Jeans for all : The change of portrayal of female and male models in the advertisements by Levi’s Jeans from 1960s until 2000s

Reading through fashion magazines we are greeted by advertisements from various fashion brands advertis- ing for both genders. The reader is, however, not always aware of all the messages being communicated through various signs in advertisement pictures. The purpose of our study is to examine closer whether changes occurred from a gender perspective between 1960s and 2000s in print ads by Levi’s Jeans, and how the print ads differ between the genders. We chose to examine this in a clothing company Levi's Jeans, con- sidered as it is the first original jeans brand, that has advertisements for both genders and has been around for long enough in order to satisfy the criteria of our study. The primary research question of the study is therefore "How has the image of female and male models in Levi's Jeans’ advertising changed from the 1960s up to the 2000s?" To carry out our analysis of advertisements we chose to use a qualitative method and conduct a semiotic analysis of five advertisements from 1960s until 2000s. Our theoretical framework is the basis for our study and includes semiotics, with the various concepts included in the analysis (sign and its three aspects (index, icon, symbol), connotation/denotation, codes and connection to advertisement), gender stereotypes and body ideal development. We concluded that a change was to be observed both generally in the ads and on a gender specific level. The progress of the models in the Levi's Jeans’ ads from the analyzed time-period followed the general ideal body development also observed in other studies. The advertisements by Levi's Jeans have grown more se- rious and rough, with models expressing less joy and playfulness and to play more on the sexual tension, but less nakedness than expected.