Stupid is cool!
Sunday, January 31, 2010 Publié par Eric Tenin
It's a weird advertising campaign I came across today at the Palais Royal (well, Place Colette, to be more accurate). It promotes... Stupidity! Well apparently it's a little more subtle than that of course (according to what the messages say, stupid people take more risks than smart ones, which is seen as a positive thing). Intriguing and original. BTW, the clothes brand Diesel is behind all this (check this little video).
January 31, 2010 12:18:00 AM GMT+01:00
I don't think stupid is cool. Bart Simpson seems to think so, but I don't! But I like your photo...
January 31, 2010 12:32:00 AM GMT+01:00
This is the sort of thing that ad agency "creatives" never tire of patting themselves on the back about: sell an idea, not the product. Thing is, while customers shell out increasingly ridiculous prices for, let's face it, fairly average fashion, it's the clothes they actually walk out of the store with and have to wear. Which takes nothing away from the cleverness of such campaigns. Or would they prefer us to praise it for being unashamedly stupid? ... Hard to say.
That said, it's great to see what's happening at Place Colette at the moment. I passed it almost every day while I was in Paris. On the way there, I also used to say hello to the statue of Moliere (a hundred metres away, in rue Richelieu).
January 31, 2010 12:48:00 AM GMT+01:00
Extraordinary because of its accuracy - but not everybody can be stupid IMO!!! Extraordinary well found!
I didn't see these posters yet. Excellent Eric. Have so many to say about it, I prefer even not to start here! I'm totally sure though that brain and balls coexist both in people I know the best. There's not the shadow of a doubt to me.
January 31, 2010 1:07:00 AM GMT+01:00
Perhaps the advantage of "stupid" people taking great risks than "not-stupid" or "smarter" people is the possibility of a higher mortality rate among the "stupid" people, therefor leaving more "non-stupid" people around?
Isn't advertising amazing? As Lucio said, the Creatives that thought this stupid advertising up probably need to visit their masseuse by now!
January 31, 2010 1:30:00 AM GMT+01:00
LOOOL Chuck! A massage is delivering by now, through my keyboard...
Smart critiques, stupid creates : where shall I range myself, then ???
OMG !!
Funny ad anyway but be yourself is better than be stupid and sometimes as hard !!
January 31, 2010 2:27:00 AM GMT+01:00
I love the contrasts here, Eric, between the brash and bold posters and the refined and elegant cafe in the background. A really wonderful photo!!
As for the marketing campaign... umm... I wonder how that's working for them. {LOL, Chuck!}
January 31, 2010 2:31:00 AM GMT+01:00
Deah Gawd!! I think that there are more than enough stupid people around, must we encourage them??
January 31, 2010 2:34:00 AM GMT+01:00
Aren’t they a little late? George W., His Royal Retardedness, is out of office, but he still serves as the perfect counter to this brilliant ad campaign. Wait, if it's brilliant then it is stupid because stupid is better, which makes it smart which is dumb. Huh?
Stupid listens to the heart—“Saddam Hussein tried to kill my Daddy!"
Stupid creates—Yeah, creates unjustified, unnecessary wars that profit his cronies in the arms industry.
Stupid has the balls—To have pretended he was even remotely qualified to be in the position he was. But it was for such a great cause: to enrich his death-merchant friends.
I’m guessing that this is a first salvo in prepping the world for a third Bush presidential run.
Fcuk Diesel. I p*ss on their clothing (as in urinate). Not that it doesn’t stink enough.
"War is peace. Freedom is slavery." George Orwell has warned us.
January 31, 2010 2:46:00 AM GMT+01:00
Hmmm I've been ashamedly stupid a few times in my life and it got me nowhere. However the concept is, as you say, original (the ad on you tube almost made me want to go out and do something stupid which was rather - well, stupid - really) and I love the photo.
Chuck was quite right. Has anyone read the Darwin Awards?
January 31, 2010 3:26:00 AM GMT+01:00
Oh, this makes my head hurt. So, creative = stupid?? And smart is something to be avoided? Great. The world's idiots now have their manifesto and their rationalization.
Oh, I can't even think about this anymore...
January 31, 2010 3:28:00 AM GMT+01:00
Totally bizarre advertising campaign...Be Stupid?!!!
January 31, 2010 4:11:00 AM GMT+01:00
The photo made me laugh when I got to the last sign -- it was unexpected. And the video is cute. I laughed all the way through it. Merci :)
January 31, 2010 4:17:00 AM GMT+01:00
Psssst, I don't really care for Diesel clothing. Not because I think they are stupid, just bland.
