Toiletpaper’s Maurizio Cattelan and Pierpaolo Ferrari create DTF campaign for OkCupid

The artists behind Toiletpaper magazine, Maurizio Cattelan and Pierpaolo Ferrari, have collaborated with Wieden + Kennedy New York on dating app OkCupid’s new campaign. Based on the concept of reappropriating the acronym DTF – “down to fuck” – the posters apply the artists’ signature, saturated colours and surrealist imagery to typographic and photo pairings, giving new meaning to the phrase.

Split-screen images emblazon DTF in retro, bold, 3D letters, with each featuring a different representation of what the “F” stands for: Down to Fire Up the Kiln, for example, is placed opposite a couple getting creative with pottery clay. Down to Filter Out the Far Right is shown with a photo of someone throwing a handgun down the toilet. Each uses vibrant, complementary colours in a pop style.

With the campaign, OkCupid hopes to “flip the script on DTF”. “You’re an interesting, thoughtful person. Of course you deserve better than late-night ‘U up?’ texts, and your dates talking with friends about whether or not you’re DTF. Something has to change, because the problem with phrases like DTF is that too many people, especially women, don’t appreciate the question or the context. In a recent poll of 60,000 OkCupid users, nearly 80% of women said there’s too much emphasis on being DTF in dating today.

“So if DTF is here to stay, we can change its meaning so it does the opposite of what it does now. So instead, it makes you feel confident and empowered. The F should be whatever the F*ck you want it to be. Flip that hair. Fight about the President. Fall head over heels. Because you deserve the exact same thing that dating deserves: better.”

This is the latest in some creatively diverse work from OkCupid since its rebrand featured an altogether cuter set of icons by illustrator Jay Daniel Wright; although this project is its first ever marketing campaign.