Axe "Office Love"
Background
• Unilever (Axe's parent
company)
• 74% share of the market
• Air Date: August 20, 2012
• BBH National TV
Campaign
Background
•
•
•
•
Campaigns for Unilever's Axe brand in the past have been notoriously
raunchy and sexual
Angels Will Fall: successful campaign that preceded the "Office Love"
spot
Female angels giving up their divinity to get with a man that smells nice
(banned in South Africa)
"Scrubbing away the skank"
Background
"We talked to some of the more progressive kids and they
were laughing at Axe. So we said, "you have to stop
saying it's a magic potion, like a fine fragrance that just
totally transforms the moment. Don't take yourself so
seriously. BBH reformulated the pitch: It became (wink,
wink) a magic potion that (nudge, nudge) totally
transforms the moment. And that laid the groundwork for
today's metamorphosis, with ads so cartoonish that guys
and girls are expected to enjoy them together."
-Emma Cookson, Chairman of BBH in New York
Inspiration
•
•
•
•
Axe's market team must be constantly doing market
analysis to be a "testosterone whisperer" and speak
effectively to their client base.
Axe’s goal is to push people together and make a
positive first interaction between males and females
"Red pill and blue pill” anecdote from the Matrix:
Illustrates the point that out of the Unilever brands,
for Axe "the rules of gravity can be pushed"
"Axe wanted to speak to 18- to 24-year-olds' interests
— which are, basically, girls, girls and girls — in a witty
and irreverent way"
The Spot
•
•
•
•
•
•
"Office Love"
BBH (Bartle Bogle Hegarty) New York
Aired starting in August 2012
Primarily shown in the US market
Tagline "Hair: It's what girls see first."
Features the song "True Love Will Find You
In the End" by Daniel Johnston
"Office Love"
"The creativity is so clever and
funny, it made the whole
team have many laughs.
Probably the biggest
challenge was to remain
serious and focus on the
job. It was a great project
to work on,"
-Martin Lazaro, Lead 2D Artist
Ad Critique Analysis: PRO Argument
Critics Credentials: Steve Hall - founder and publisher of AdRants
Recency of Criticism: August 21, 2012
Type of harm identified: none!
All the brand has done in this article is celebrate the carnal desire that is
ever present between man and woman.
Ad Critique Analysis: PRO
Argument
Objective Reasoning:
•
•
•
The Ad highlights what's really important when it comes to first
contact.
Axe's goal is to help make you look your best when you first
approach the object of your desire.
Lacking in-depth data on the person we've just met, sexual
attraction is about all we have to go on.
Ad Critique Analysis: PRO
Argument
Role of the consumer:
•
Active
Usefulness of criticism:
•
This critic helps to point out that Axe is really just doing their job
-- Their job is to get two people close enough so they can then
discover whether or not there is a meaningful and sustainable
attraction.
Cons
- The ad was branded as sexist by a variety of media sources, even prompting
one website, Policymic.com, to call for a boycott of Axe products.
- “Office Love” commercial implies that men objectify women and judge
them based only on their physical features.
“The implication seems to be that a woman's breasts are what boys and
men see first, all they see, in fact -- remember, the breasts are
headless -- at least for the first five times they meet her and/or until
they fall in love with her.” –Huffington Post.
Cons
- Critics argue that it perpetuates gender biases and stereotypes.
“Axe has once again turned to stereotypes and gender biases with its
latest Axe 'Office Love' commercial, which essentially represents
females as a giant pair of breasts, no head required.” –
Trendhunter.com
- Adweek criticized the ad for trivializing people to nothing more than their
parts
"In the Axe Universe, people aren't more than the sum of their parts -they are their parts. So, you'd better make them look and smell
desirable." - Adweek
Ad Critique Analysis: CON argument
The Critics Credentials:
Adweek - Tim Nudd
Huffington Post- Emma Grey
Policymic.com- Frank Hagler
Trendhunter.com- Katherine Vong
The Recency of the Criticism:
All August 2012
The Type of Harm Identified:
Sexist, Perpetuates Gender Biases, Perpetuates Stereotypes
Ad Critique Analysis: CON argument
The Objective Reasoning Used
o Implies that Men see women only as objects
o Trivializes people to merely the sum of their physical features
o Perpetuates gender biases that are unfair to women
Role of the Consumer
Passive
Usefulness of Criticism
o The negative criticism of this ad serves to represent an opinion
pervasive in the community, that the ads can be considered
offensive.
