Diesel is going old school for its new campaign to mark the 20th anniversary edition of its YUK shoe. The “Pre-Internet Shoe” campaign is taking a walk down memory lane all the way back to 1993, when Generation X wore flannel and nobody had social media.
Diesel encourages people to go offline and stop sharing on Facebook and/or Twitter and Instagram for three days for a chance to win 20 pairs of shoes. The effort should resonate with grumpy Generation X, which wants to be left alone and drink a beer — and also remembers what it was like to grow up in the analog era.
Diesel created a funny video making fun of the stereotypical Williamsburg bearded, skinny-jeans-wearing, fixed-gear-riding hipster who is a “a photographer, a blogger, a freelance graphic designer and most importantly a GPS artist.” This is the sort of cynical eye-rolling that Gen X pretty much patented.
Diesel isn’t the first brand to take a stand against the social Web and the resulting culture of oversharing. Honda has urged people to take a “Pintermission.” As far back as 2010 Pringles created an “overshare button” for Facebook that people could use to flag oversharers’ posts. It’s somewhat ironic — more Gen X! — since brands themselves are the biggest oversharers around nowadays. It’s definitely smart for a brand to acknowledge the “enough withe the social media” sentiment that we’ve all, Gen X or not, felt at one time or another.
Story image via jdn/Flickr
More in Marketing
‘Intentionally being cautious’: Why the ad industry isn’t ready to let AI agents spend ad dollars
For now, LLMs are being used as accelerants, not decision makers. They compress workflows. They do not spend the ad dollars
Walmart says ‘open partnerships’ are central to its AI strategy, while Amazon goes it alone
Walmart and Google have announced a partnership that brings the retailer’s shopping experience inside Google’s AI assistant, Gemini.
The case for and against influencer-led Super Bowl ads
Inside the Super Bowl ad debate: Celebrities offer mass appeal, but creators provide better engagement.