Levi's Viral Campaign Banned by YouTube

The Story:

Levi’s recently attempted a viral campaign to increase awareness of it new line of jeans called that targeted curvy women. They essentially used a hidden camera to show how many people looked at the ‘rear view’ of girls as they walked down busy streets. This was an attempt to show how their new line of “curve ID” jeans would perhaps fit better for these body types. The video was actually banned from you tube because of its failure to gain consent from various individuals captured on the film.

Reflection and Analysis:

This is an interesting story, not only for Levi’s, but also for the YouTube brand. YouTube took a strong stance in this case in order to not have its name associated with a campaign by Levi’s that could be considered distasteful and as a result is only adding to its brand equity.

The implications for Levi’s is however potentially much more negative. The bad press surrounding this video is unfortunate because the viral campaign was the most successful campaign Levi’s had run in years, with over 7 millions views in the first few days, yet it was quickly tarnished when it became clear that the YouTube terms of use were being violated. The videos were removed which has made people take notice,  and as such, this could become a great opportunity for Levi’s if handled in the right way. In the immediate term, people are likely only seeing the move as a violation of privacy and producing video for marketing purposes without having consent or permission from those involved. I think that in order to deal with this type of ‘bad press’ effectively, Levi’s should take a period of time as a ‘cooling-off’ period, and then address the issue directly by admitting their lack of concern and disclosure. Going forward, they could effectively play off this misstep by releasing new videos where the individuals caught ‘gawking’ could potentially be interviewed after for further feedback (and giving their consent for use of course).