Levi's Ad - The Laughing Heart - All the Way to the Bank

[Erik]

Can you believe it?
Wonder what Buk would have made of this:

"No matter where you are in the world, youthful spirit and pioneering energy are themes that resonate," noted Rebecca Van Dyck, global CMO for the Levi's® brand. "For over a century, men and women have done amazing things in their Levi's® jeans. Our brand has always been a catalyst for change. We want customers to leave our stores not just wearing Levi's® jeans, but feeling inspired, empowered and determined to create a better world." :oo
To bring the "Now is our time" sentiment to life, the Levi's® brand tapped renowned director Ralf Schmerberg to create a 60-second short film featuring scenes of the German landscape from Berlin to the Baltic Sea - and the real pioneering youthof Berlin to deliver a message of hope and empowerment. The spot features the poem "The Laughing Heart" by American poet, novelist and short story writer, Charles Bukowski,

See for yourself here...

 

[Bukfan]

Jezuz! So, now they're going to use Buk to sell Levis jeans. Whiskey and beer, I could understand, but jeans?
Oh well, at least people will feel, "inspired, empowered and determined to create a better world", wearing their new Levis.
Silly me, who thought it was all about selling jeans, when it's actually about creating a better world.:rolleyes:

 

[Kisa2674]

Shut the front door. I don't know how I missed this post. . .next thing you know Celine Dion is going to turn "Roll the Dice" into a song about, well, her, which Kids Bop will then cover.
Yep, I think it's time for a beer.

 

[Erik]

If Bob Dylan can sell cars I guess Buk (or Linda B.) can sell Levis...

here it is

PS: dear manuscript Gods! PLease tell me is this poem was martinized...
hmmmm, it has the word Gods, in plural, in it.
JM would never allow that. Their is only ONE gOD.
so, I guess it isn't butchered after all.

 

[mjp]

Unfortunately...since it first appears in What Matters Most, it is almost certainly Martinized.

Levis using it, or being allowed to use it - what can you say about that?

 

[bospress.net]

Nice how they give no credit, thereby giving the impression that one of their wonderkids made it up....

 

[Bukfan]

hmmmm, it has the word Gods, in plural, in it.
JM would never allow that. Their is only ONE gOD.
so, I guess it isn't butchered after all.

Buk always used the word gods, in plural, so Martin couldn't very well have changed that, i think, because it would have been noticed if he did, at least by some of us. Not that Martin's many changes would have gone unnoticed anyway .

 

[Mark73]

As if Levis using Bukowski to sell jeans wasn't bad enough, a fair amount of their clothes are produced in Bangladesh.

Create a better world with breadline wages and child labour.

 

[Bukfan]

That's called "globalization". :wb:

 

[DirtyJersey13]

I love how we (the forum) have taken over the role of protecting Bukowski's name and work, and continue to, long after his passing. If you use Bukowski's words incorrectly on the internet, we're going to find you, and call you out! Long live Buk! And thanks for posting this!

 

[roni]

Hm, Levi's started out as workmen's clothes. At least that's Buklike. Not that he ever wore jeans.

 

[hank solo]

Not that he ever wore jeans.

Of course he did. He wasn't square, man!! :p

 

[d gray]

"No matter where you are in the world, youthful spirit and pioneering energy are themes that resonate," noted Rebecca Van Dyck, global CMO for the Levi's® brand. "For over a century, men and women have done amazing things in their Levi's® jeans. Our brand has always been a catalyst for change. We want customers to leave our stores not just wearing Levi's® jeans, but feeling inspired, empowered and determined to create a better world."

what a steaming pile of horseshit that is...i guess someone needs a new pair of shoes.

FTW indeed

 

[David]

Ay, Caramba!
Well, if Burroughs could sell Nike and Hemingway..what was it, bourbon?
But let's come up with better links between writer and product:

Dostoyevsky: hatchets
Faulkner: whiskey
Proust: cork
Verlaine: pistols
Rimbaud: hashish
Kerouac: automobiles
Gary Snyder: electric cars
Tolkien....

