Superficial Scents

A commercial I found interesting is one for axe. Axe is a company that makes deodorant, body wash and body spray for men. A similar theme in all of their advertisements is that when using their product, beautiful women will want to be with you. As untrue as this theme is, one specific commercial shows a dressed up man riding his bike down the street while various women desire him. Some people can’t help but compare this man to Mormons who often ride their bikes door to door and try to share their religious belief. At the end of his bike ride filled with attention, he opens up a holy bible that is cut out and contains a can of axe body spray. I can see the comparison to the Mormons way of sharing as well as trying to symbolize axe as being holy by helping this man gain all the attention of gorgeous females. This commercial could be an insult to Mormons as well as women. It sends the superficial message that only the attention of beautiful women is desired. The commercial states when you “spray more” you “get more”. Although I don’t truly believe this, some people think of this commercial showing the truth of polygamy.

I concluded that this advertisement from Axe is trying to sell their masculine smelling products as a way to improve men’s love life. As stated earlier, their commercials always view men getting attention from beautiful women wanting to be with this man. They continue to advertise as men getting the confidence to speak to women and help attract them. Some Axe commercials even advertise it as nice women showing their “naughty” side. Having cultural knowledge of Axe helps your understand their constant theme of their advertisements. Being displayed on television and the Internet, many people have seen a minimum of one Axe commercial or advertisement. A great amount of men have at least looked at an Axe product at the store. This idea has been imprinted in our brain that this company is foolishly selling their product as a female attractant. I will admit their product does have a great masculine scent but does not differ from any other deodorant or body wash on the market in quality. A lot of people buy certain products based on their advertisement or simply just good prices ☺. The idea of this commercial reminded me of the Dove commercials displaying real beauty. They are trying to promote to young women that beauty is skin deep and that we should love ourselves for the way we are. Commercials such as Axe’s show only beautiful women throwing themselves at a man. As repetitive as this battle will continue in the media it is up to us to make the final decision.

Commercial: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=fbU_j0bxWpU