Michael Uria
Ms. Charla Hughes
ENC1101-48
20 November 2012
Being a Man
Super Bowl commercials are one of the highlights of that very special day, especially
for my friends and I. As I’ve gotten older, I’ve started paying more attention to the
commercials that are funny, strange, or have good music. But I’ve also noticed the amount of
commercials which show attractive women in skimpy clothes in relation to a random
product usually purchased by men like a car, type of beer, or, in this case, a body spray.
Axe Body Spray is notorious for their commercials which usually involve an average
looking guy being flooded by girls in indecent outfits after using an Axe product. Axe uses
this same model to sell everything from deodorant to hair styling gel. These commercials
are always outrageously unrealistic and make it seem like without this product, normal
guys are not attractive to the opposite sex.
A specific example of this prototype is called, “The AXE Effect – Women – Billions.”
The commercial starts in the woods when suddenly a woman in a bikini runs passed the
camera in slow motion. As the camera begins following the woman, other women also
appear running in the same direction. Women swimming in the ocean are also shown. There
is what seems to be thousands of women in bikinis all running, climbing, swimming, etc.
Needless to say, each of these women has similar body types which fit the typical kind of
body used in advertising. The only differences between these women are their hair colors,
but even then all of the women shown have long hair that they are wearing down. Finally,
we see a man spraying Axe Body Spray on a beach at the point all woman are running
towards and it ends just as the first woman is about to reach him.
By presenting Axe products in this cause and effect system, the consumer feels like
they will not get attention from women without this product, or that if they use this product,
they will be much more popular with women. Since it is common in American culture for
the main goal of producing and consuming goods to be popularity with the opposite sex, Axe
contributes to this ideology and also perpetuates it through the messages in their
advertisements.
They prey on the basic desire of every young person struggling to understand how
to be an adult. Growing up is not easy, and figuring out how to be attractive to the opposite
sex is an important part of that process because eventually, everyone wants to end up
married with a family of his or her own. In the mean time, guys and girls want to be
attractive enough to get attention from someone who might one day end up being “the one.”
Axe inserts its products as a vital part of this process. With Axe, you get attention from lots
of girls instantly. Without Axe, you are just another average guy who may never end up
happy with someone, neither for the night nor for life.
At the end of the commercial I am analyzing, Axe explicitly says this message as the
camera zooms away from the beach. The words appear on the screen as a woman with an
accent says in a sultry voice, “Spray more. Get more.” This message takes out any of the
guesswork when trying to understand who the commercial is advertising to. Clearly, this
product made for men is meant to appeal to men, but instead of doing it the way other
commercials do, like using a famous spokesperson or comedian, this one takes advantage of
insecurities. Not only does it make guys feel like they are insufficient as viral men without
Axe product, it also shows women are a warped example of their gender stereotype.
This commercial does not show women, it shows bodies. The females chosen for the
Axe commercials are not in Axe commercials for their personalities, smarts, or even
necessarily for their symmetrical faces. In the specific commercial I am referencing, the
women’s faces are only shown long enough to establish which “sexy” stereotype they fit,
like Asian, blonde, dark, foreign etc. The commercial does not promise to assist in helping
guys reach their eventual desire for a fulfilling long-term relationship, it advertises bodies. I
could see how commercials like this would make women think that what is important to
men is a woman’s body, and not anything else.
In my anti-ad, I make fun of the objectification of women that is seen in Axe
advertisements as well as the warped importance this company places on physical
attraction to the opposite sex. My anti-ad successfully points out the flaws in the Axe
commercials by making fun of the explicit and subliminal messages. I am going to explain
my anti-ad in thirds.