January 31, 2010 4:47:00 AM GMT+01:00
Now your photo has got me thinking about jeans. I was alive when the "designer" jean craze hit the fashion world. Remember "Lois" jeans. I recently visited his website and it is really cool. http://www.loisjeans.com/ And I still like his designer jeans -- they have been around since the 60's. Actually, I was even thinking about buying a pair or two. But then I decided to re-think that because the ones I want are a little extravagant -- I mean, you can't wear them with everything. http://www.loisjeans.com/web0809/ The name "Lois" can be a man or woman's name. You say it the same. Some languages don't say the "s" -- it's silent. I did not like my name when I was a kid. But I like it now.
January 31, 2010 5:14:00 AM GMT+01:00
Well when the going gets STUPIDE, the SMART head right there to Nemours for une coupe de champagne.:)
V
January 31, 2010 5:55:00 AM GMT+01:00
Interesting.....the Diesel ads are all over the subway stations in NYC. The difference is, they have people in them and they are placed in various settings.
I just wonder why they used English in Paris....stupid is as stupid does.
January 31, 2010 8:39:00 AM GMT+01:00
Chuck is correct. It's called natural selection. Let's hope it continues to work.
January 31, 2010 8:56:00 AM GMT+01:00
Clearly, the exhortation to "be stupid" is a tongue-in-cheek way of saying "don't over-think": have feeling; be courageous; go nuts! It's likely to appeal most to the young, who love being told such things (after all, most of them are spending their parent's money, not their own) or people who, though not exactly young anymore, still subscribe to the spurious dichotomy heart vs head. You know, the rather simplistic notion that all thought is inherently frigid while all emotions are inherently passionate. The head is rigid: the heart, rad!
Which is why this campaign, "stupid" as it might seem, is pretty smart. If only one could say the same of their clothing line!
In any case - as we've proven - it gets people talking, and is therefore as viral as it is vacuous.
January 31, 2010 9:44:00 AM GMT+01:00
"Clearly, the exhortation to "be stupid" is a tongue-in-cheek way of saying "don't over-think": have feeling; be courageous; go nuts!" Yes Lucio, I thought of this meaning too. Teenagers are like that ; they have feelings, ideals and goals. They are more authentic than are becoming their parents (well in an average level). I haven't give it up yet. Be stupid, don't be a looser! That works too.
January 31, 2010 10:06:00 AM GMT+01:00
Lucio, you’ve just contradicted yourself. If “stupid” is smart then it is really stupid because “smart” is out. I can see a heart vs. head dichotomy but I wouldn’t consider listening to one’s heart to be stupid. It’s a poor choice of word. OK, there was a time when the word “bad” meant good. I’m thinking this may be a similar attempt to twist language to an inside purpose. I mean what has “sick” meant not so long ago. But I keep thinking what is being said is: “Be stupid. Buy Diesel. You’ll hate yourself but that’s because you are all a bunch of piteous fools. In fact we could add a surcharge at the point of sale tripling the price and you idiots are so dull you’ll buy Diesel anyway. What jerks all our customers are. Be stupid and pay good money for our crap when we should be paying you to take these inferior goods off our hands. Stupidity reigns supreme, at least in our clever eyes.”
It looks like former unemployed people in the worst branches of the financial industry have found gainful employment writing ad copy.
There would be no need to administer IQ tests to purchasers of Diesel goods. Wearing anything of Diesel provenance would be like proudly telling the world, “I’m a cretin.”
Wait a minute, this is all a joke isn’t it? Some props for a comedy sketch? But Lynn mentioned NY subways. I think I’ll go run as fast as I can into a telephone pole and knock myself out. Now that’ll take balls and stupidity. Am I in the in crowd or what? Gimme a break.
Only one thing matters now. How many people, having seen the ad campaign, will be willing to prove their stupidity by buying Diesel. Will there be enough that I can spend a lot of time pointing and laughing?
January 31, 2010 10:34:00 AM GMT+01:00
What am I saying? What a great opportunity for pick-up lines. “I see from your Diesel that you think of yourself as stupid. But are you stupid enough to hook up with some old fart three times your age?”
Just joking. I can be so stupid.
January 31, 2010 12:02:00 PM GMT+01:00
So what’s next? “Ugly” as the new beautiful? So we’ll have plastic surgery to make us ugly? Oh. Michael Jackson already did that.
The “Eat-yourself-fat diet? Oh. Oprah.
"Support our troops. Do your share to mainline as much Afghan heroin as you can without ODing.”
Free tattoos for everyone?
January 31, 2010 12:45:00 PM GMT+01:00
Tall Gary: Um, no. ... I said the *campaign* is smart (in ad terms, at least), not that stupidity is: I'd never say that. ... Oh, and I disagree that "stupid" is a poor choice of word with regard to listening to one's heart. It's simply an *odd* choice of word; and, as far as I can see, a strategic - i.e. attention-grabbing - manoeuvre designed to appeal to youngsters (and oldsters) too hip for the word "cool". ... Sorry if anything I wrote led to confusion.
