We're launching this blog with Levi’s Go Forth ad campaign – not because it’s an exquisite example of global marketing (which it is), or an unabashedly aggressive effort to co-opt national ideals (which it definitely is), but because I really enjoy the ads. I like them! When the Go Forth commercials come on in movie theaters, I'm racked with emotion in my seat in the greasy dark – anachronistic nostalgia, baseless patriotism. And yesterday, as I perused my October issue of Rolling Stone, the Levi’s full-page ad seemed so beautiful (all those fireworks and freedom) that I ripped it out and sticky-tacked it to my wall, where it joined the illustrious ranks of Pink Floyd and Kurt Cobain.
Here's why I like Levi’s latest advertising scheme – and it goes beyond my penchant for classic Americana imagery. With this campaign, the Levi advertisers are placing faith in the fact that American kids can still respond to un-ironic media, or that we still get sentimental sometimes. This campaign is to the ad-world as Springsteen is to rock-world – straddling the fine line between nostalgic cool and ridiculous, and ultimately hoping that the audience wants to be seduced. Of course, we’re all hyper-aware of being manipulated, so the campaign’s blatant appeal to our hyper-American emotions might end up being massively unsuccessful. But there’s no hint of the typikal postmodern message-encryption in their advertising; there's nothing to “figure out,” no cleverly embedded jokes. It’s a disarmingly straightforward idealization of frontier America, and if you watch one of their minute-long videos, the intended messages are clear: beautiful kids are fighting in the streets, revolution is in the air, fuck the Man, America is still a vast wilderness to be explored, and “Now Is Our Time.”
This strikes me as a super-optimistic campaign in the United States, hoping to access some dormant, irony-free patriotism in the hearts of American youth – but it seems even more improbable beyond America's borderz. I mean, Levi's Jeans Co hardly changes its tactics at all when marketing denim in China and India, which just goes to show that they're peddling "classic America" -- not jeans.
Whether or not the campaign succeeds in selling jeans, part of me hopes that somebody in every movie-theater feels shaken and stunned after the commercial fizzles out into the scratchy image of a sparkler, while Walt Whitman’s voice reverberates in the dark. I hope that one heart in every audience beats faster at images of fireworks and empty lots and multiracial makeout sessions, even if those feelings are trumped soon afterwards by the too-true reminder, “They’re pants.” It's hard to say how successful this campaign will be in the long run. But at least the advertisers seem to be exploiting patriotism over materialism, nostalgia over newness -- which, in the end, is placing a lot of faith in We the Consumers.
One of the (in)famous Go Forth commercials.
And another one, feat. Walt Whitman Himself!
This is what I found in my Rolling Stone mag.
And this is version number two (in Chinese).
great stuff... that talking toaster also ventures into the whole 'gay vague' deal that was so popular a few years back, and the general masculinity crisis playing itself out (I look forward to some posts from you on all those "unmanly" accusatory beer ads... at any rate, I wanted to say that I have a whole different (negative) take on the Levi's ad.. which is that I take the fireworks and message as a call to arms.. go forth US with your weapons and your material dominance and conquer the world without fear of consequence or questioning what you're doing to the colonized.... but it was great to hear the more optimistic spin.. I don't know the original poem, I know it was the title of Willa Cather's O Pioneers is from it.. What's the source?
ReplyDeletehi Bill, thanks for your comment. the poem is called "America" by Walt Whitman, you can find it here at the Poetry Foundation: http://www.poetryfoundation.org/poem/238130
ReplyDeleteI do agree that it’s impossible to fully dissociate the “go forth” commission from its original context, aka the coast-to-coast trampling of native American societies. But I left out that particular angle a) for the sake of space, and b) because I don’t think it’s the main embedded message or emotion of the campaign. Levi’s doesn’t seem to be exploiting any 'colonizing' sentiments in their audience; rather, the general tone of the commericals seems to be anarchical, romanticizing independence over domination. The first commercial is full of images of protest, and even a short glimpse of a white-collar businessman being attacked – which certainly parallels the gist of Occupy Wall St. The fact that Levi’s doesn’t need to alter the campaign’s tone/imagery in countries outside of the US is more evidence that the essential thrust of the commericals isn’t militaristic, or even nationalistic, so much as individualistic. Thanks so much for reading & responding!
So this is interesting. The clip above (which I hadn't even watched before responding, sorry for my reactionary zeal) turns out to be from a Charles Bukowski poem "The Laughing Heart." The footage seems to be from Germany... the original "Go Forth" is from the Whitman as you say... So what's going on? What Levi's wants to be going on, I think, is an association of Levi's with the best of the democratic Spirit as embodied in the golden past of the USA, where Levi's were first made... the idea of freedom... here's what the ad director said:
ReplyDelete“No matter where you are in the world, youthful spirit and pioneering energy are themes that resonate,” noted Rebecca Van Dyck, global CMO for the Levi’s® brand.
“For over a century, men and women have done amazing things in their Levi’s® jeans. Our brand has always been a catalyst for change. We want customers to leave our stores not just wearing Levi’s® jeans, but feeling inspired, empowered and determined to create a better world.” http://tinyurl.com/3cafy8u
Here's the original "Go Forth" ad, with its explicit lines about " get your weapons ready... have you your pistols?" from Whitman.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=HG8tqEUTlvs
This one came out in 2005 or so (it's interesting that with all the info on the web, it's hard to find the exact date-- ads are omnipresent, timeless, without history, simply present... like a diety). Just after the worst possible year of death in Iraq. Levi's said something out this coming out of Katrina, but it's hard not to hear the "get your weapons..." as related to GW Bush's Global War on Terror. And can someone tell me what the girl is doing at :10? Is she the recurring figure of the white blonde girl in danger, out of breath after fleeing, like a stalked animal, about to be captured by the Indians/Terrorists? The one we have to protect by "exterminating all the brutes," as Conrad has Kurtz write in "Heart of Darkness?" Or is she just a 'boss chick' playing a game in the woods with her boyfriend?
I agree that the first ad, dissociated from its original context, is uplifting. It’s inspiring to see all those beautiful people living life to the fullest in stunning imagery… And where else does poetry get such good play…. But it’s iinside the Levi’s box.
Sure, Levi's is wrapping itself in the spirit of 'youth and pioneering energy...' but what's actually said/depicted also connotes something else. it's a two edge sword... the fact that we can dissociate so easily the idea of American aggression and empire (no space to mention the fundamental truth of the extermination of the Native Americans) from a meaning that's more palatable --- youthful spirit -- shows how corporate messaging can affect us... like Hemingway said, "Isn't it pretty to think so?"
Secondly, in the Bukowski ad, there's no acknowledgement that this is a poem by an author notorioiously anti-corporate. And only the Levi's logo at the end. This is beyond appropriation, this is theft, cooptation... Bukowski's voice of protest, anarchy, and resistance is caged, owned, contained, de-fanged... Levi owns it and you can too.... wear the jeans, get the spirit.
So I’d say we’re in the realm of Baudrillard’s Society of the Spectacle… the Simulacrum… where Levi’s, and the message it’s sending, is a copy of an original…. a nostalgic longing for (and positing as real) the pure good-hearted America… that never existed.