Emily Pia
Last year, the body wash industry was at an all-time high, making 757 billion
dollars. This trend of increasing sales has been continuing steadily since the 1990’s. The
reason for such a dramatic increase? Men’s body wash companies began directing their
advertisements at women. A male body wash brand that is obviously focused on women
is Old Spice, with their new spokesperson claiming that he is the “Man Your Man Could
Smell Like”. The witty, comical, and sexy campaign increased Old Spice's sales by 107%
after the new commercials starring Isaiah Mustafa aired.
The advertisements are not only effective in their choice of audience, but they are
also effective rhetorically. Old Spice can attribute its advertising success primarily to its
mastery of logos in that it mainly appeals to women. The campaign also is very effective,
though, in the underlying appeals to the male audience. In relation to ethos, the
commercial establishes the Old Spice brand credibility by debunking the standard
advertising technique that is pure sex appeal. Lastly, Isaiah Mustafa’s quick imperative
quips are analogous to the underlying message of the commercial, which is obviously,
“Buy Old Spice.”
Old Spice changed the face of body wash advertising by appealing to women
rather than men. In order for this to be successful, the brand had to make assumptions
of the women watching the commercial and draw upon these preconceived notions. One
assumption is that men do not care enough to buy their own body wash, so they use
their girlfriend’s or wife’s body wash while showering, which may or may not irritate the
women in their lives. Old Spice also had to assume that women make up the majority of
the shopping demographic for household items such as toiletries, and that they care
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more about what they are buying than men do. The last assumption made is that deep
down every woman wants a manly man that emulates Isaiah Mustafa’s character and
poise, and that, at first glance, their man most likely does not match up to Mustafa. And
so the commercial begins, “Hello, ladies.” Right off the bat, Old Spice commands the
attention of women, in the incredibly charming voice of Isaiah Mustafa. He asks them to
look at their man, and back to him, back at their man, then back to him. This allows
women, whether they follow the foolish demands or not, to make some subconscious
comparisons. And most likely, the comparisons did not favor their significant other.
However, Mustafa offers a compromise. “Sadly, he’s not me. But if he stopped using
lady-scented body wash and switched to Old Spice, he could smell like he’s me!” The
commercial makes several more appeals to women in the remainder of the
advertisement, including an offer of tickets to “that thing that you love” that then turn
into diamonds. This draws upon the ideology that women love being showered with
extravagant gifts. At the end of the commercial, Mustafa is pictured riding on a white
horse on the beach into the sunset. In the eyes of a woman, this scenario is dream-like.
An incredibly good-looking man riding a white stallion on a beach during a sunset
showering her with diamonds and tickets to her favorite show, isn't that what every
woman desires? Or at least what American ideologies tell women they should desire? All
of these appeals to women and assumptions about what they want in life sway women
towards Old Spice. In the very least, the men in their lives will keep their grubby hands
off of their body wash the next time they take a shower, and hopefully, they’ll start
smelling a little more like a manly!
Emily Pia
Old Spice's appeals to men, however, are more subconscious. The commercial
plants the ideas in the men’s heads that they need to take back their masculinity by
stopping the use of "lady-scented" body wash. In turn, they will become better providers
for the women in their lives, and they will be able to satisfy and pleasure them in the
way that Mustafa is able to satisfy and pleasure women. They can be the chiseled,
confident, suave, spontaneous, "ultimate man" that's presented in the advertisement.
These subconscious ideas combined with the, "Look at me now!" "Where are we?"
"What's in my hand" "I'm on a horse!" gimic make it appear as though anything is
possible with Old Spice.
In its appeals to ethos, Old Spice first establishes the brand's credibility by using
a recognizable face in the commercial. Isaiah Mustafa, a famous professional football
player and actor, was casted as the smooth talking, scantily clad spokesperson for the
manly-smelling body wash. The audience learns to trust both Mustafa and the Old Spice
brand because neither take themselves seriously. Old Spice acknowledges the standard
of masculine hygiene brands to use half-naked women to appeal to men. They recognize
that other brands use sex to manipulate the audience into believing that their products
will make them the man that every bodacious girl in a bikini on a beach wants. Old
Spice, however, sets themselves apart by mocking the typical advertising technique and
not using women in the commercial at all. Old Spice is not trying to deceive their male
audience into believing that their product will improve their looks somewhere on the
order of Greek god, they are only trying to improve the way you smell. To send this
message, Old Spice uses a half-naked Isaiah Mustafa to sell their masculine body wash,
which wouldn’t appeal, at least sexually, to most men. However, his extravagant
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performance that uses unrealistic magic tricks and a completely overdramatic dialogue
further emphasize that Old Spice is not being completely serious, that there was meant
to be an element of humor in this mockery. It’s as if they are saying, “We aren’t going to
trick you into thinking you will actually look this good. We are just trying to tell you that
you will smell this good.” And, even though you can’t actually smell the man in the
commercial, the trust the commercial builds makes the audience believe that he does, in
fact, smell totally like a man and nothing like a woman. Because Old Spice debunks
typical advertising techniques by mocking the way that other brands advertise, the
brand establishes its credibility with the audience.
The advertisement does, however, have some element of sex, even if it is made
fun of. It would be nearly impossible for Old Spice to completely eliminate this
cornerstone of advertising and still produce profits, so Mustafa serves as this element of
sex appeal. Mustafa is undeniably sexy and epitomizes masculinity, or at least what
American ideologies perceive masculinity to be. He is tall, dark, and handsome, with an
exceptionally toned physique. His crisp, clean shave and perfect skin alludes to his
superb grooming habits; he is both a manly man and takes care of his personal hygiene.
His smooth way of speaking makes Mustafa sound confident and in control. The
expensive looking pants and shirt draped around his neck on his private yacht indicates
that Mustafa is successful. These deadly combinations make women swoon and make
men aim to establish the same qualities. At one point, Mustafa even prompts the
audience to look down, and then back up, in which he look at his, ahem, package. As
aforementioned, this Old Spice commercial goes far beyond the sex factor, however, the
audience can still make out its presence.
Emily Pia
Watching the commercial, one notices that there are no statistics that describe
the number of women who prefer the smell of Old Spice over the smell of, say, Axe.
There aren’t even any real descriptions of what the product smells like. Instead, the
entire script is comprised of short interrogatives and imperatives. What is the
significance of the dialogue’s structure? Mustafa speaks in this commanding manner to
exert his authority, to make the audience laugh at this over-dramatized authority, but
more importantly to get the audience in the mindset to buy his product. "Look at me,
now look away" "Look down, back up" "What's in your hand, back at me" "Look again".
Buy Old Spice! The dialogue is short, quick, and to the point. Just like the underlying
message.
Old Spice has been very successful in its new campaign because of the light
atmosphere of the commercial and the use of comedy rather than pure sex appeal. In
many other male body wash advertisements, sex is the primary appeal. Axe body wash
even attacked Old Spice by making billboards with a picture of a bottle of Axe next to the
slogan, “For men who’d rather be with a woman than on a horse.” However, it still
remains to be seen that Old Spice has been more successful than Axe in its new line of
advertising. Old Spice can contribute this success largely to the choice to advertise
primarily to women, the mockery used to discredit standard sex-oriented advertising,
and the short imperatives of the dialogue that both make the audience laugh and
prompt them to buy their manly body wash.