Watch the new Levi’s commercial below:
And now, watch the other new Levi’s commercial:
I guess you’ve spotted the difference. Yep, in the first one, Mr Über-Hot runs off with a girl, while in the second one, the same guy escapes with… another gentleman. At last, a huge brand that gets pink marketing.Robert Cameron, the brand’s VP-marketing, talked to AdAge about expanding the brand’s creative relationship in reaching the gay community:
At first it made us parse the thought of, what does that say? We’re not spending as much money as we ought to do a dedicated commercial for the gay market. But [then] we thought, if we’re going to do an ad for them, they deserve the same production values. … So doing the same commercial with different endings seemed to us to be a message about absolute equality.
The guy/guy version is aired on Logo, the gay channel of the MTV network, but will roll out on other lifestyle cable networks later in the season. I am amazed that this is apparently only the second time that a brand has the balls to shoot and edit an alternate version of their tv commercial especially for the gay population (Orbitz the travel site, did it already, check here).
This “stunt” seems so obvious to me:
- it’s cheap, you already have everything ready for the production; all you need is an extra actor;
- your target will feel that you’re really talking to them, making them more loyal to your brand and more likely to buy your product.
Being gay myself, I get so upset when i browse a gay magazine and I see a full-page ad featuring a male torso sensually caressed by an obviously female french-manicured hand. Let’s dissect the July issue of Têtu, the biggest gay lifestyle magazine in France:
- Kaporal 5 Jeans opens the publication with a spread in which a girl lovingly holds a guy’s hand;
- Dark Dog energy drinks has two sluts impatiently waiting in the bedroom for an elderly man playing video games (geez, what a killer-concept);
- Elektrode clothing shows us two chicks trying to resuscitate a dude that probably blacked out after being shocked by their beauty;
- FG Radio uses a playmate in a golden swimsuit to sell their house music compilation;
- and last but not least, Axe/Lynx, who i thought was so cool and sensitive, is the one with the male torso and female hands described at the beginning of this paragraph.
Marketers, who do you think you are you talking to? You’re not talking to me, are you? Because I don’t recognize myself at all in those ads, and I’m pretty sure that this is the case for the majority of the readers. I actually feel insulted that some guy in a suit thought that just because he would throw few more euros in his media-planning towards gay publications he would get my money. Instead of developing a connexion with those brands that had the nice attention to try to reach me and my wallet, I will remember them as opportunist and careless.
And this is not only valid for the gay community,
or target audience. Don’t use the same 14 year-old model to promote your anti-aging skin among women above 50, you’re not credible. If you want to advertise in Ebony or BET, make sure that your models are not all blonde with fair skin…
Ten years ago, I wrote a thesis with my friend Fayçal about Gay Marketing and i feel that very little has changed in such a long period (10 years in marketing is like 5 centuries in real life!).
Now let me watch again that guy in his boxers putting on his new 501s.
I read your post this morning and I have to be honest – it gave me mixed feelings (which are always good in a text!)
Basically it was a personal experience vs. marketing thinking conflict. On one hand, my personal feeling considers the whole equality of roles in Society vs. the specific nuances inherent to each gender and sexual preferences. While the equality of roles in a society is a popular demand, this equality creates an unbalance when confronted with specific content for the genders. We all want to be equal, but isn’t the concept of “equal” already assuming a standard stereotype? Of course it isn’t like this for everyone, but we should take in account that equality doesn’t mean the same for all of us – for me “equality” is having everyone in ground zero when it comes to the basic symbolical universe that we share as a society. But, for most people, “equality” means to be treated the same as a heterosexual male.
So, when confronted with the marketer, the personal experience has to give in – we aim at pleasing the consumer and we should take in consideration the specific tastes and nature of the genders and sexual preferences. I think the main issue is this – how do we create publicity oriented to specific audiences that don’t clash with the fake “equality” concept? Levi’s didn’t worry about it that much – they just assumed that the same ad would work for both audiences by changing the sexual desire element. Way, WAY off. But, at the same time, we should think if we are being judgmental, as in Levi actually considering both sexual preferences the same (what an innocent perspective) and not worrying in creating two different ads in order to show how equal both preferences are, or if Levi’s strategy has an absolute disregard for the differences in the cultures and just wanted to save money. I believe the second choice is probably the most correct one, but they could always defend themselves by saying “We created the same ad for both because we believe they are “equals””. That’ll definitely work for most straight people.
Well, that’s just my two cents. To be honest, I didn’t like the ad that much as well. There was just something not right about it – you can’t really mix two cultures in once concept without having to tweak it a little bit more. It’s not enough to just replace the hot chick with the hot guy! Or maybe it’s an ad aimed at bisexuals!
And on a sidenote - the 501 have been remodeled. They look a lot better (I just bought a pair, so I have to advertise them!)
This was a lot about personal experience indeed. Don’t you feel that the media over-uses clichés to talk about or to the gay population? I despise the way that the media report about the gay pride: it’s all about gogo-dancers, drag-queens and trans-sexuals. It makes me sick to my stomach when i see all the clichés about homosexuality that are still used in movies/tv, i am not interested in a bunch a shirtless guys in a night-club dancing on house music to promote a pair of trousers, it makes me feel retarded.
So yes, the Levi’s ad talked to me. It made me feel good to see that homosexuality was treated just as equal as heterosexuality. I was relieved not to see a succession of clichés like in many ads picturing the gay community after reading the headline in AdAge.
It’s always risky for a brand to use gay people in their communication. Especially for a fashion brand. Especially for an old-established one. Especially when you depict equally the straight and gay experience, when everyone relates to the same story. There is always a chance that the straight population will reject your product because they don’t want to wear “faggy” jeans. Which makes the Levi’s move an even bolder one to me.
I hear you though. A simple copy-paste sounds like an easy and cheap solution. But i strongly believe that by telling me that my sexual orientation didn’t have to make me a walking cliché, I felt that this brand understood me a bit better than the other ones. And thanks for tickling my libido with 2 guys for the price of one, Levi’s.
Can we consider that, for decades, Levi’s position is always to be the first to play with ‘not so easy’ subject ?
It just reminds me an old Tv-spot form Levi’s showing a girl commited in condom purposes… don’t have a good memory at all, but it might be aired in middle 90’s, in France, and in those times (jeez, i feel so old tonight), it wasn’t so easy too to have such position.
Levi’s communication is always based in the same credo : being associated to a strong and “beaking the rules” position that cans assure a long-term link in customer’s minds between the rebel-attitude in general an the brand itself. With success !
Except, may be, that the 501, doesn’t seem to be made for me ;)