Great Moments In Advertising #5... Levi's "Go Forth!"

"Pioneers… oh pioneers… come my tanned faced children… get your weapons ready… have you your pistols?"


I have been very struck by the current Levi’s ads that feature lines from Walt Whitman’s Poem America. The ads are produced by Portland’s own Wieden + Kennedy, a very productive & interesting agency with a very groovy headquarters in the Pearl District. I was knocked out of my seat to discover that the narration is actually the poet’s voice from a wax cylinder recording. At first I wondered if it was right to use America’s most important poets to shill for jeans, but I realized that Levi’s are as an American brand as the bard himself & they are a product that was actually around during Whitman’s lifetime. A quentiessential American Brand with words by the most American of poets. Wieden + Kennedy is the agency responsible for Nike’s “Just Do It”, & I think I am just as inspired by the Levi’s spot’s “Go Forth”.

I always appreciate advertising that feature males with their shirts off.