From: Stockholm
The latest film from the Swedish retail clothing giant opens with abstract blue textures and a voiceover hinting that we breath and are surrounded by ‘blue.’ It later becomes apparent that the moving textures are of a denim jacket being worn by a girl. As it zooms out to display the all-denim wearing girl, it displays the tagline ‘Go green, wear blue,’ before showing the message ‘less water, less energy, less processed. Conscious denim’ and the brand logo.
Why we Like?
It takes about 9,982 litresof water to manufacture your pair of denim pants, from crop cultivation to delivery, and then you spend many thousands of litreswashing them for years. The river and other parts of the denim capital of the world, Xintang, are so polluted, they’ve posed grave dangers to locals. Meanwhile, our own ShekharKapur seems to be so done in by today’s water realities, it’s taken him years to shape Paani, his film on the issue.
But if I were to tell you this in a multimedia presentation or through a pamphlet or a one-on-one chat, chances are that you might be impacted but only until the next Shoppers Stop sale. That’s when this commercial comes in.
H&M, the Swedish clothing giant has launched this film a week prior to the launch of its ‘Concious Denim’ collection, which apparently comes from a process that limits energy and water use. It’s not the first for a denim brand, competitor and market dominator Levis caught the boat early in 2010, creating a huge PR campaign, the ripples of which are still evident.
It’s not the last time either. The awareness spread by Greenpeace and other organisationsabout the true cost of denims to the environment has meant a likewise shrinking of the target audience, although not anywhere close to threatening levels. The ‘green route’ works in yet another way – that most denim brands need a ‘cause’ to attach themselves with, as selling a rugged blue piece of cloth isn’t easy, especially when many customers use if for years.
Finally, the film! It’s been shot wonderfully by Stockholm-based Gustav Johannson, the talent behind many intricately textured films for Dove, Nike and Chrysler. He’s the only hero here, because of whom the ‘blue surrounds us’ idea stands, before giving us a simple, powerful line – Go green, wear blue.
Our denim ads,with their mostly rebellious causes,might take a while to go green or for that matter, produce such a stunning film.
PS: A better way to go green is never buy jeans at all, like I do.
To watch this film on your desktop, type in ‘vimeo.com/106383976’
Social Newsfeed
Your regular dose on the shifts in the social media universe
#BendGate swerving to hilarities
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When Federer asked Indians for Photoshopped pics
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Coolest Twitter buddies ever
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