Levi’s adverts
Both 'The Laundrette' and 'The Pick-up' contain many common features that are used in many of the other Levi's adverts. These features convey hidden messages. The colour red features strongly in both adverts, it is always associated with the jeans. It appears many times in 'The Laundrette'; it is on the two little boys' hats and their uniform, on a sign near the entrance of the laundrette, on a woman's hat and finally on the Levi's logo at the end of the advert.
The colour red features a lot throughout 'The Pick-up' advert; it is on the scarf of the man wearing the jeans, sign on the road, lipstick the women is wearing and on the Levi's logo at the end of the advert. The colour red is a very important colour as it is the colour of the Levi's tag. It acts as a reminder to the viewer of what to look for when buying a pair of jeans, as this is the only thing that can distinguish Levi's jeans from other jeans.
The colour is also a hot, sexy and dangerous colour so these things are being associated with the jeans. This gives Levi's a sexy image, which could encourage many people to buy the jeans. Using this colour so extensively in the adverts means that when anyone sees this colour they think of the adverts and Levi's jeans. Sunglasses are another feature used in both adverts; they portray some qualities of the main character. In 'The Laundrette' and 'The Pick-up' the main character is seen wearing the sunglasses. This makes these particular characters look cool and more rebellious; these themes again become associated with Levi's and gives the jeans a cool, rebellious image. In the adverts the use of underwear features strongly. The underwear is always coloured white, a neutral colour, so it does not standout, so it does not take attention off the jeans.
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The use of underwear in the advert allows the man to strip making the advert sexier. These themes again become associated with the jeans. The underwear is very tight fitting to make it even more sexy and revealing. Many people in the adverts wear belts; this includes both main characters. The significance of this is so the camera can focus on the crutch area more. Also with an aid of a belt the characters can remove his clothes more like a stripper making the adverts sexier.
The use of steam or smoke features strongly in both adverts. It can be seen in 'The Laundrette' advert, when in the laundrette as it is full of steam from the machines. It is used in 'The Pick-up' when the good-looking man attempts to fix the car and steam is released from the engine. This is a good technique as it heats the advert up, making it more sexy and exciting, making the advert intrigue the viewer more so they will keep watching. The use of powerful vehicles in the adverts portray the power and strength of the jeans, the use of them also adds power to the advert. The cars are also 1950's style, which keeps in with the theme of setting the adverts in that time to show the uniqueness and history of the jeans.
Throughout many of the Levi's adverts there are many common themes that are featured. These common themes appear in 'The Laundrette' and 'The Pick-up'. One common theme of the adverts is that they both have young good-looking men as their main characters. These men always wear the jeans and are portrayed as confident, rebellious, sexy individuals with freedom to do as they please. In 'The Laundrette' this can be seen by the way the man walks into the laundrette, strips and places his clothes into the washer. Again the same feature can be seen in 'The Pick-up' when he strips and use the jeans to tie the cars together.
Both these situations convey to the viewer the rebellious, sexy, confident image the jeans portray and it also allows the viewers to put themselves in the place of the character. Also to emphasise this point the advertising company created an older less attractive character in both adverts. In both adverts these characters look disapprovingly at the men wearing the jeans; this suggests to the viewer that 'if you do not wear the jeans this what you will look like'. The viewer does not want to look like that so it may convince them to buy the jeans. Also the characters looking disapprovingly at the attractive characters will help bring back Levi's rebellious image.
In many of the adverts including 'The Laundrette and 'The Pick-up' a male removes his clothes, to show his muscular physique to attract the female. In these two adverts after the men have stripped the women admire them but in 'The Pick-up it goes one step further with the man getting the woman. This happens in many of the Levi's adverts and it has a hidden message behind it. Another common theme in 'The Laundrette' is that the jeans are very fashionable, the advert also suggest that you must do anything to keep up with the fashion; if that means going into a laundrette and stripping that is what you have got to do.
