M.C.

Today Sociological Images posted a Levi’s ad and a brief comment noting its classist subtext.  The text in the ad says simply, “This country was not built by men in suits.”

A few months ago, the bus stops here in NYC were plastered with the Levi’s “Wear the Pants” campaign, which promoted Levi’s khaki’s with a “real man” rhetoric and had more gender fail than I’ve seen in any other single ad.  The messages of the “Wear the Pants” campaigns were that the world needs men to be in charge, bringing protection and discipline to women and children; that to be a man one must work to gender conform, avoiding all things as potentially emasculating as lattes; and, that women and women’s rights have ruined men and the world.