PS I think the campaign sucks, and obviously hope others will too, but I can see the logic behind it.
January 31, 2010 1:38:00 PM GMT+01:00
LOL !!!
January 31, 2010 4:48:00 PM GMT+01:00
Again, Tall Gary, LOL's from you!
January 31, 2010 4:51:00 PM GMT+01:00
Well spotted! ... but no, it doesn't work with me. No wish to be stupid LOL - it would put me off their jeans.
January 31, 2010 5:32:00 PM GMT+01:00
This is thinking a little too far outside the box...
January 31, 2010 6:32:00 PM GMT+01:00
Petrea: "It's toasted." (Mad Men) ;-)
January 31, 2010 8:15:00 PM GMT+01:00
Very wise.
Although I´m afraid sometimes I over use my stupidity.
January 31, 2010 8:26:00 PM GMT+01:00
@Lucio, "still subscribe to the spurious dichotomy heart vs head. You know, the rather simplistic notion that all thought is inherently frigid while all emotions are inherently passionate. The head is rigid: the heart, rad!" That is so true. I see people from my generation acting stupid and thinking it's cool.
@Tall Gary, "I think I’ll go run as fast as I can into a telephone pole and knock myself out. Now that’ll take balls and stupidity. Am I in the in crowd or what?" OMG, you crack me up -- you are hilarious!
@Lynn, "Well spotted! ... but no, it doesn't work with me. No wish to be stupid LOL - it would put me off their jeans." Oh, that British wit -- love your humor.
@Petrea, "This is thinking a little too far outside the box..." An elegant and tactful comment -- I was expecting that.
January 31, 2010 8:29:00 PM GMT+01:00
Hey Monica, I was just thinking about you. I watched the film classic "Black Orpheus" (1959) "Orfeu Negro" A Greek Tragedy. I think the first time I saw this film I was about 15 years old. I cried at the end. And years later when I saw it, I cried at the end. Maybe you have seen it? This is a re-telling of the Orpheus and Eurydice Greek legend. It is set against Rio de Janeiro's madness during Carnival.
January 31, 2010 8:41:00 PM GMT+01:00
Intelligent lovers understand both heart and head: feel the intelligence, know the passion.
January 31, 2010 8:44:00 PM GMT+01:00
Exactly.
January 31, 2010 9:15:00 PM GMT+01:00
Hmmm Jeff, ... I'm caught!
January 31, 2010 10:02:00 PM GMT+01:00
There are a few funny photos though, if you browse through the many posters/billboards (click on view campaign), especially the CCTV one...
January 31, 2010 10:03:00 PM GMT+01:00
Oops check "View Campaign" at this page http://www.diesel.com/be-stupid/
January 31, 2010 11:18:00 PM GMT+01:00
I LOL many times reading your comments("As Lucio said, the Creatives that thought this stupid advertising up probably need to visit their masseuse by now!")
Lois, I concur: Orfeu Negro is fantastic. I love the Orpheus Myth in general including all the adaptations that have been made of it (well this one by Jean Cocteau in particular!
January 31, 2010 11:52:00 PM GMT+01:00
Seriously, TG, tell us what you really think! :~)
Funny—I've just been watching a bunch of episodes of Mad Men. These ads are all over the NY subways right now—a real blitz, like here (so you can't miss them I guess). If you ask me, what's stupid is this ad campaign! (This seems to be the general consensus.)
February 1, 2010 12:13:00 AM GMT+01:00
Lois hi!
Yes I saw it, the one passed in Rio I mean. The main actor actually is a famous singer here. love it!
February 1, 2010 5:41:00 AM GMT+01:00
Occidental College in Calif. is offering a philosophy course on Stupidity. At first I thought that was stupid, but then when I realize how much stupidity one encounters in life, I guess it is something worthy of analysis.
February 1, 2010 8:59:00 AM GMT+01:00
What a stupid ad campaign.
February 1, 2010 9:58:00 AM GMT+01:00
I just wonder how much this ad agency charged for their "stupidity"...are they laughing at the general public and its stupidity, or laughing at those who paid them to come up with this?
February 1, 2010 1:13:00 PM GMT+01:00
Stunning scene with Jean Marais in Orphee. I often wonder how many times actors have to replay one scene before it gets the just perfect tone.
February 2, 2010 11:09:00 AM GMT+01:00
Parfaitement dans l'air du temps démago…
February 2, 2010 12:11:00 PM GMT+01:00
I like it so much.
February 2, 2010 4:56:00 PM GMT+01:00
not stupid but a fool is cool..this is Sufi saying
http://istanbulsdiary.blogspot.com/
February 2, 2010 11:48:00 PM GMT+01:00
huh?
September 7, 2010 2:18:00 AM GMT+02:00
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Thank You!
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