Entry #3
This is a little NSFW, but nothing outright pornographic. This is one part of Levi's new advertising campaign, "Live Unbuttoned", called "Secrets and Lies". It is shown in Singapore on Channel 5, but only after around 11 pm and after midnight since it is incredibly good to look at, and because it is a rather steamy advertisement.
In this ad, two teenagers are confessing the truth about themselves before they decided to do the sacred act of fornicating with each other...in someone else's house.
Levi's is getting more and more blatant with their advertisements these days. This is obviously screaming "Wear Levi's Jeans, and you will get laid." Look at their body language; they are obviously eager to get it done, as you can see that they are happily unbuttoning their jeans as they go up the inviting, dark alley. Plus, in terms of their vocal nonverbal cues, the laboured, breathy panting of the two teenagers suggest that they need to satisfy their primitive urges. They maintained their eye contact throughout the entire advertisement, as they walk up the stairs to the house, and never once broke the eye contact they shared with each other. Phyiscally, they are very much in touch with each other, and in terms of proximity, they keep a very close, intimate distance that shows that they are clearly comfortable in each other's presense. All these nonverbal cues obviously shows that they want to perform the sacred act of fornicating with each other.
The twist in this advertisement, is that right before they perform this very act, they were basically telling each other that they have lied about themselves. The guy said, "I'm not really in a band," (Actually I heard "I'm not really a man," but well, I think I heard wrong) and the girl replied, "I don't really work for a label." The lies go so far as to the girl finally confessing that she did not invite him to her house to have that sort of fun; that was not her house at all.
Aren't this kind of confessions normally declared (or not at all) after you do the act? You probably will not want to talk about this kind of things before you do it, since it could deter the other person from wanting to fornicate with you. The reasons seem obvious enough; he or she might not be impressed with you, or even turned off by how you lied to him or her, therefore leading to the possibly of not having any sexual relations.
However, because the two teenagers are wearing the amazing Levi's Jeans, nothing can possibly go wrong, can they? I think you could be telling your partner, "I have this disease in which blisters grow and burst within seconds, all over my skin.", and she might reply, "I love seeing blisters growing and bursting within seconds, it is incredibly attractive." Levi's Jeans are amazing, the ad says. It does not matter what you were lying to your partner about previously; as long as you wear Levi's Jeans, you will get what you want, including the opportunity to fornicate with attractive people.
This advertisement works well. Sex in advertisments will always garner attention, whether you agree with it or not, and this one is no exception. It might backfire on Levi's, if their target audience finds it offensive, or it might influence them to get the jeans or even change the way they live their lives. Obviously, Levi's finds that it is worth the risk. Although I think that this advertisement is effective, I did not think that it is ethical. This is very blatantly promoting sexual promiscuity. If advertisements like this is shown rampantly, sexual promiscuity will not only seem acceptable, but even necessary. In the end, it is up to the viewers to be critical about what they see on the media and not take the advertisement, or any advertisements, at face value.
I will still buy Levi's Jeans though.
posted by kyun at
8:12 AM
10 Comments:
I am first, yet again.
I haven't seen the advertisement, maybe that's cos i haven't watched tv in a looong time.
yeah i do agree with u that by having this commercial, Levi's is sending a bad message across by seeming to be promoting promiscuity among teenagers. The message: It is now cooler to own a pair of Levi's jeans cos u will get a higher chance of getting it down with someone u are sexually attracted to.
some people may argue that such a claim may be unreasonable and that a pair of jeans is not going to convince one to become a fornicator but I, on the other hand, feel that it is the message that they're sending across that is dangerous. Levi's' target consumer group is the youth including the young teens, and because many of their peers may already be promiscuous (especially in western societies), they may be pressured to follow that lifestyle too.
An advertisement such as "Secret and Lies" is not going to be of much help to the growing problem of teenage promiscuity, unlike if the concept had gone along the lines of "Geek-chic". THAT, would be much cooler.
huh. i've never seen this ad before! But i usually watch cable.. so maybe that's why.
I've never really understood levi's ads actually. I remember the ad for the... squarish jeans and i was just like.. "huh! do these kind of advertisements actually work?!"
I guess they do just wanna appeal to the teens, showing them how cool their jeans are etc etc. I just want a nice non sexual jeans advert. (of course not like those of wrangler jean's), but something different and more creative would be nice.
Truthfully speaking, i feel that this commercial is not only unethical, but also misleading. Imagine if this advertisement was to be viewed by immature adults, what would they think? Wearing Levis jeans can actually allow you to lie and help you in finding a sex partner?! Personally, i feel that this commercial is just way too over. It is true that placing a CERTAIN amount of aggressiveness and sexiness can appeal to the public, but definitely not like this. An advertisement is supposed to be interesting and at the same time, able to promote the company's product to the people, such that it leaves a deep impression in them.
