Response to Media Texts Coursework

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Response to Media Texts Coursework

Levi’s have been around for more than a century. The company was established in 1853.  In 2003, Levi Strauss & Co. was 150 years old. In 1873 their founder, Levi Strauss created the first blue jeans. From the mid 1950’s onwards, jeans have been especially associated with particular types of male American youth heroes, including James Dean, the young Marlon Brando, & their Sixties followers – heroes who have become symbols of youth & rebellion in almost all areas, spanning over 5 generations of American & global culture.

When Levi’s were first brought out, their target audience was youths, teenagers. Unfortunately as time went on, the teens that had originally bought them grew older and Levis started losing its youth market and sales fell so Levi’s needed a new strategy. They planned advertisements to appeal to a younger generation. Levi’s were then thought to be worn by working-class people for leisure-wear, or worn by the middle-class as work-wear. The jeans had grown to be thought of being boring, dull and unfashionable. They prepared to take on a new image. Levi Strauss & Co. planned to breakdown the stereotypical barrier that the public had built up regarding their jeans.

When Levi’s first released this succession of commercials, they planned to change the public’s view towards jeans in general. Their target audience was set. The idea was that they could recreate their original reputation in the 1950’s for the new generation. In the 1950’s the Levi’s brand was known for its original design, it’s strong hardwearing fabric and it was a symbol of American culture. Their jeans were classic and stylish and above all, Levi’s. Their new image was sexy, stylish & sophisticated. They represented rebellion, individuality and youth. To keep this idea their target audience was teenagers, younger, fresher, with more money to spend. Young people had their own spending power as consumers, following the hard times of the war, when, it seemed, everyone had a lot more money than anticipated and wanted to spend it on fashions and lifestyles. A new group of people to suck into the ever expanding trade, looking for heroes to follow, and interests to pursue, Levi’s used this opportunity and has drawn repeatedly on the idea of the ‘rebel’.

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Levi’s new advertising campaign introduced a creative new idea, involving a man and a woman recreating the impression of 50s America. All the advertisements in this series revolved around this same idea of people finding the person wearing the jeans desirable. The scenarios ranged from launderettes to beaches, all featuring an emphasis on physical attraction and most of them set in a public place.

However Levis didn’t predict what sort of impact this commercial campaign would bring to the population of teenagers. The result was massive, the number of Button Fly 501’s sold in 1987 was over 20 times ...

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