Trying to get your brand to tap into certain subcultures’ wallets is hard at the best of times. Increasingly, brands are pushing the limits of message delivery, but Levi’s certainly couldn’t have predicted that their new advertisement featuring scenes from protests resembling the London riots would cause such a stir.

Unfortunately for the creators of a commercial recently put together as a part of the Levi’s “Go Forth” campaign, timing couldn’t be worse.

Levi’s launched the ad on Facebook on Tuesday night, and it was due to be aired on television and in cinemas in the coming weeks too.

Understandably though, it has touched a few nerves and “out of sensitivity for what is happening in the UK,” has been provisionally halted there.

The problem: it features youngsters in tight jeans, seen with smoke bombs, participating in marches and defying a line of riot police officers.

A spokesman for Levi Strauss said the company had “temporarily postponed” the advertising campaign, but it will still run in other countries and is available on certain social media platforms.

The spokesman had the following to say:

We are deeply disheartened about the unprecedented events taking place in the UK at the moment and which have impacted communities across the country.

While ‘Go Forth’ is about embodying the energy and events of our time, it is not about any specific movement or political theme; rather, it’s about optimism, positive action and a pioneering spirit.

Out of sensitivity for what is happening in the UK, we have temporarily postponed our cinema and Facebook spots in the country.

Obviously the riot scenes, which are accompanied by images of loving embraces, playing in the wind and partying, were never meant to abdicate violence, but Levi’s has probably done the right thing by suspending the campaign.

[Source: Guardian]