However, judging by this commercial, i think its more of a porn show, teaching people how to seduce others and carry out sexual activities than a commercial! It does leave a deep impression in people, that i agree, but its the WRONG impression!
I can understand the message that Levis is trying to bring across, however, i feel that there are definitely much better ways to express their point.
Haha how is it unethical? Sex sells. Sex always sells. Unless they enticed the malnourished girl with rice or something, in return for her to star in the ad, I don't really see what's wrong with it.
I think the main point of this advertisment is to highlight the absolute confidence of the twin stars, and how nothing they say can detract from their attractiveness. I guess this amazing charisma of theirs is supposed to stem from their jeans, but at the rate at which they were stripping, I'm afraid the ad didn't really bring that out.
But really, the girl looks really good in jeans anyway.
Yes I will also still continue to buy Levi's Jeans. Personally, I do not look at advertisements and go 'I want that!' What it does for me is that it introduces me to the brand or product and I will do my own research by asking friends or reading reviews to see if something is really credible or worth buying.
As we all know advertisements have an obvious aim which is to inform and/or to persuade people to buy their items. Thus I feel that in this case, teenagers or young adults should not buy in to the concept that wearing the jeans is directly related to becoming a fornicator. It is always important to view advertisements with an objective mind. Then again we cannot deny the fact that sexual ideas do fill the minds of the majority of teenagers and young adults these days. So maybe Levi's jeans just feel that they are able to appeal to them and thus attract them to buy their jeans.
P.S: Thanks for your comment! You can take a look at my reply to your comment on my blog (:
i feel that the advert and the product didnt really quite match... levis=attraction=sex? hmmmm a little far-fetched isnt it. perhaps a better way of promoting the jeans *a very corny and old-fashioned way i admit, im not high on creativity points*, is simply to have a plain jane who was an outcast in school who turns into the centre of attraction after wearing levis jeans and struts down with guys drooling. and have a guy strutting and girl strutting version.
sex sells, i agree, but only when it's relevant to the product.
hello! haha... yep, this ad is really suggestive. But i would still buy Levi's jeans because they are just so comfortable! Well, perhaps they didn't need to go to such extremes to sell the jeans because not only do people above the age of 21 buy, teenagers too, so what's the point of it showing after midnight. Does that mean that only adults can buy this particular model of jeans? Ridiculous. They should just do an innocent one that can be aired at normal times; and not using sex to sell the jeans, like so many other advertisements.
I think that the underlying message is this: When you don a pair of Levi's, you feel confident, you feel brave, you feel bold and you have no inhibitions letting your guard down (or in this case, letting your pants drop to the floor)
Yes, I feel that impressionable youths are thus wont to feel that donning a pair of Levi's will make them more attractive to the opposite sex, thereby giving them a (rather) false sense of sexual empowerment.
Yet on the other hand, as mentioned by your previous commenters, sex sells. This sexually-tinged advertisement has probably achieved its purpose by making viewers sit up and debate about it. Controversial? Yes, but no publicity is bad publicity where marketing is concerned.
I guess ultimately one has to be a rather discerning viewer and perhaps take it (the advertisement) it with a pinch of salt.
I read your post before watching the ad. Your post was actually more graphic than the actual ad. From what I understand of what you are writing anyway.
Interesting way of promoting a pair of jeans, I wouldn't actually say that it would promote promiscuity but that it does draw attention to the ad, which is the purpose of an ad in the first place.
The same reason why people remember the naked man promoting his flat in the Mocca ad, this is another method to engrave their brand into consumer's mind.
Full marks for attention grabbing but lesser for making it so graphic that it is only allowed after 11pm. Compared to the 24/7 avaliable ad of Mocca, I would say that having it aired only during a limited period of time would decrease its functionality of promoting jeans to the public.
Although their target group could be people that watch TV only during night, so maybe the ad isn't as ineffective as I thought it would be?
isn't every ad starting to use sex as a selling point? sex/nudity has been used so much, it's actually becoming boring!! take for example, the latest tom ford ad, it shows 2 men, one dressed, and the other wearing, well, his own skin. (yes, its the p33n in its full glory.) why would a fashion label have naked ppl in its ad when they are selling clothes? few other brands that love using sex/nudity to sell are dolce & gabbana, calvin klein, yve saint laurant and the other jeans brand diesel.
i guess sex is still considered a taboo to be shown so boldly in the public, hence ppl would be so attracted to look at those ads as though they are breaking the rules. isn't it kind of weird when you have a liberal country like the US of A banning a Calvin Klein ad because of an exposed nipple? And then you have Japan that sells porn on magazine racks right beside Shounen Jump!!
The world is warped.
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