Creative Criminals

The Diesel Ad Campaign

"There is a point at which the law becomes immoral and unethical. That point is reached when it becomes a cloak for the cowardice that dares not stand up against blatant violations of justice"

-Kurt Huber 

The Diesel Campaign and Philosophy

Diesel  philosophy  is ' Be Stupid'  The  FW1  Sneakers  advertised  via  this  campaign  are 
catching  up  with 'Kick ass'  an  integrated   advertising campaign  using  video,  Twittas, print  and  online  media  featuring  kickable  people.  The sneakers  aren't made for running. People run because they are scared of getting fat, or being late or something bad will happen to them. Diesel is stupid and stupid doesn't run from anything. Stupid likes to kick asses. Kicking the ass of someone who deserves it, is one of the unspoken pleasures of life. It just feels so good.


Print advertisements

In this print ad, the young guy wearing the Diesel sneakers is shown kicking the ass of an American football cheerleader's ass.

Findings

There isn's a single review/ response / comment on the internet which raised its voice against this campaign except for one group on Facebook called the 'Boycott the Diesel-kick ass campaign' The campaign was on air in 2007, and till date it hasn't been criticized or condemned against. In fact people referred Diesel to be creative marketing genius and thought the campaign was brilliant.

Criticism

I personally found this campaign very demeaning and not at all creative. According to me any campaign can be made stupid, but actually creating a campaign, which makes sense, is a bigger challenge. The print advertisements in this campaign conveys the idea that if you own a pair of Diesel Sneakers, you can kick an ass of any one you think deserves to be kicked, even if that meant kicking a senior, old, experienced dentist, or a celebrity woman. My social and emotional intelligence doesn't allow to kick anybody.I found it very demeaning and disrespectful to portray women in such a bad manner.

The lower angle shot emphasizing the cheerleader's ass and her lingerie just gross me out and unethical. It just shows till what extent Diesel could go to sell their 'stupid' sneakers. Diesel tried to inculcate the idea that you could kick anybody, even women.This  senseless and pejorative campaign was  accepted by everybody with blind eyes. Nobody wants to question it and have proved that they can be highly manipulated by advertisements and media.

Law

"Indecent representation of women' means the depiction in any manner of the figure of a woman; her form or body or any part thereof in such a way as to have the effect of being indecent, or derogatory to, or denigrating women, or is likely to deprave, corrupt or injure the public morality or morals. This ad clearly is depicting the cheerleader in a very vulgar way, ideally it should have been banned ,Diesel should have been penalized and undergone the punishment, but nothing of this action was undertaken.


According to me, the campaign is based on amoral grounds, not keeping in consideration of the sentiments of the people, senior citizens, even females. The concept of kicking someone is unethical. No one gives me the rights to kick some one just because I wear Diesel sneakers. It sets a very bad example for children, fills up a sense of attitude in youngsters wearing these sneakers and sends wrong messages. A good brand always communicates good ideas and not ideas which would hurt or put someone down.

I feel that we should raise our voice against things which we feel is wrong, and not get into the trap of the controversy and cheap stunts which these companies create for the sales of their products.

The other demeaning print ads are as follows:-