Kevin Wang's Blog

Procrastinating on a warm, sunny day by surfing on 9GAG, I came across a blog that reports the latest trends in fashion marketing campaigns. With the idea of marketing campaigns in mind, I have to admit that sometimes it gets very annoying to be bombarded by companies/designers trying to make me pay for their overpriced products.

This blog post however, captured my attention because I was surprised to the creativity of Diet Coke’s 2012 Europe Campaign. Recently appointed as the Creative Director for Diet Coke Europe,  iconic French fashion designer Jean Paul Gaultier is very excited to be releasing a series of limited edition bottles which centers around the idea of drinking coke “day and night.” While it isn’t uncommon for well-known fashion designers to stamp their label on non-clothing/accessory commodities, the child of these unusual collaborations has been giving viewers the heebie-jeebies for decades.

As the Coca Cola company hoped for a total makeover, Jean Paul gave them just that. After three commercials aired in Europe, sales have increased following tidal waves of criticism. Claiming that the new bottle designs will take the shape of a woman’s body Jean Paul personally starred in the commercials as he transformed three overworked and over-stressed puppet models from zeros to heroes. Moreover, the wacky designer was able to sneak fans a preview of his 2012 clothing and shoe collection (priced over $1000+/piece).

These commercials may offend many because it portrays models as being dumb and heavy drinkers. Meanwhile, Jean Paul had the pleasure of stripping them nude and and designing them new outfits after getting high on artificial sweeteners. Rather than simply selling Diet Coke, it seems that he is more interested in challenging our values.  However, there is a can of Diet Coke sitting beside me right now, congrats Jean Paul!