When you’ve been around as long as Levi’s jeans have, you’re bound to have had a future celebrity or two pop up in your commercials over the years. ‘80s Levi’s commercials in particular featured a bunch of future male stars, some who were in a ton of other commercials during that period, and some who just made a commercial or two before hitting it big. Now technically, the commercials below also feature one from the late ‘70s and one from the early ‘90s, but we’re lumping them all together here as there weren’t enough from either the ‘70s or the ‘90s alone to garner their own posts.
You’ll notice that most of these commercials feature a group vibe with lots of quick camera cuts — apparently that was Levi’s “thing” in the ’80s. But enough talk, let’s take a look at these amazing ‘80s (and more) Levi’s commercials!
John Goodman (1979)
John Goodman worked hard to get his foot in the acting door by starring in a number of commercials in the late ‘70s and early ‘80s prior to his big break in Roseanne in 1988. In his 1979 commercial for Levi’s, he stars as a construction worker contending that Levi’s are a tool as important as any other on a construction site. The above video will start directly at the Levi’s commercial, but the video features all of his commercials before he made it big if you’d like to see more. Check out the McDonald’s commercial at (4:26) for a guest appearance by another future star — Megan Mullally.
Jason Alexander (1984)
Another actor who starred in a number of commercials before his big break was Jason Alexander. Prior to Seinfeld, Alexander had some bit parts, but he was also the star of many commercials, including one in 1984 for Levi’s. Well, we’re using the term “star” here lightly for this Levi’s commercial as it really is just a quick shot of him! But, he is the star of the other commercials, which are all included in the above video as well if you’d like to see him in more.
Bruce Willis (1984)
Now you may notice that the 1984 Levi’s commercial featuring Bruce Willis above looks very similar to the one featuring Jason Alexander, and you’d be correct. It appears that these commercials used a lot of the same footage and just split the footage between the two. Willis even appears in both of them, though much more briefly in the one featuring Alexander. Willis also starred in multiple Seagrams commercials in the ‘80s in the midst of his Moonlighting popularity, which are also included in the above video if you want to see more.
Stanley Tucci (1986)
Does Stanley Tucci really have a breakout role like many of these other actors? That’s honestly debatable, as he’s always sort of been more of a supporting actor than the real star of the show until much more recently. But back in the mid-80s was when he started getting into the acting scene, with this Levi’s commercial from 1986 being one of his first roles. The Tucc gives off some major charisma in this commercial, that’s for sure!
Matt LeBlanc (1987)
Continuing the theme of the previous ‘80s commercials, Levi’s focuses again on the group dynamic with lots of camera movement and quick cuts in this 1987 commercial featuring Matt LeBlanc. LeBlanc was another of our guys who starred in a number of commercials before his breakout role on Friends. Those other commercials are also featured above, and we definitely encourage watching these as they are all pretty entertaining.
Julian McMahon (1987)
This Levi’s commercial probably comes from the land down under, as Julian McMahon is from Australia, and got his big break in the Australian soap opera Home and Away (like almost every Australian hunk). In this 1987 commercial, Levi’s changes up their strategy a bit and focuses more on sexy romance rather than just groups of people kind of doing their thing.
Brad Pitt (1991)
As you can see, Levi’s definitely started to embrace more dramatic, sexy, cinematic storytelling in their commercials as the years went on, with this 1991 commercial featuring a young Brad Pitt being a prime example. This commercial aired on television right around the same time as his big break in Thelma and Louise premiered in theaters. He also starred in another commercial in the late ‘80s prior to the one for Levi’s, which is also featured above.
Love seeing celebs in old commercials? Check out our other article: ’80s Burger King Commercials: Full of Future Stars
- Levi Strauss & Co. was founded in May 1853 when German immigrant Levi Strauss moved from Buttenheim, Bavaria, to San Francisco, California to open a west coast branch of his brothers’ New York dry goods business, though it wasn’t until the 1890s that the company created its first pair of Levi’s 501 Jeans.
- Where did the word “jeans” come from? No one is 100% certain, but research on the trade of jean fabric shows that it emerged in Genoa, Italy and Nîmes, France. The French word for Genoa is “Gênes,” so some believe that may be where the term originates. Around 1800 in particular, pants from this region were created for some troops as “bleu de Genes” aka blue jeans.
- And what about the word “denim?” That was in reference to the similar but slightly different fabric that was created in Nîmes, which was called “de Nîmes” aka “from Nîmes.”
- Modern jeans first began to appear in the 1920s, but were mostly confined to working people in the Western United States. It wasn’t until the 1950s that people began wearing them more regularly, mostly youth cultures such as greasers, mods, rockers, and hippies.
- In 2020, the Americas accounted for 53% of all Levi’s sales. Europe was number two at 32%, and Asia came in at number three with 15%. For overall denim sales, though, North America typically accounts for 35%, so you can see Levi’s is quite a bit more popular in North America than elsewhere.
- Levi Strauss & Co. was founded in May 1853 when German immigrant Levi Strauss moved from Buttenheim, Bavaria, to San Francisco, California to open a west coast branch of his brothers’ New York dry goods business, though it wasn’t until the 1890s that the company created its first pair of Levi’s 501 Jeans.
- Where did the word “jeans” come from? No one is 100% certain, but research on the trade of jean fabric shows that it emerged in Genoa, Italy and Nîmes, France. The French word for Genoa is “Gênes,” so some believe that may be where the term originates. Around 1800 in particular, pants from this region were created for some troops as “bleu de Genes” aka blue jeans.
- And what about the word “denim?” That was in reference to the similar but slightly different fabric that was created in Nîmes, which was called “de Nîmes” aka “from Nîmes.”
- Modern jeans first began to appear in the 1920s, but were mostly confined to working people in the Western United States. It wasn’t until the 1950s that people began wearing them more regularly, mostly youth cultures such as greasers, mods, rockers, and hippies.
- In 2020, the Americas accounted for 53% of all Levi’s sales. Europe was number two at 32%, and Asia came in at number three with 15%. For overall denim sales, though, North America typically accounts for 35%, so you can see Levi’s is quite a bit more popular in North America than elsewhere.
