Diesels’ Make Love Not Walls campaign, 2017 are harnessing the power of fashion advertising for good use. Diesel are harnessing their brand's reach and sending a message in protest of Donald Trump wanting to ‘build a wall’, segregating Mexicans and Americans. Using visually stimulating imagery suggesting protest, bright colours and positivity are the focus of the ad, alongside interesting styled clothes. The subjects are physically smashing down walls, promoting a message of love and equality, taking a stand against the Trump administration and what they represent- division. 2017 has also been a huge year for accepting LGBTQ rights and allowing a more open acceptance within popular culture. Vivid youthful colours are used, highlighting the positivity of the message as well as potentially targeting a younger target audience, as these are often going to be the people rebelling and fighting against the presidents actions. The use of collage also suggests integration, mixing photography and typography with an unlinear layout to break advertisings standard conventions and appear more playful and energetic. The way the models are positioned and styled also draws reference to Woodstock and the summer of love, where race, sexuality and gender was overlooked and peace and love prevailed. The use of bold typography indicates the message is serious and powerful, with the use of italics suggestive that there is only forwards to go from here, and we must all look to the future so not to get left behind in the Trump mentality.
Barthes and John Berger both say that our life experiences and our knowledge of visual culture help us interpret images, so one can assume that without the knowledge of politics, this image may get lost on some of the audience. That says a lot about how Diesel want to represent themselves as a brand, and who their target market are - intellectual people with a socially and political conscious, potentially leftist values and open to diversity of all kinds.
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