Levis go grungy in new ad campaign

It's more urban bleak than urban chic and it's definitely a little frayed around the edges. After 20 years as a byword for cutting-edge glamour, the latest multi-millionpound advertising campaign for Levi's jeans is taking an altogether more gritty urban approach.

Out go the technicolour visions of Fifties America, the Hollywood Hills and New York City, and narrative storylines. In come disconnected images of youths breakdancing alone on grimy inner-city stations, scouring themselves against the walls of desolate tower blocks and squirming on city pavements.

The three new ads, which are launched across Europe at the end of this month, were all shot in London over five days in April: in Elephant and Castle, Hackney and on the South Bank. They seem to revel in their unsalubrious settings. The ads are for Levi's "pre-worn" range of denim which, in accordance with this year's fashion, is sold looking slightly down-at-heel with manufactured wear and tear.

With the suggestive slogan "Rub Yourself ", the films portray people in jeans trying to distress their denim by sensually scraping themselves against walls, floors and furniture.

A boy breakdances in Elephant and Castle's train station. A girl writhes on a bed in the Elephant and Castle branch of Just Beds. And a teenage boy scrapes himself against a wall at the top of a nearby high-rise building, with the London skyline clearly visible. Levi's advertising agency BBH admits the new commercials are a radical departure from the glamour of its previous efforts. But it claimed they will project a cool image to fashion-conscious young European consumers.

BBH business director Derek Robson said: "For years we advertised 501s using glamorous images of America. But we told the Nick Kamen story for too long and young people grew bored of it. We've dropped the Americana and have become much more European.

"We wanted to make something much more down-to-earth and rooted that would appeal to young people. The Elephant and Castle is an ideal urban landscape with a metropolitan feel that will be understood all over Europe."

The ads were written by French creative team Fred Raillard and Fariq Mokart. One of their recent commercials for Microsoft's games console Xbox was banned by TV watchdogs for its insensitive treatment of death.

Mr Robson admitted that the slogan was provocative, but said he didn't think the new ads would offend. "The best advertising leaves something to the imagination," he said.

"If you want to join the dots and go to a filthy place that's up to you. People understand that 'Rub Yourself ' is simply a more interesting way of saying we've rubbed them so you don't have to."