Levi Jeans: Showing What Women Are Made of: an Advertisement Analysis

Many women believe Mary Kay Ashe said it best when she observed, “While clothes may not make the woman, they certainly have a strong effect on her self-confidence — which, I believe, does make the woman.” (educators.fidm.com). This observation simply means that a woman’s appearance can have a tremendous influence on how she really views herself. Two advertisements from the world famous Levi’s Jean Company portrays this concept of self. One advertisement from a Seventeen magazine published in 1954 presents four women standing in a posed position, showcasing various types of Levi clothing attire. Another advertisement, published fifty years later, in 2009 in the W+K magazine presents a different view by drawing the viewers attention to only one woman, who is only clothed waist down with a pair of Levi jeans. The advertisements show a vast cultural change by the way the two photographic meanings are displayed in the various images. The two advertisements demonstrate a change in a woman’s perception of self through the change in the stages of rebellion, confidence, and most importantly independence in women, which are each brought about in the advertisements. This cultural change is evident in the different slogans of the ads, overall various images of the women, the angle of the shots, the use of technology, the color scheme and layout of the two advertisements. The slogans in the two advertisements are totally different, sharing two completely diverse messages. The 1954 advertisement with the words “look pretty” and the 2009 showing “all I need is all I got”. The 1954 advertisement uses a very straightforward approach, implying that if you wear Levi jeans you will look pretty. It makes the reader believe that if they wear Levi’s jeans, then they are guaranteed to look pretty. It is very simple and to the point. This approach is very different from the one in the current ad. In the 2009 advertisement, the young girl is not wearing a shirt as she boldly