Assessment of Levi Advertising Campaign
Levi's have been around for more than a century. The company was
established in 1853. In 2003, Levi Strauss & Co. was 150 years old. In
1873 their founder, Levi Strauss created the first blue jeans. From
the mid 1950's onwards, jeans have been especially associated with
particular types of male American youth heroes, including James Dean,
the young Marlon Brando, & their Sixties followers - heroes who have
become symbols of youth & rebellion in almost all areas, spanning over
5 generations of American & global culture.
When Levi's were first brought out, their target audience was youths,
teenagers. Unfortunately as time went on, the teens that had
originally bought them grew older and Levis started losing its youth
market and sales fell so Levi's needed a new strategy. They planned
advertisements to appeal to a younger generation. Levi's were then
thought to be worn by working-class people for leisure-wear, or worn
by the middle-class as work-wear. The jeans had grown to be thought of
being boring, dull and unfashionable. They prepared to take on a new
image. Levi Strauss & Co. planned to breakdown the stereotypical
barrier that the public had built up regarding their jeans.
When Levi's first released this succession of commercials, they
planned to change the public's view towards jeans in general. Their
target audience was set. The idea was that they could recreate their
original reputation in the 1950's for the new generation. In the
1950's the Levi's brand was known for its original design, it's strong
hardwearing fabric and it was a symbol of American culture. Their
jeans were classi...
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...ith the pretty girls. This is an instant incentive for the audience
to go out and buy Levis Jeans because Levis men are in control, sexy,
laid back and always get what they what. In 'The Beach' advert, the
girl actually put the jeans on; this is not the usual Levis style. At
that time you rarely saw women wearing jeans which is why this advert
is revolutionary. The message within the advert is that Levis are for
every one regardless of their gender, occupation and age.
Almost all of the adverts in this commercial campaign have very sexy
heroes & heroines. This series promoted Levi's sales of 501's quite
dramatically, obviously having a large impact on the consuming public.
They promoted Levi's as being an intrinsic part of a great American
tradition and embodied the American ideal of freedom & daring to be
different.
Michael Jordan has star power that bridges age, race, and socioeconomic class. Nike understands this aspect of the popular superstar and decided to give him his own clothing line named Jumpman23. It is the most popular form of sports apparel available and the white logo that adorns each article of apparel is known worldwide. Michael Jordan is arguably the most loved and respected athlete of this generation, thus the ad for this company depicted in ESPN The Magazine takes advantage of his immense popularity. In an attempt to expand the companies influence Jumpman23 uses professional baseball player Derrick Jeter to send its message and promote its apparel. In the essay “Absolution for Sale,” Charity Miller writes, “We live in a world of images. Among the most persuasive and insistent of these images are those directed at us by advertising. These images often do more then simply try to persuade us to buy a particular product or use a particular service. More subtly, they influence us by appealing to our desires or exploiting our emotions.” The image of Jeter training alone in a gym clothed head to toe in Michael Jordan’s clothing line combine with a poem above describing his intentions. This scene portrays the hard work and dedication that will eventually lead to success as things an athlete of any level should expect while wearing the clothing. Michael Jordan takes advantage of his legend on the basketball court and his appeal worldwide to create a line of apparel that demands the same work ethic from those who wear it. Its success is in Jumpman23’s ability to interest buyers no matter what age, race, or sport.
The 1950's encompassed a spirit that rallied around the American cause. It was fashionable to be patriotic, and Du Pont utilized manipulation of color to suggest that wearing Du Pont nylons is indeed patriotic. No other colors exist than red, white, and blue -- from the white boat to the blue high heels, patriotism is painted all over the ad. The two characters in the ad support the American cause by supporting the nylon company. Wouldn't you? This effective advertising technique guilted many women into buying Du Pont Nylons.
In the 1997 article Listening to Khakis, published in the New Yorker, Malcolm Gladwell effectively paints a vivid picture of the thought and science that goes into advertising campaigns. Gladwell begins his paper by focusing on the Dockers’ advertising campaign for their line of adult male khaki pants, which he labels as extremely successful. This campaign was the first line of successful fashion advertisements aimed directly toward adult males (Gladwell, 1997). This campaign was cunningly simple and showed only males wearing the pants being advertised with the background noise filled with men having a casual conversation (Gladwell, 1997). This tactic was used because studies showed that Dockers’ target market felt an absence in adult male friendships. (Gladwell, 1997). The simplicity of the advertisements was accentuated as to not to deter possible customers by creating a fashion based ad because, based on Gladwell’s multiple interviews of advertising experts, males shy away from being viewed as fashion forward or “trying to hard” (Gladwell, 1997).
The ad I have chosen to use for my Ad Critique assignment is one from Skyy Vodka’s ad campaign. This ad shows a young Caucasian man and woman spread out on a velvety quilted red couch, with money falling all around them. The man is holding a martini in his right hand, while his other hand is nowhere to be seen. The woman is thrusting her breasts into the man’s face, while holding a handful of cash. Both parties seem to be extremely elated, and there is a bottle of Skyy Vodka sitting on the table in front of them. The ad is clearly hyper-sexualized, but that seems to be the goal of the marketing director, Kathleen Schuart, who explains the ad as, “inviting us to take an optimistic view and reimagine the world around us… [whose campaign is] challenging
The Levi Strauss 501 advertising campaign was so successful in 1984-1990 as it attracted the typical American teens selling independence, sexuality and physical good looks, representing the perfect figure and body. It illustrated a complete lifestyle to the teenagers world. Admiring the fantasy of idols James Dean and Marlon Brando, all connecting to the Levi guys (jeans) in the adverts, giving the impression of a sensual, healthy radiant aspect, to the gazed audience. Falling for the act, teens still continued to buy the different types of jeans, whilst new ideas were being designed. People realise now it was just a pretence illusion. Although these shams still occur in adverts today.
