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11 October 2012

The ADgenda: Levi’s jeans

This week's most offensive advert.

By Sophie Barnes

It’s often exhausting watching adverts. The constant focus on self-improvement wears you down swiftly until you’re left contemplating the futility of making that cup of tea because how will that make you sexier/funnier/skinnier/smarter? It’s an age old method and we all know it only too well – make the consumer feel inadequate and they will latch onto any quick-fix solution, no matter how silly.

A new way of life is offered by everything from your hifi to your toilet roll. But with all these new ways of living on offer surely the outcome is a society of severely confused individuals with a bad case of identity crisis? Levi’s are here though to force their idea of success upon our tiny minds. By buying a pair of their jeans you’re not just presenting your bum in its best light – oh no no – you’re buying into a whole way of life. Your world view will change for the better – you’ll become more spontaneous, more enigmatic, more self-assured, and far better-looking. You’ll freefall off tall buildings just for the hell of it, before prancing in the rain all the while maintaining your dead-eye pout. Because you’re wearing a pair of Levi’s.

Just like the Beat poets of yesteryear a side-effect from this new way of life may well be a touch of mental instability – you’ll say. every. word. very. loudly. and. jerkily. because. you. are. edgy. but. also. starting. to. feel. a. bit. paranoid. and. you. are. wearing. Levi’s. So as you prowl the streets muttering a string of words that sound clever but are actually utter gibberish while hastily doing up your shirt because, oops, you’re so busy embracing your new outlook that you forgot to dress yourself in a decent manner this morning – congratulations, you’ve turned into that person. The one who passers-by cross the street to avoid.

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