What makes an ad campaign truly unforgettable? Is it the story, the representation, or perhaps the catchiness of the slogan? The newest KATSEYE x GAP collaboration seems to have found the perfect formula. On August 19th, KATSEYE, a quickly rising to fame, global K-pop group, recently starred in GAP’s newest Y2K-styled advertising campaign called “Better in Denim.” Reaching over 40 million views, the advertisement featured the six girls dancing to the 2000s hit song “Milkshake” by Kelis. The internet immediately jumped on the hype train of this 90-second-long clip by learning the dance, reposting the video, and supporting the video in every way they could.
In a time of a lack of diversity in media, GAP made its effort to not fall into the trend. The entire commercial makes a point to show representation for different ethnicities and nationalities by having everyone come together and dance in their jeans. In the description of the ad, it states, “Your individuality. Your self-expression. Your style.” This sort of attitude towards self-expression and individuality is rare in media nowadays, especially coming from a company of this size. Not only that, but the KATSEYE girls challenge the status quo within themselves, being the first K-pop group consisting of people from around the world. Every member speaks multiple languages, represents their own culture, and shows the world who they truly are. As the leader of KATSEYE, Sophia Laforteza, mentioned during an interview with AP News, “Our goal is to truly break barriers for those who look like us, those who have the same personality, the same upbringing.” While GAP’s partnership with such a divergent group was mostly strategic, as their popularity is growing exponentially, their choice further states their wish to make an impact on the opinions of originality and expressing who you are.
Just as KATSEYE’s single titled “Gnarly,” the recent American Eagle advertisements promoting Sydney Sweeney’s “Great Jeans” try to achieve the same effect. In these ads, Sydney Sweeny would be doing something random, such as cleaning a car, or rolling up her jeans, followed by a couple seconds of her body, and ending with a block of white text stating “Sydney Sweeney has great jeans.” This major mistake of a campaign brought a large amount of backlash to American Eagle for both objectifying women and their pun on her “great genes” in the tag line. In contrast, GAP took the opportunity to release their own line of jeans and promote them in a drastically different way. They made KATSEYE do what they do best, dance. Along with that, the lack of tag lines in the commercial, the viewer wouldn’t perceive it as an ad at all, but just another KATSEYE music video.
This collaboration between GAP and KATSEYE was ultimately an extreme success, sharing a message across YouTube, TikTok, X, and other platforms that it’s great to be yourself. The message of the ad is clear and simple, that is, be yourself with a group of friends and wear a stylish pair of GAP jeans to keep you confident.
Sources:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=IwzF26o0AuU
https://redbanyan.com/blog/gap-katseye-campaign-preemptive-pr-strategy/
https://apnews.com/article/katseye-interview-gap-ad-9b42686b193b16150fdc6371bca1dee1
