The Levi’s commercials produced
Levi’s jeans were first produced in the 1870’s, and they were originally used for work. Minors would’ve usually worn them. They were appropriate for the minors to wear because they were strong and durable, and they would have lasted them a long time. Once the jeans had been around for a while, they became more popular, and more people started wearing them, especially the teenagers. In the 1950’s, teenagers began to wear them, and they became a fashion statement.
Now that the teenagers of the 1950’s were wearing Levi’s jeans the teenagers of the 1980’s didn’t think that it would be very fashionable to wear the jeans because the adults were wearing them. Levi’s now needed a new strategy, and they needed to appeal to the teenagers of the 1980’s. Levi’s employed Bartle, Bogle and Hegarty to re-define Levi’s target audience, which was 18-30. They began to make new slogans such as, “Shrink to fit!” because of this. It was a new advert where a teenager would sit in the bath with a huge pair of baggy jeans, waiting for them to shrink to his size.
I was particularly interested in the advert for Levi’s jeans where the soldier in the American clothes, puts stones in the machine, and this was to fit the slogan, “Stonewash.” Two boys come on the scene during the advert and their mothers pull them away from the rebel, and this makes it seem as though the soldier is a tough man. The Levi’s man has an attitude, and this symbolises America. At the end of this advert two girls are standing outside giggling about him.
This could be so the advert makes out that girls notice you more, when you wear Levi’s jeans. The song in the background always has a great effect on an advert and in this one it did to. “Heard it through the Grapevine” by Marvyn Gaye was being played in this advert. The music on an advert means a lot to an audience watching, whether it is the lyrics from the song, or just the bouncy tune in the background, but it might be what in the end makes you spend your money.
Levi’s jeans had many adverts, and another one of their better ones was the one set in the laundrette. A gunshot goes off, and the protagonist of the advert enters the laundrette, with sunglasses on. He walks over to the washing machine, and two boys are standing there looking at the man in amazement, because they idolise him, just like the teenagers did in the 1960’s of their movie stars. The song in the background shows us that the other people in the laundrette are whispering about him, and the steam coming from the washing machine shows sexual tension.
I think that the advertising company were successful in advertising the jeans, because they were projecting an image that it is now cool to wear Levi’s jeans again. The adverts have had a great effect on a lot of people, because the high majority of people now in the 21st century are still wearing jeans, and that is for any age, and this proves just how successful Bogle, Bartle and Hegarty was in advertising Levi’s jeans.
