VF Corporation's Lee Jeans and Fallon McElligott followed up on their pair of humorous ads in the 1993 Super Bowl ("Silhoutte," "Inhale") with a trio of spots in the 1995 game that play up selling propositions like comfort and fit via various surprising retail scenarios.
"Support Group" presages a Bud Light execution from the 1998 Super Bowl ("Shopping"). It was accompanied in the 1995 game by Lee's "Vibrating Store" and "Mannequin." The only apparel competition in Super Bowl XXIX came from the "attitude wear" No Fear, which went after a different demo entirely ("Rodeo").
"Funny, as usual," Ad Age ad critic Bob Garfield wrote at the time. "About the product benefit, as usual. The support group for men kept waiting in stores by their women is a hoot."
Though Lee ran five spots ads across Super Bowls XXVII and XXIX, it wasn’t a big-game regular. It did return in a way for 2015, when it joined dozens of other brands “crowdfunding” a Super Bowl spot led by Newcastle Brown Ale and airing only in Palm Springs, Calif.
Rival Levi Strauss & Co. made a few Super Bowl appearances of its own in subsequent years, including "Jeans Donor," "Crazy Legs" and "Stampede" for Levi's and "Little Black Dress" and "Men Without Pants" for Dockers.
BRAND: Lee Jeans
YEAR: 1995
AGENCY: Fallon McElligott
SUPERBOWL: XXIX