Levi's Laundrette Ad

Client: Levis Strauss co 
Agency: BBH

Levi's wasn't trendy anymore because it was under attack by other more fashionable brands and it had been a common jeans brand to be worn by middle - aged dads. The brands intended target audience for the 501 jeans was 15 - 19 year olds. The target audience saw the 50's and 60's as the cool and mythical america. It was either making a campaign based on this insight or go for an ad that fitted the jeans in a america of Ronald Reagan, which was the opposite of MTV and european chic. 

“I remember that the ad was running at a cinema before a movie, and I hadn’t seen it on the tely at that point. So I went to the cinema just to see the ad…” she says.“The commercial made those jeans sexy at a time when Levi’s were struggling to make their product appealing to women of my age, and really that’s where the big spenders come from. Suddenly those jeans became a must-heve item! I only wanted them because Nick Kamen wore them and took them off…” - Kate Thornton, a famous English journalist

How is this ad post modern?
The ad was so far from ordinary for it's time. The ad played a lot on sexuality with casting Nick Kamden and making him take his clothes off making the girls flustered. Using sexuality in this way was typical for the style of post modernists. It takes you back to the 50's and wanted to give people memories of that time, reminiscing back to that time was unusual for the age. It will say that the sexual humour and context of the scenes represents post modernism. There is no copy in the ad, only a song Through The Grape Wine by Marvin Gaye. 
The ad was influenced by MTV's music videos which only launched the year before. The ad looked more like a music video than an ad. This links back to new technology which at that time was looked at as post modern. 

Kanye Wests Yeezy season 3 fashion show and album release have some of the same post modern influences. In stead of a tv ad, he created an event that was held at Madison square garden. He did something we had not seen before and released both his clothing line and album in the same show. The way he presented it was not traditional for this time. He had all his models separated by gender and on two big stages. The show also commented on political issues, it was influenced by the context. The fashion line in general are fairly androgynous and neutral in the colour scheme. 

Levi's "Laundrette" 

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