Braddock is a town in the Rust Belt, a suburb of Pittsburgh that has suffered economic devastation in the last few decades as industry moved overseas. This video was the lead-in to the We Are All Workers campaign, and spawned a mini-series of sorts, a collection of vignettes about the people who live and work in Braddock.

As part of the same campaign, Levi’s hosted creative workshops in major cities: there were print shops in Berlin and San Francisco, a photography workshop in New York, and a film workshop in Los Angeles. The workshops collaborated with local arts and culture groups, and established month-long community studios to celebrate the creative work process.

And all of this had its stylistic parallel: Levi’s pushed this campaign forward because its products began to pay homage to its roots as a clothing company for the working class, with work clothes making a comeback in the world of fashion. (I talk about this like I know anything about fashion, but surely you know what I’m talking about. Portland chic. “Are you really going to work on a construction site in those expensive leather boots?”)

This campaign is of particular interest to me because it exemplifies the way commercial culture is permeating all sorts of other realms; here we see advertising intertwined with community building, creative culture, and exploration of place. We also see advertising functioning as a vehicle for discussion of important contemporary issues like post-industrial economies, unemployment and the value of creative work in a production-oriented society.

More than any other Levi’s advertising campaign, this one really forces me to call into question the role of advertising in our culture, and to notice how it’s changing.

If advertising money can pay to celebrate the people of Braddock, what does that mean? If advertising money can fund a month-long community print shop in the Mission District in San Francisco, what does that mean? Are these projects really benefitting the community? Should they have to? What if all companies did this? If kids in New York are learning photography skills because a company wants to sell jeans, does it really matter where the money is coming from if the creative spirits of children are being nurtured? If Braddock gets a new Levi’s-funded community center, will I buy a new pair of jeans? If Levi’s makes a beautiful video that moves you emotionally, does it matter that they’re selling you something? Or is it maybe just good enough that it’s artful?

This campaign makes me think. A lot. What do you think?