On popular social media, there has been noticeable incline in focus on old commercials, like the iPod commercial with all of the silhouette people dancing with bright backgrounds. While it makes sense, humans are always reaching for a sense of nostalgia; promotions have become a huge part of pop culture because of America’s capitalistic society. Big brands like Gap are taking advantage of it and creating a cultural resurgence in marketing right now.
Gap Inc. was founded in 1969 by Donald and Doris Fisher in San Francisco, California. Starting out, they were carriers of many different jean companies, aiming their market towards young people; their name signifying the “generational gap”. In recent years, they have been working on their shift to the digital world, focusing more on digital sales in an attempt to reverse their decline since COVID. Their branding has a strong focus on sustainability and inclusion, and has supported many initiatives like equal pay.
With Gen Z’s obsession with Y2K fashion and late 90s to early 2000s nostalgia this comeback seemed fitting. It plays into the generation’s character, in that building from pop culture is a way to strike a chord with the audience. Building on this brand of using pop stars like Katseye, Troye Sivan, and Tyla, who are known for both their vocal and dancing abilities, it makes sense for Gap to use them as a powerful marketing tool to cater to their audience. The positive reinforcement of it all is successful in showcasing the line as well as making it seem desirable to the consumer.
As a part of Gap’s plan to reverse its decline in sales, they revisited their dancing ads. A concept that sparked popularity with young people in the 90s. One of their most successful ads, the “Better in Denim” campaign, Gap did in collaboration with Katseye, using the 2000s hit “Milkshake,” originally sung by Kelis, along with well-done high production choreography. They were able to effectively put out a final video that aligned with the Gap brand and resonated with young people extremely well.
These ads, specifically the ‘Better in Denim’ campaign, made a huge splash online; people really enjoyed them, but it also ended up causing major controversy between Gap’s competitors.
Around the same time, popular actress Sydney Sweeney worked with American Eagle on a campaign. In both of the videos, Sweeney claims “she has good jeans.” While some claimed that it was just an ad and there have been commercials with the same concept of comparing denim to genetic code, others were not pleased with it. Many thought the videos were majorly tone deaf, microaggressive, and a eugenics dog whistle. Comments were also made that one of the ads constructs its marketing around the sexualization of women.
A week later, Gap’s Better in Denim campaign comes out, and people are refreshed. As the world’s first global pop girl group, people are excited to see an ad that has less to do with the appearance of the promoter and more to do with the product itself. Some people applauded Katseye for their clap back, although it’s not likely that they came out with a commercial at that level of production in a week.
In combination with a high-quality commercial, combined with the audience pull of Katseye and the well-timed release, it did numbers on the algorithmic discourse machine that is TikTok. People recreating the dance, ranking their favorite moments, acknowledging the creativity in the choreography, and comparing the ad to competing brands. Overall, the ad was extremely well received and inspired a whole genre of culture online and brands to rehash the trend of dancing ads, such as Calvin Klein, Nike, and many others.
Working on high production dancing with celebrities and extras, and a simple white background, the Gap team does an insanely good job at making these ads seem well done and put together without taking away from what they’re trying sell in the first place.
Written by seniors Kai Bugg and Micah Monahan . Edited by staff writers for Oswego East’s online news magazine The Howl.