Just Dont Do It. (2017)
Sweatshirt, T-Shirt + Totes
Sweatshirt, T-Shirt + Totes
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Statement
Just Dont Do It.
As an instructor I’ve noticed that ambiguous brand statements are usually the first thing young designers propose when asked to develop tag lines. There are a number of reasons for this, the main one being media saturation. Ever since VW’s ‘Think Small’ ad these types of slogans have bled into communications in one form or another for the past 60 years.
These statements are always short, catchy and positive. Their connections to the ideas or products of which they laud is one that avoids negative associations through ambiguity. This ambiguity also makes them interchangeable and inherently disconnected from any deeper understanding of what the idea or product being sold really stands for. It leaves the viewer to come to their own conclusions and embody the brand with personal meanings.
In this case the aim of ‘Just Don’t Do It.’ is to be the antithesis of its originator. Rather than an ambiguous statement about being active (or more to the point an active consumer), it’s a brand for a product that doesn’t physically exist and that can’t be purchased. Its core statement is directed towards not consuming. Not supporting a brand that manufactures a surplus of planed obsolescent goods through sweat shops, child labor and environmentally destructive practices.
All ‘Just Dont Do It.’ products are marketed as ‘in-active wear’. This is both a parody and call to protest through inactivity. Through inactivity consumers can remove financial support and choose not to mark their bodies with visual symbols. Symbols which are used to signal fashionable consumption, class in society, and aesthetic values. Symbols which with there sharp lines and aseptic colour palettes hide soiled histories.
JustDontDoIt.ca
As an instructor I’ve noticed that ambiguous brand statements are usually the first thing young designers propose when asked to develop tag lines. There are a number of reasons for this, the main one being media saturation. Ever since VW’s ‘Think Small’ ad these types of slogans have bled into communications in one form or another for the past 60 years.
These statements are always short, catchy and positive. Their connections to the ideas or products of which they laud is one that avoids negative associations through ambiguity. This ambiguity also makes them interchangeable and inherently disconnected from any deeper understanding of what the idea or product being sold really stands for. It leaves the viewer to come to their own conclusions and embody the brand with personal meanings.
In this case the aim of ‘Just Don’t Do It.’ is to be the antithesis of its originator. Rather than an ambiguous statement about being active (or more to the point an active consumer), it’s a brand for a product that doesn’t physically exist and that can’t be purchased. Its core statement is directed towards not consuming. Not supporting a brand that manufactures a surplus of planed obsolescent goods through sweat shops, child labor and environmentally destructive practices.
All ‘Just Dont Do It.’ products are marketed as ‘in-active wear’. This is both a parody and call to protest through inactivity. Through inactivity consumers can remove financial support and choose not to mark their bodies with visual symbols. Symbols which are used to signal fashionable consumption, class in society, and aesthetic values. Symbols which with there sharp lines and aseptic colour palettes hide soiled histories.
JustDontDoIt.ca
