Don't Be Stupid

It seems corporations aren’t sugar-coating it anymore.  They’ve decided they’ve spent enough time beating around the bush, dropping subtle hints and trying to mold consumer behaviour through evocative imagery and carefully crafted marketing campaigns.  It’s time to just come right out and say it.  “Ask and you shall receive” is the new motto maybe.  My dear readers, allow me to present the latest ad campaign from Diesel:

           

It’s simple really.  Stupid people will buy more clothes, and stupid people will pay $260 for a pair of jeans.  If everybody were stupid, business would be booming.  But how to make people want to be stupid?  Diesel can’t honestly expect people to just follow directions without some motivation - they need a reason to be stupid.

Brilliant!  Simply associate stupid with a more appealing adjective, like “fearless”.  Everybody wants to be fearless, daring, and brave - especially when their lives consist of monotonous, safe, routine activities - they’d like nothing more than the opportunity to prove how fearless they are, to distinguish themselves from all the other drones.  Diesel makes it as easy as a new pair of jeans!

But simply promoting stupid would only be going half-way.  To make people truly embrace stupidity, smart must be taken down a notch or two.

Yeah! Screw the Lion!  Take a picture of your vagina! Jeans!

So Diesel has created a smear campaign against smart.  There are some strong emotions surrounding smartness - jealousy, insecurity, fear, resentment.  The “Be Stupid” campaign riles up everybody who’s never liked the smart kids in class.  By showing how lame it is to be smart, Diesel can make stupid people feel better about being stupid.  Let's laugh at those silly smart people with all their brains and ideas, and let's be proud of being stupid!  So proud that we'll show the whole world by buying a $260 pair of jeans.

To me, stupid is buying a $40 t-shirt, or a $60 knit ski mask.

Stupid is wanting to be stupid.