Levi's Square Peg (1998) - I Fought The Law

The problem with covering the "Square Peg" instalment of Levi's messy and confusing "expect the unexpected" campaign from 1998 is that it does rather obligate me to also look at the fourth and final advert in the series, "Mall", if only in the interests of having a complete set. At a later date, maybe.

"Square Peg", directed by Gore Verbinski, is probably the best executed of the quartet, in that it conveys the pro-originality message central to the campaign in a manner that manages to be fresh, witty and all kinds of cool.  Indeed, had it not been totally overshadowed by the controversy surrounding the Kevin the Hamster ad, then Levi's might have had a one-off classic with this particular instalment, in which a small child successfully defies the limitations imposed by a wooden shape sorter to the strains of Dead Kennedys' version of "I Fought The Law".  The ad takes place in an odd green room that appears to be located some kind of psychological research facility, where our plucky young hero is being closely observed by a woman struggling to maintain the illusion that she's deeply engrossed in a book instead.  From the looks of things, the kid is much too smart to fall for her act and determined not to be outwitted, either by the dumb wooden toy in front of him or the powers that be pulling the strings around him.  It's a highly novel scenario by which to illustrate the virtues of ingenuity and defiance, just alien enough to be unsettling, and likeably offbeat enough to be hip and vibrant.  There's the usual issue in that, like the majority of the ads from this campaign, it avoids directly linking its content to the product in question, but in this particular case I think that the symbolism is communicated so efficiently that it ceases to be a problem.  The ad gets by simply on being a self-contained joy.

The only thing I can't claim to be particularly fond of is that self-satisfied bit of fourth wall-breaking from the child at the end, as he celebrates his victory by leering directly at the camera.  Like the polygamist ad, the overall effect is somewhat marred by the decision to strike one particularly self-conscious note too many, and make it absolutely clear to the viewer, if they hadn't picked it up already, that this kid's rebellious spirit has served him well.  Still, it manages to bow out with a genuine sense of exhilarating triumph, and not the state of stunned disquietude which inevitably follows that hopelessly misjudged Kevin ad.