 

[roni]

That's cool, David!
Your Dostoevsky is priceless!

Of course, Tolkien will advertise jewelry (like rings and such).

 

[hoochmonkey9]

Kerouac already sold pants for The Gap:

and so did a lot of other people:

Gap Ad - People who wore khakis

• Arthur Miller
• Kerouac wore khakis.
• Andy Warhol wore khakis.
• James Dean wore khakis.
• Isamu Noguchi wore khakis.
• Miles Davis wore khakis.
• Howlin' Wolf wore khakis.
• Marlene Dietrich wore khakis.
• Amelia Earhart wore khakis.
• Allen Ginsberg wore khakis.
• Pablo Picasso wore khakis.
• Marilyn Monroe wore khakis.
• Jean Cocteau wore khakis.
• Chet Baker wore khakis.
• Hemingway wore khakis.
• Steve McQueen wore khakis.
• Frank Lloyd Wright wore khakis.
• Zsa Zsa wore khakis.

 

[mjp]

Richard Nixon and Pol Pot probably wore khakis too. I'm pretty sure Idi Amin sported them as well. Maybe the next Gap ad can feature them.

 

[bospress.net]

Hitler wore Khakis. So did Ted Bundy.

ftw...

 

[Digney in Burnaby]

Shane Koyczan, the slam person who did "we are more" at the 2010 opening of the Olympics (is that word still copyrighted?) sold some Maxwell House coffee. I only saw the ad once but it's been recorded on youtube by someone with a hand held camera.

[This video is unavailable.]

Cash in early and often.

 

[Bukfan]

Not that he ever wore jeans.

Well, the pants he's wearing in this photo sure looks like jeans to me.

 

[roni]

Bukfan, you're right.
Let's say 'usually' he didn't wear jeans.

 

[1fsh2fsh]

just read that Glen Beck is going to boycott levis because of this ad. Apparently it ran during monday night football? Fuck Glen Beck...

 

[Bukfan]

Glen Beck? Wow, the sale of Levi's are going to drop considerably now, together with Levi's shares. :rolleyes:

 

[bospress.net]

That is funny. In reality, I'm sure it is not the "Progressivism" that bothers him, but the word "gods". He is a Mormon, after all. I'm sure that a boycott of JEANS from a bunch of dress-pants wearing old men and long dress wearing women will DESTROY the company. I mean, he mas as well boycott body piercings to make less of an effect. Maybe he'll boycott fixies too. His mindless right-winger minions loves their fixies...

What a fucking douchebag.

 

[hoochmonkey9]

...and an optimistic vision of a still-living James Dean shills for an investment firm:

 

[David]

I was watching the very bad new Steven Spielberg TV show "Terra Nova" last night and saw the "Laughing Heart" Levi's ad. Anybody else see it or see it elsewhere?

 

[Erik]

very bad new

Hey! Cool phrase. Could very well make my t-shirt next summer!
:rolleyes:

 

[David]

I meant "bad" in the original sense of "awful"!

 

[Rekrab]

... He is a Mormon, after all. I'm sure that a boycott of JEANS from a bunch of dress-pants wearing old men and long dress wearing women will DESTROY the company. ...

Hey, don't knock the prairie dresses. It's not like they're all exactly the same. Some are pale blue, some are pink, some are white. Dig it.

 

[Hosh]

just read that Glen Beck is going to boycott levis because of this ad. Apparently it ran during monday night football? Fuck Glen Beck...

I guess he'll have to get his jean shorts from some other completely American company (that outsources the textile, and sewing work to some other third-world sweatshops)...

This just in from Levi's: "Seriously? A Bukowski poem was what did it? It wasn't the interracial kissing in the Walt Whitman spot that put you off of Levi's? We all know how Glen Beck types love interracial kissing..."