Diesel’s Pornhub ads are proving very successful

In January, Diesel caused a stir when it announced (on Dazed) that it was about to start advertising on Pornhub. It was the first fashion brand to place ads on a porn website and now, in an interview with Fashion Unfiltered, co-founder Renzo Rosso has revealed the impact of this controversial move.

Describing the results as “incredible”, Rosso claims that they’ve seen a “31 per cent increase” – though he didn’t qualify whether that was in terms of website traffic or sales. He goes on to explain the way they approached the partnership, “So it’s not that we go to the porno channel with porno advertising, we just go there with sympathy and treat it like advertising in a magazine. We did it there because that’s the way to live today.”

The idea of advertising on porn websites was the brainchild of creative director Nicola Formichetti who, speaking to Dazed, said, “We all go on websites like Pornhub, you know? So before you start jerking off maybe you can stop and look at our new pants and shoes and, just laugh! It’s funny.” It’s funny, and it’s also genius – Pornhub is the 64th most visited website on the internet and YouPorn, on which the brand also advertises, is the 174th. It’s not just porn sites – Diesel is also placing ads on dating apps Tinder, which has 10 million daily users and Grindr, which has over two million.

As well as reaching an incredibly wide audience, this move reflects the age we live in – something that is central to Diesel’s brand ethos. “I want to portray the world we live in today, and the people in it – so it’s very important that we have different genders, body types, colours, that’s our norm,” said Formichetti. “And then we all live through the phone and the computer, so I wanted to be honest about that.” Perhaps this is a sign of things to come and that fashion brands advertising on porn websites and dating apps will become common place.

Watch Diesel’s SS16 campaign video below: