LEVI | WALKING BEHINDS | 1972

In 1972, They Won the World With Nothing but Backsides / LEVI'S "WALKING BEHINDS"

1972. The year the Grand Prix at Cannes Lions went to a Levi's ad that showed nothing but people walking away from the camera. The title says it all: "WALKING BEHINDS." Walking figures, seen from behind. The fact that someone had this bold a point of view over 50 years ago is amazing.

The idea

All you see are people walking, shown entirely from behind. The silhouette of a backside in jeans, the movement of legs, the texture of the denim. Not a single front view. Rather than pointing the camera at the product itself, they pointed it at the moment the product was being worn—a bold, no-nonsense choice.

What happened

This film by Y&R Brussels won the Grand Prix at Cannes Lions. The director was Hugh Hudson, who would later win an Academy Award for "Chariots of Fire."

Afterthought

In 2026, Levi's also ran a campaign called "Behind Every Original" for the Super Bowl—one that, again, showed nothing but people's backs. Fifty years later, and the backside still has power. Maybe, in the end, jeans just look their best from behind.

Awards

Cannes Lions Grand Prix 1972

Three more the bear picked for you

You can't see the car, but you know it's a Jeep / JEEP "Snow Covered"

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JEEP | Snow Covered | 1994

You can't see the car, but you know it's a Jeep / JEEP "Snow Covered"

It's 1994, and for 30 seconds something moves through a landscape buried in snow. The vehicle itself never once appears on screen. And yet everyone watching thought, "Ah, that's a Jeep." This is the ad that became the first car commercial ever to win the Grand Prix at Cannes, and even 30 years later, it hasn't lost an ounce of its power.

Turning an Annual Loss of One Trillion Six Hundred Billion Yen into a Celebration / DIESEL "ENJOY BEFORE RETURNING"

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DIESEL | ENJOY BEFORE RETURNING | 2020

Turning an Annual Loss of One Trillion Six Hundred Billion Yen into a Celebration / DIESEL "ENJOY BEFORE RETURNING"

Buy clothes, wear them, return them, get your money back. This practice, known as "wardrobing," costs the fashion industry an estimated $15 billion a year. DIESEL didn't try to crack down on it. Instead, they openly encouraged it.

This Is a Condom Ad / CERVEZA SALTA "TOOTH IMPLANT"

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CERVEZA SALTA | TOOTH IMPLANT | 2015

This Is a Condom Ad / CERVEZA SALTA "TOOTH IMPLANT"

A rugby player loses a tooth during a match. It happens all the time. But this campaign actually implanted a 'tooth that doubles as a bottle opener' in place of the lost one. The surgery, the bottle-opening scene—it's all real. This project won a Titanium Lion at Cannes Lions 2015.