Put the pants on already

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=nys0i_FRjTI

Combing back over the top rated commercials from last year's Super Bowl season, I came across the often-played "I wear no pants" Dockers ad. The link above shows the ad, which features aimless men in their underwear singing about the perils of not wearing pants. The men then unite and head in search of pants as a sort of pants-less tribe. To be honest, my initial reaction to when I first saw the commercial back during the Super Bowl was one of confusion. Yes, it's funny to see people not wearing pants running around in a commercial, especially guys instead of scantily-clad women as per usual, but I don't think the campaign by Dockers makes sense. As a former employee at JC Penney's, our most successful casual/dress pants were Dockers and I had always viewed them and the advertising materials we were given to use for their booths as conservative and professional. This ad signaled what I noticed to be a change for the brand's identity as when I came back to work this past summer, we began completely re-designing our Dockers area. We were sent new styles of pants aimed at younger men instead of workplace professionals, and even the store signs were revamped to accomodate for the new, fresh attitude. In the end, the commercial didn't seem to fit the brand identity at the time, but as time went on, it signaled the forthcoming of a new brand identity.