Diesel is well known for its irreverent and ironic approach to life. Recently the brand has tackled the beauty standards, the fashion industry and even fashion knockoffs. We didn’t just need to come up with a new campaign promoting Diesel’s latest collection, and we didn’t just need to be lighthearted or frivolous. We needed to define a new enemy for the brand. And then, we needed to show the world how to deal with this enemy in a totally ironic way.

At one point or another, we have all been victims of trolls, cyber bullies and online haters. But, when you expose online hate with irony and light-heartedness, you disarm that online hate. It loses its ability to cause harm. Our idea was to turn Diesel’s latest collection into a tool for doing just that: exposing, mocking and ultimately disarming online hate. It’s an idea we call Hate Couture. Each item in the Hate Couture collection is not just a cool piece of Diesel fashion, it’s an opportunity to proudly expose and wear the online hate you have received. And it’s a reminder that the more hate you wear, the less you care.  

Diesel has always stood for bravery. For them it is the key to successful living. And that has always involved challenging society’s biggest conformities. In this case the conformity is to hide the online hate and negativity that we all receive. But, only by challenging that conformity, by exposing the online hate, are we able to truly disempower and get rid of it.

We sold 35% of the entire collection in the first 4 days of the campaign, online and in-store. In total our campaign reached more than 400 million people, and the story was covered by The New Yorker, WWD, VOGUE, I-D Vice, People Magazine, just to name a few. Our film was viewed more than 40 million times only in the first 10 days of the campaign. We sparked hundreds of thousands of debates and discussions around the topic of online hate. And, ultimately we initiated the successful disempowerment of countless hateful comments on social media.