacker all got there first and are the genuine article.
The point is that true STUPID doesn't SELL anything, it just IS.
2010-01-21 10:24:58
A right load of old bollocks......can I have a job please?
2010-01-21 15:16:43
Funny how few people that step out of their roles and put themselves in modern youth culture clothes. I think I would love this if I was 17, French, sick of English studies and just wanted to smoke a spliff after class and go to a house party. I'd love this if I was thinking of listening to my parents and going to a good school after high school or going traveling for a year. It's inclusive and exclusive at the same time, it's clever. But does it appeal to 35 year old art directors? Probably not. Job well done.
2010-01-21 17:39:42
i am a well respected and highly sout-after creative director at a large, world-over advertising agency, and i find it shameful and unrespectful of people to say so many lecherus barbs about the afoarmentioned campane. the reality of the situation is, you can run but you can not hide, not when it comes to a horse drinking water, which may or may not go to the water. So its mostly a matter of subjective or objective thinking vis a vis traditional verses a non-traditional, digital approach. And, look, I understand, the times they are a-changing, but to act the fool and excoriate the powers that be? Hey, been there, done that, go viral or go home.
2010-01-21 19:00:02
" i simply love it"....its a brilliant campaign...yet another feather in the hat for Diesel
2010-01-22 09:06:10
Dear mytwocents : WHAT?!?
2010-01-22 10:41:09
Dear Peter Crnokrak : I second you.
Warm regards,
The semi respected founder of a failing illustration website.
2010-01-22 12:41:38
This is one of the most annoying and insulting ad campaigns I have ever seen. I'm too stupid to get it is guess. Oh, wait, that can't be right...
2010-01-22 13:57:16
Are their strikes in Italy? Did anyone with any experience actually work on this campaign, or just their new artistic director, company owner, and ad agency mentioned in the media release? Do they even understand what the word stupid means in popular english? Terrible stuff, even my girlfriend's little brother called it lame, and he actually fits within Diesel's new target demographic of boring suburban teens. Just embarrassing all-around. And here's a good "stupid" question, what should I do with my old Diesel jeans now that I’m ashamed to put them on? Any suggestions?
2010-01-22 16:58:39
A campaign bad in so many ways I won’t even waste my time analyzing every way it fails. Diesel seems suddenly desperate to win over 13-year-olds, but in doing so they may just lose everyone else.
2010-01-22 18:27:28
I was ready to submit to a client an article on the worst ad campaigns of the past ten years and now I've got to edit the text at the last minute to add this one... damnit but I just couldn't leave this turd off the list
for a laugh see the I-Mean-What fashion blog which slams Diesel and its new artistic direction, ridiculing the fact that the company reached out to the struggling magazine world to hire its new artistic director and this is the crap which has resulted. The author hilariously proposes Jim Carrey will be in the next Diesel ads
http://imeanwhat.com/youcallthisfashion/stupid-ads-from-diesel
2010-01-23 03:54:04
http://www.imeanwhat.com/youcallthisfashion/stupid-ads-from-diesel correct link to I-Mean-What blog, a hilarious critique of this campaign
2010-01-23 03:58:52
I am a very large & immensely respected creative director. I am paid by major brands both in my professional and private capacities. This new Diesel campaign is surely most wonderful & life-enhancing. It does a tremendously good job in restoring Diesel's appeal to today's youth. The campaign is vivacious, amusing, challenging, rebellious. Wonderful pictures. Great copywriting. Bravo Diesel bravo. An impressive return to form. Bravo. Give us more. We need it.
2010-02-01 12:10:59
Justin,
Do you work for Diesel's press office by any chance?
Gregg
2010-02-02 00:07:09
Gregg
How on earth could I work for a press office with a name like Justin! I also drew attention to how large a creative director I am... undiscerning of you.
No. My comments are mainly a sincere response to the fact that so many UK creatives seem to have missed the point of this campaign. But then this campaign was never really aimed at them, was it?
Why do we tend to be so up ourselves?
Justin.
2010-02-08 13:23:58
this advert is for the heads. the diesel heads. theres no competition for diesel... i guess 75% of the negative comments posted here are SMART ASSES - get with the times. Be Stupid. long live Diesel
2010-02-10 15:25:12
Here the SMART campaign:
http://www.fourdotz.com
HAPPPY FEW is the smart network. Check on it.
They are also on facebook.
M.
2010-02-16 16:17:53
The slogan "Be Stupid" & the photos doesn't fit with their philosophy "to go ahead and be daring and crazy". The photos show people messing about, being silly, not creative and daring.
2010-02-19 06:00:00
Wow. We're at the point in American history where corporations no longer even have to be subtle and lie, just simply tell people to be stupid and passive and buy whatever cheap, useless crap is thrown at them to make them feel open-minded and brave and forget how miserable, vulnerable, and manipulated they are behind a pair of ugly pants. Don't be brainwahsed. STUPID PEOPLE BELIEVE EVERYTHING THEY HEAR.
2010-03-10 05:12:36
Get the RSS Feed
Most recently commented
| Decision time for the RCA (32) |
| CR Survey (88) |
| Driven by data: McLaren's new site (4) |
| 50by70: Habitat's book of artworks (18) |
| Being a hipster doesn't always make you happy (12) |
Most read
| iGlass mate? That'll be extra |
| MTV channel idents |
| Decision time for the RCA |
| The Small Apple |
| The new look BJP |
Subjects
| Advertising | (642) | |
| Art | (185) | |
| Books | (137) | |
| Digital | (200) | |
| Graphic Design | (527) | |
| Illustration | (247) | |
| Magazine / Newspaper | (92) | |
| Music Video / Film | (496) | |
| Photography | (184) | |
| Type / Typography | (130) |
