Several posts ago, I talked about Levi's new "Go Forth" campaign. I was intrigued with the strategy of equating the values of "pioneer" to the values shared by the Millennial target, and the "find" of Walt Whitman's one-known voice recording reciting his poem "America." That sparked a discussion with my colleague Neal, who was inspired to blog about our core American values (perfect for a July 4th blog on collective-thinking.com). Neal dug up a 1984 paper written by L Robert Kohls called “The Values Americans Live By." Neal and I speculated about how these values have morphed in the past 25 years, and questioned if there was anything new to add to the core list.Guess the answer is "multiculturism." Evolving from the values of Freedom and Fairness. Everyone knows Millennials are the most multicultural generation in our history. This may be the soft underbelly of the new Levi's work. Some pundits are faulting the new campaign for ignoring this value.
From PSFK's blog: Levi’s and its campaign don’t connect with the great things that are happening in this country, the radiant mix of cultures evolving within it nor the reality of its past. Probably the most appalling ad in the campaign is the one where a young girl runs through a meadow by the words “This Country Was Not Built By Men In Suits”. Now, some of us here (me) didn’t spend a lot of time studying US history but I know that the people who built this country couldn’t even run freely in the fields. Agency Spy spotted graffiti daubed on the ad in New York’s subway which spells out who a little more clearly: “By Slaves”.
Christine Huang, formerly of PSKF, blogs:
I saw one of these ads in NYC’s Spring Street 6 subway station. The copy read, “This country was not built by men in suits” - which someone added to in matching handwritten scrawl: “IT WAS BUILT BY SLAVES”. Up to that point, I hadn’t been able to put my finger on what it was about the campaign that made me feel so uneasy. But with that bit of graffiti, it all came together. Levis (or rather W+K) is glorifying these centuries old American ideals - Optimism! Egoism! Manifest Destiny! - while making paltry gestures towards the reality of American history and what America is today. Besides the few ethnic actors in the video, their print campaign is disappointingly monochromatic and seems almost apologetically alienating. It would have been really amazing to see Levis pay homage to the symbols of true individuality from our past - the freedom riders, abolitionists, suffragists, veterans.”The Frontier” is sexy and all, but how about some real American heroes?
I saw one of these ads in NYC’s Spring Street 6 subway station. The copy read, “This country was not built by men in suits” - which someone added to in matching handwritten scrawl: “IT WAS BUILT BY SLAVES”. Up to that point, I hadn’t been able to put my finger on what it was about the campaign that made me feel so uneasy. But with that bit of graffiti, it all came together. Levis (or rather W+K) is glorifying these centuries old American ideals - Optimism! Egoism! Manifest Destiny! - while making paltry gestures towards the reality of American history and what America is today. Besides the few ethnic actors in the video, their print campaign is disappointingly monochromatic and seems almost apologetically alienating. It would have been really amazing to see Levis pay homage to the symbols of true individuality from our past - the freedom riders, abolitionists, suffragists, veterans.”The Frontier” is sexy and all, but how about some real American heroes?
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