Readers of this blog will have already taken notice of my considerable love for Walt Whitman. If you ever feel blue, just pick up some Whitman and you immediately feel better. It’s like feeling the sun on your face—Whitman just makes you feel like glad to be alive.
A couple of posts ago I griped about a few of the advertisements in the Toronto subway. I never thought I’d actually get to post about poems IN advertising, but that’s exactly what I’m about to do.
Levi’s has a new campaign which combines three of my favourite things: Whitman, jeans, and sentimentality. The new “go forth” ad (below) uses an amazing montage of scenes of youthful revelry in a post-Katrina New Orleans and pits them against scenes of financial scandal in post-Lehman Brothers New York.
The whole thing is actually narrated by Walt Whitman, using an extremely rare recording of him reading an excerpt from “America” (the recording is available online, via the American Academy of Poets, here).
The wax cylinder recording, like the commercial, leaves out the last two lines of the full poem.
America
Centre of equal daughters, equal sons,
All, all alike endear'd, grown, ungrown, young or old,
Strong, ample, fair, enduring, capable, rich,
Perennial with the Earth, with Freedom, Law and Love,
A grand, sane, towering, seated Mother,
Chair'd in the adamant of Time.
The ad seems to be going for Obama’s call for “renewing America’s promise.” I’ve never been so stirred by an ad before. The fireworks are exciting. And Whitman’s ghostly voice, echoing across the “adamant of Time,” is thrilling. I think Levi’s did an amazing job of it. It doesn’t feel like they’ve resurrected Whitman for nefarious corporate purposes (unlike the recent Direct TV Chris Farley ad).
But I must confess: after watching it I wanted to read some Whitman—or advocate for fiscal reform—not go out and buy pants.