We have all heard the rhyme “sticks and stones may break my bones, but words will never hurt me.” The #LikeAGirl ad campaign by Always attempts to challenge this age-old axiom. In this ad, Always uses a strong emotional appeal to empower pre and post-pubescent girls, to reclaim the phrase as a positive one, and to demonstrate exactly how amazing it is to be a girl. However, the audience of this ad isn’t limited to the consumers that it aims to market toward. Always also markets this ad toward parents that buy feminine hygiene products for their daughters. By exposing the latent sexism of this common barb, it sends a message to parents that they need to help to empower their daughters as well as teach their children that these comments can be hurtful. The successful combination of rhetorical devices proves that this ad campaign has hit it’s intended mark.
Analysis of an Advertisement We live in a fast-paced society that is ruled by mass media. Every day we are bombarded by images of, perfect bodies, beautiful hair, flawless skin, and ageless faces that flash at us like a slide show. These ideas and images are embedded in our minds throughout our lives. Advertisements select audiences openly and subliminally, and target them with their product. They allude to the fact that in order to be like the people in this advertisement, you must use their product.
In the article, Jesus is a Brand of Jeans, by Jean Kilbourne, we get an insightful look into the effects of advertising on us, as human beings. As we all know, humans let us down. We are imperfect beings, going about life interacting with each other, good and bad. It seems though, over the past 50 years advertising has taken away from human value, and brain washed us into thinking stuff is more important than people.
During John F. Kennedy’s political campaign, there were many issues present that the candidate had to address: there was tension due to the communist threat, tension among American citizens due to the Civil Rights movement, and a recent recession that was very sluggish in recovering. Relating to these issues President Kennedy’s slogan was “getting America moving again”; these topics are addressed in a fast and effective manner in his minute-long television ad that was endorsed by the group: Citizens for Kennedy-Johnson. This ad was the best way to reinforce President Kennedy’s stance on the emergence of a new frontier. He was able to depict himself as a man of change and new beginnings due to his fresh perspective and young age which was a
Texts are political. Political in the sense that they produce messages that carry specific ideas and beliefs targeted toward a certain thinking body of people. A familiar phrase in America is, “art imitates life.” It defines life as essential to art, but can we say the reverse? Could life imitate art? The semantics of the phrase seem too ambiguous for such a statement. What is the definition of art, of life? The phrase suggests that art reinforces cultural and social beliefs by using the verb imitate. If art imitates life, then life imitates art. The verb is reflexive and positioned in the middle of the two words it is reflecting. It is true then, the language speaks for itself, and this political statement can be used as a tool to find the underlying cultural belief within a text.
Majority of parents today, truly care about their children’s health. As any kid will say, growing up there are “Got Milk?” ads everywhere. These ads are in schools, on television, in magazines; they’re everywhere. In the year 2000, Frankie Muniz was an up and coming star in the television industry, thanks to Malcolm in the Middle. The producers of the “Got Milk? ad wanted to grab people’s attention, so they decided to debut Frankie Muniz in his first milk ad. This ad is aimed at not only children, but at parents in order to get them to have their kids drink milk. This ad effectively achieves its goal because of the use of a child star, the credibility of the ads reputation, and the words placed on the ad.
As a teenaged girl or young adult, you want to dress to impress. Models on the television and in magazines wear outfits that you wish you could own. The young, beautiful, blonde-headed model makes it seem like you are not pretty enough to wear these outfits. In the Cosmopolitan advertisement for an American Eagle Outfitters jean jacket, the blonde-headed woman is wearing the jacket. On one half of the ad, the woman is standing near water with a fence between the two. The waters location is beside the city. In this shot, she is jumping from one bench to the other, living freely. The center of the picture is the American Eagle Outfitters jean jacket. On the other half of the ad, is a close up shot of the model. All that’s shown in this picture is the woman’s face and the jean jacket. However, her hair covers up some of her face.
This paper will analyze an ATT commercial according to audience, purpose, context, ethics, and stance. The focus will emphasize the audience which the aid is trying to reach and how they do so.
Advertising effectiveness refer to the changes that advertising causes in the mental or physical state or activities of the recipient of an ad (Jellis Gerard).
The media control all mass communication all over the world, its existence is integral to today’s twenty-four hour society. All media is highly influential, from on television to radio, newspapers to magazines, but especially the £19billion advertising industry. Although many people refuse to admit it we are easily manipulated into buying particular products subconsciously, a well-produced and marketed advert can increase sales revenue for any product. Schwarzkopf hair care & dyes is well known as an alternative to the mainstream hair companies. Hans Schwarzkopf whose first formula in 1903 was an instant hit with his female customers established Schwarzkopf in 1868. The water-soluble powder shampoo, “The Shampoo with the Black Head”, offered an easy-to-use and value-for-money alternative to the expensive oils and harsh soaps of the time. Since then the brand has continued to grow and is famous for providing striking colours for women with a more adventurous style at an affordable price.