Levi's

Bad Ad: A male voiceover recites a small portion of Walt Whitman's poem Pioneers! O Pioneers! as we watch random scenes of young people doing random things or doing nothing at all. There is one shot near the middle of the ad that shows someone putting on Levi's jeans. And then there's the Levi's logo at the end along with the phrase, "Go forth."

My Aditude: This is one of those ads where it's nearly impossible to tell what is being promoted. You'd never find out just from listening to the poem. There's no recognizable theme music to guide you. You really have to be watching at the very end for a second or so, or else you miss it entirely. Why not appeal to more senses with your product's image? Are you that much better than everyone else and that well-known that you don't need to? Maybe.

Marketing failure: Apparently the random images are supposed to appeal to folks younger than me. Maybe they do; maybe they don't. Again, if you can't hold the young folks' attention to the end of the spot, you've lost your chance at a sale because they will have missed what you're in the marketplace to sell. Maybe the young folks like to be thought of as pioneers, but will the voice of the older gentleman doing the voiceover lead them to think this ad is for and about them? Wouldn't a bit of catchy music do just as well in addition to or instead of the poem? How about a younger person reading Whitman? I'm guessing most younger folks have never heard of Whitman and/or this poem before. I bet they think it's something new and would be surprised to find out it's not even something from their era. The poem was first published in 1855. Might that turn them off? Sure, the poem is supposed to transcend the times, but will the young folks take it that way?

What about us older folks? Doesn't Levi's want to sell to us? This ad will appeal to far fewer of us than to the younger folks -- possibly for many of the reasons already mentioned.