Another common theme in 'The Laundrette is a feature of American way of life; this is the man reading a newspaper. This features in the advert to show that him stripping does not feel like anything out of the ordinary, indicating confidence and boldness; this again associates the jeans with these things. Using this theme also suggest that the jeans are becoming an American way of life. A common theme in 'The Pick-up is that the jeans separate the men from the boys. This indicates that you are more of a man if you choose to wear the jeans; most people would prefer to be a man rather than a boy so this would be an incentive to them to buy the jeans. A common theme in both adverts is that they are set in the 1950's. The adverts are set in this time as that period was when sales rocketed, so the adverts will not only capture the history of the brand but will also capture the time when the jeans were most famous.
In many of the Levi's adverts connotations feature strongly. They manipulate the viewer into believing that these jeans would give them everything they wanted in life. Both 'The Laundrette' and 'The Pick-up imply that if you wear these jeans you will look sexy; they do this by using extremely good-looking characters to wear the jeans. Many people would purchase the jeans believing they would make them as good-looking as the men in the two adverts. The adverts also imply that by wearing the jeans it will instantly make you have sex appeal. They do this by showing the good-looking man being admired by women or the man getting the girl.
This can be seen in both 'The Laundrette' and 'The Pick-up. Many impressionable audiences seeing this on television would presume that wearing the jeans would make them instantly attractive. Also seeing the man get the woman would be an incentive to many young people to buy the jeans, as they believe wearing them would get them any girl they want. The adverts also indicate that the jeans are only for young cool people; they do this by using young characters wearing the jeans and less attractive older character not wearing the jeans. This is done to show the advert is aimed at its target audience of 15-19 year old males, it also brings back Levi's youthful image.
Showing each man in both adverts stripping in front of people shows their confidence. Many people would assume it is the jeans that are giving them confidence so would buy the jeans in the hope that it would give them some confidence. Another connotation in 'The Laundrette' is that the wearer of the jeans will get attention and have style. Making people talk and stare at the man wearing the jeans, doing this makes the viewer believe that he is being talked about because of the jeans. This particular advert also implies that the jeans are very fashionable and the viewer must do anything to keep up with the fashion.
This is shown in the advert when the man goes to the extreme and strips in front of a room full of people, just to keep up with the fashion. A connotation in 'The Pick-up' is that you are more of a man if you wear the jeans. Also in the advert the good-looking man leaves the jeans behind, this implies to the viewer that he is almost saying 'give these jeans a try they got me my girl, they could get you the girl you want'. In the two adverts the two attractive men are like they are the centre of the universe so many people might think buying the jeans would make them centre of the universe.
In the two adverts different groups of people are represented differently. Men and women are represented differently, as so are the young and old. The men wearing the jeans in the two adverts are portrayed as being: exciting, confident, independent, dominate, young individuals and not afraid to shock. These men are seen as sex symbols. Many viewers are manipulated into believing wearing these jeans would make them have all these things.
On the other hand women are depicted quite differently. They are show to be: weak, needing help, respondent to the man's authority and influence, flirtatious and desires the attractive man. The women seem to be quite dependent on the men. Many people would presume that by wearing the jeans this is how women would act around them; they would have control over any women they want. The qualities of the good-looking men and the actions of the women all become associated with what the jeans can immediately give to the buyer.
The young and the old are again represented very differently. The young men in the adverts, who are wearing the jeans, seem to be free, rebellious, shocking and they always seem to be admired by women or get the women. Using young men in the two adverts to wear the jeans appeals to the target audience more and it gives Levi's a youthful image. However the older generation are described quite differently. The viewer sees them as being dull and boring, always looking disapprovingly towards the younger men. Describing the young and old in this way gives the younger generation a rebellious image, resulting in the jeans becoming associated with it. Representation in the adverts results in giving Levi's a new image to appeal to its target audience.
The advertising campaign was a great success, which can be seen by the sale increase. The adverts contain many techniques to sell the jeans. These include the use of a story line to intrigue the viewer; music to enforce the story line and act as a memory jogger; camera angles to portray the quality of the jeans; common features to create an atmosphere for the advert; common themes to produce an image for Levi's and connotations to manipulate the viewer. Both 'The Laundrette' and 'The Pick-up feature strongly in the campaign. 'The Laundrette' is one of Levi's most famous adverts,
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Levi’s adverts. (2018, May 20). Retrieved from https://phdessay.com/levis-adverts/
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