Levi Strauss Shoots for the Hip

Levi Strauss & Co. weaves oddball characters and offbeat humor into a series of randomly connected ads that dramatize the new Levi slogan: “They go on.” In the first spot, a cowboy character gives a friend a stuffed brontosaurus--one of several plush toys he won at a carnival--and shares his secret for success: “Look beyond the balloon.” The friend leaves town on a bus, and the next commercial begins with a woman getting off the same bus carrying the brontosaurus. In later spots, an ice cream man quizzes city kids about beat writers, senior citizens pack a seedy bar, entertainer Lenny Kravitz prepares for a show in a service station restroom because of a hotel’s no-musician policy. Levi is betting that young people who get the stream-of-consciousness ads from Foote, Cone & Belding-San Francisco will conclude that Levi also “gets it.” $$$