Phillips Design

Last weekend I was down on Market Street and ran face first into Diesel’s new advertising campaign, “Be Stupid.” Honestly, it was kinda hard not to – it’s large, bold, vibrant and in your face. Walking around it is not possible.

My first impression was: Slightly discordant, oddly unsettling.

I forwarded a link to a friend of mine (she always has an opinion) and I got an immediate reaction:

Yeah… HaHaHaHa… Get real kids. You are all going to be working for the Indians and Chinese – who in your mind are doing the “stupid-smart” things that you think are beneath you – and you go out and buy the cheap crap that is made overseas by poor people paid $3 per day and sold at Diesel. The company probably spends more money on advertising than they do on making the actual crap they sell in the store… (continues for quite a while)

(Gee, thanks for the input!)

But – everyone I’ve talked to about this has reacted similarly. They found certain aspects to be humorous and others downright disturbing and irritating. The videos, headlines, ads are funny, clever, edgy, hedonistic, and yes, stupid – and not necessarily in a good way. Most people are left with an anxious feeling, not quite sure what to make of it all.

Which, for Diesel, is a good thing.

Because if you never really paid much attention to Diesel before, you will now. 

• Diesel Stupid campaign site explained here and their Stupid Manifesto here.
• Advertising campaign reviewed here, with a large collection of ads.
• More here.
• Google it! Plenty of opinions out there…

Bless. Blesser. Blest. Blestest. (Chinatown)
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Plecostomus hood ornament (You know you want one.)
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It is all right to decorate construction, but never construct decoration.

– Learning from Las Vegas: The Forgotten Symbolism of Architectural Form, by Robert Venturi, Denise Scott Brown and Steven Izenour

Here at Phillips Design, we rarely get into the political design arena and to be perfectly honest – that’s fine with us.

The money can be really good – just make sure you get paid up front – but as a design project they’re usually horrible jobs with crazy deadlines. But more importantly: The political advertising/marketing scene is simply distasteful.

It’s a dirty, insidious, contentious, no-holds-barred cat fight and one (or both!) of the opponents is always lying. And most of the time we can never be sure who is lying– it could actually be your client.

So yeah, it’s slimy. It’s (almost?) as bad as porn. Read more…