no one should feel obligated to read a single thing about the sydney sweeney ad. but if you must — make it this clear-eyed @cwarzel.bsky.social piece on how the attention economy inexorably gins up controversies that leave everyone madder and dumber than before www.theatlantic.com/technology/a...
I was Levi's marketing chief so I know a bit about jeans ads. Maybe the campaign will sell product, maybe it won't. But most discourse (broken or not) fails to mention the 15-25 year old target customers, who mostly don't give a whit about their parents' culture wars.
The campaign isn't idea-driven, so it seems more a one-off to juice back-to-school sales rather than a brand repositioning. Abercrombie sex-forward marketing requires you be all-in & still seems tired. And celeb-driven ads are so prevalent they're the new clutter. But we'll see how BTS sales do.
Noisy marketing can be good if you've established yourself as an edgy brand. That can be a challenging proposition for a mass mall-based apparel retailer.
How is she not the of-age, and so more knowing and intelligent Brooke Shields of this time?
I'm madder and dumber than before and I haven't bothered to read anything about it.
impressive
Who is Sydney Sweeney?
She's an actress--White Lotus, Euphoria, etc
That’s funny. The answer is I think, the new Brooke shields. I didn’t know who she was until Jon Stewart mentioned her on his TV show once.
The right wing grifter outrage machine is impressive if nothing else.
people aren’t outraged —we’re more like ‘huh, oh they suck too.’ Things are too bad right now for people to be ‘outraged’ about some racist bluejeans company.
Well there’s something I’m no longer blissfully unaware of. Thanks a lot.
I remember the Brooke shields ads for Calvin Klein jeans. At least I think that’s who they were for. The beat goes on.
well it's wokeness run amuck
I am amazed that this excellent analysis is appearing in the magazine that for years has been feeding this exact kind of idiotic discourse about the “free speech” and “trans kids” moral panics.
Who tf is sidney sweeney?
TLDR: you weren’t going to shop there anyway, so why get mad about them hiring an actress you aren’t watching anyway?
"What can start out as a legitimate grievance becomes something else altogether—an internet event, an attention spectacle. This is not a process for sense-making; it is a process for making people feel upset at scale." - @cwarzel.bsky.social www.theatlantic.com/technology/a...
thx, but I'm already mad + dumb enuf as it is.
ty will!
I prefer to make it about ignorant retarded woke snowflakes whining over nothing. It's hilarious how some people freak out over a blue jeans ad.
Madder and dumber
Again, a woman is an object.
The marketing team did their job. Their goal was to get eyeballs on the ad, and get tongues wagging.
Maybe Americans are sick of corporations promoting women who look like children as the standard of female beauty, and then having the audacity to claim superiority on the basis of their maleness and whiteness while they and their friends are raping actual children and GETTING AWAY WITH IT. Enough.
This company hasn't gone anywhere for a long time. It seems a desperate move, trying to attract racist customers.
I am blissfully unaware of who she is or what she did. No effect on my life. But by all means, continue.
Did you know that diarea is hereditary? No, how? It runs in your jeans.
I'm going to have to tell this one to my husband, who loves this sort of joke. Thanks!
It'se note me. Think its from Dusty and Lefty dialoge in the film, maybe Altman made, APHC A Prarie Home Compagnion
Did the advertiser stoke this? Because otherwise, who cares?
All this fuss about a dumb pun? Jesus Christ no wonder this country is so fucked up
Who?
This is also part of the cycle
I need a meditative pause
Meditate on Gaza.....
as is your post, and now mine too. - Your point?
That voice over is so fake - ick!