OUR ANALYSIS
Controversial Issues:
•
•
Implies that men only see women as objects
o Basically a parody on objectification
Perpetuates Gender Bias
o Erving Goffman - "What is portrayed in advertising is not actually
how we behave as men and women, but how we think men and
women behave"
•
Unilever is being criticized for being “hypocritical" because their
Dove campaign contradicts their Axe campaign.
o Shows the increasing need for coordination between agencies
working with similar brands manufactured by the same company
Has this campaign been good for
axe?
•
•
•
•
Axe came to dominate the now $5 billion U.S. men's body-spray
market in 2007, only five years after entering it, and continues to
do so today
It currently owns a 72% share of the body-spray category, 58
points higher than its nearest competitor, Old Spice
Each Axe scent -- there are 13 for sale now -- will sell about three
times the volume of an average fine fragrance
$2.5 billion global brand
How has this ad contributed to the image of
the brand?
Short Term:
•
•
Sophisticated Kiefer Sutherland ad that came before
With "Office Love" axe is back to being axe" -AdWeek
Long Term:
•
Axe will most likely continue to market their brand in the
same way because it is working for them
What is the advertising strategy for
Axe right now?
•
•
•
Many people think these ads are just a case of "sex sells"
o If this were true Axe's brand would be easy to replicate
Its success is largely the result of constantly monitoring youth
culture's subtle shifts so as to stay hot on the hormone trail
Axe is planning on continuing to push the envelope with their
controversial advertising approach
Discussion Questions
1. What was your reaction to the ad and why?
2. Do you think there is a more effective way for Axe to
advertise? If so, how?
3. Do you think it is okay for advertising to exaggerate
gender roles?
4. Have you ever been turned off by a brand simply
because of their advertising strategy?
Works Cited
All Is Vanity: Grooming Brands Target Men With Ads Using Sex, Humor. WWD: Women's Wear
Daily [serial online]. September 17, 2010;200(59):1. Available from: Advanced Placement
Source, Ipswich, MA. Accessed January 27, 2013.
Feifer, J. (2012). AXE'S HIGHLY SCIENTIFIC, TYPICALLY OUTRAGEOUS AND TOTALLY
IRRESISTIBLE SELLING OF LUST. Fast Company, (168), 104-109.
Gray, Emma. "Axe Headless Breasts Ad: 'Office Love' Spot Makes Romance All About the Boobs."
Huff Post Women. 21 Aug 2012: n. page. Print.
<http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2012/08/21/axe-ad-headless-breasts-proves-sexism-advertisi
ng_n_1818829.html>.
Hagler, Frank. "Boycott Axe Deodorant: The Latest Ad Campaign That Proves Sexism Sells."
policymic. Aug 2012: n. page. Print.
<http://www.policymic.com/articles/14366/boycott-axe-deodorant-the-latest-ad-campaign-proves-that-sexismsells>.
Hall, Steve. "Why Axe's 'Headless Breasts' Ad Is Strategically Sound - Adrants." Weblog post. Why Axe's 'Headless
Breasts' Ad Is Strategically Sound - Adrants. Adrant, 21 Aug. 2012. Web. 29 Jan. 2013.
Works Cited
Stewart, Dodai. "Dove Vs. Axe: Is Unilever Hypocritical?" Jezebel. Jezebel, 12 Oct. 2007. Web. 25
Jan. 2013. <http://jezebel.com/310320/dove-vs-axe-is-unilever-hypocritical>.
Vong, Katherine. "Audacious Gender Portrayals." 23 Aug 2012: n. page. Web. 29 Jan. 2013.
<http://www.trendhunter.com/trends/axe-office-love>.