Link Lust: Classic Badlanders and Vespa everythings.

Sunil puns "Whose beautiful laundrette?" as he compares the 1968 Hamlet "Laundrette" commercial with the 1985 Levi 501 (Nick Kamen) "Laundrette" commercial. They are an interesting pairing, and I remember having seen them compared in class way back in advertising boot camp, the story being that it was an intentional homage. I can't be sure f this since I can't find my notes from that class and it is a million years ago, and I had totally forgotten about the pair when Sunil who's advertising brain is far stickier than mine dug them both up again. He says about the pair:

I don’t for a moment think that John Hegarty or Tony Scott would stoop to purloining someone else’s work. I prefer to think of the Levi’s ad as a tribute to its predecessor which, although not one of the best Hamlet ads, was an idea so natural for Levi’s that it proved simply too good to waste.

Too good to miss, go read his post and watch the classic ads.

Now for the vespaheads in the audience - get this nicely stencilled vespa T-shirt designed by Matt Bugeja, and for your desk, The vespa lamp (Thanks alec!).