Diesel Denim Makes Only Mild Impression

Advertiser: Diesel USA

Agency: Lowe Howard Spink, Amsterdam

Challenge: Broaden the reach of Diesel’s line of denim clothing while keeping the brand’s irreverent image.

The Ads: Two print ads for the D Diesel line combine naughty imagery with wry product description. One ad shows four veiled nuns in jeans praying beneath a statue of the Virgin Mary, also in jeans. The copy notes that the jeans are made by “devoted Diesel followers” from “virginal cotton” and are “miraculously strong.” A second ad shows a sleeping elderly man seated on a couch next to an elderly woman, who is grabbing his crotch. The copy says that Diesel’s antique dirty-denim finish “has an aged, vintage appearance. A bit like your grandmother.”

Comment: For a company that specializes in shock advertising, these ads are pretty mild. Italy-based Diesel says it has received complaints in the U.S. about the ad with the nuns, but the image is more irrelevant than irreverent. The truly distasteful executions are running in Europe, where one ad shows bodies chained to cement blocks at the bottom of a lake. The copy boasts that people wearing Diesel jeans will “leave a beautiful corpse.” Unlike previous Diesel ads, this latest batch touts specific features of the jeans. But it’s hard to imagine how those generic-sounding descriptions will lure new customers. $