Diesel’s “Be Stupid” ads are probably the smartest ads I have seen in a while.
The way they use a human being’s psyche is amazing. Everyone knows that sometimes, reverse psychology is the best way to get someone to do what you want. And DIESEL makes ample use of that tool in these advertisements. But there are many problems that this marketer would have considered before putting these ads out in public:
Be Stupid:
1) Stupid is a bad word! at least that’s what everyone was taught in kindergarten right? Be nice and respectful to everyone, and you will have lots of friends. But this marketer used the word ‘stupid’ and still managed to attract a lot of customers? How did he manage to get so many friends by being offensive? In this case, we need to consider their target market. The people who use diesel are mostly the ‘trucker’ types. These consumers have a very high tolerance level for swear words. So for them, this ad was more funny than it was offensive.
2) They used a very “cool” sounding song to attract a lot of attention. This has two effects: First it is an annoying jingle that you will never get out of your head(refer to previous blog for more on this). And, secondly they manage to give the whole advertisement a fun- feel. The video very closely resembles a cartoon, with bold/graphic images. They are encouraging viewers to take this advertisement lightly and not think about things too seriously. Thus they manage to soften the effect of offensive words, and indeed managed to make consumers forget about its offensiveness.
3) The last consideration relates back to the target market. Since they know that their main consumer is an adult, they used very adult images: partial nudity, sex etc.
Comments please! What are you thoughts? do you think I am wrong? right? Is there anything I missed?
Love,
Pranita Iyer
P.S: Exams are almost coming aaah! try checking back on a few of my blogs if you want a fun review of some key marketing theories.