The top third of the anti-ad shows happy couples, which should be seen in a positive
light. However, because it is in reference to Axe, it belittles relationships by saying, “So do
you like romantic comedies too?” This question is stated in such a way to show that it the
guys in the pictures are not manly. This addresses the way Axe commercials show that
average guys are not attractive to women without Axe products. It also deals with the
subliminal message in the Axe commercial that what is important to a guy’s manhood is
being attractive to the typical sexual woman stereotype. If you watch the Axe commercials
carefully, the point is never to meet a nice girl. It is to get scantily clad girls paying attention
to you. Using the specific example of the “Axe Effect – Women – Billions”, being a real man
is about getting billions of girls in bikinis to push each other down and out of the way to
charge at you. Not only is this unrealistic, it is an unfair expectation to put on a product,
especially when the consumer is being told by the rest of society that the only that matters
is looks.
The anti-ad pushes the Axe advertisement’s ridiculous claims even further and
makes the underlying message about identity and gender roles very obvious. By contrasting
the happy couples and the emasculating question with a picture of just part of a woman’s
body and the manly answer to the question, it makes a connection that the consumer
subliminally understands. This says that a real man should prefer the second image, rather
than the collage in the first third of the advertisement which is actually what every one
wants. It also exposes the way Axe commercials tap into something that is basic and is the
same for everyone: instinctual physical attraction.
The final third of my anti-ad uses slightly different wording to make the same point
as the Axe commercial I analyzed. The original advertisement said, “Spray more. Get more.”
This not only makes it seem like Axe will magically cause more girls to be attracted to you, it
also makes girls seem way more simple-minded than they really are. Axe claims that a scent
will make a woman so attracted to a man that it will overpower her. In my antiadvertisement, I made the message even more ridiculous. My anti-advertisement says “Axe:
or you won’t get any ever.” This shows the way Axe makes itself seem like a necessary part
of meeting new people, and being attractive to the opposite sex.
The target for my audience is the same audience as the Axe commercials: young
males, or any other consumer who wants to be attractive to women. Interestingly, all of
Axe’s commercials feature young average-looking guys as the main characters. This would
make it seem like they are only targeting a narrow audience, but also I think that because it
shows women Axe has such a strong effect, they are also curious about the product and may
convince the guys in their lives to try it so that they can experience the Axe Effect.
The images are the main focus of my anti-ad because they make a comparison
through the sequence. Happy couples versus an overly-sexualized and objectifying image,
and Axe Body Spray products seen much smaller overlapping the second image. This makes
a visual connection between Axe and the picture of the female body.
The text also makes a different point. First, it makes monogamy seem unmanly.
Then, it states that Axe is the only way to get attention from the opposite gender. More
important than the text itself is the way the message is presented. The writing on the image
of the couples is a delicate font and the colors are white and blue. Also, the grammar is
correct and present in proper capitalization and punctuation. This clearly alludes to a
squeaky clean kind of guy who is happy watching the movies his significant other chooses.
In other words, a guy who does not live up to the standard of masculinity that people
usually would assume from a typical guy.
The second set of text is not capitalized, black, and a much bolder font than before.
The Axe slogan beneath it is written in the same font. This lettering demonstrates breaking
the rules, or being rough and tough. The message is also placed right across the middle of
the woman’s chest as if to say being masculine will lead you to this. The Axe slogan at the
bottom presents Axe products as a way to be masculine.
This anti-ad is successful because it addresses the surface messages of Axe
commercials and exaggerates them to make them seem even more nonsensical. The main
surface message of the Axe commercial is that average men can get attention from attractive
women by using this product. Another surface message is that without this product,
attractive women will ignore you. However, what makes the anti-ad even more effective is
how it exposes the many subliminal messages at work in the usual Axe commercials.
The most prominent subliminal message in Axe advertising is that men can use Axe
to be more masculine, or that Axe products automatically make any guy more masculine.
This calls into question what defines masculinity. In this case, the Axe commercials and antiad show monogamy and sensitivity to his significant other’s preferences to be nonmasculine and also negative behaviors. But really, every person wants to one day have his
or her own family and find “the one”. The anti-ad exposes this underlying definition of
masculinity that does not have much to do with real life, but mirrors what popular TV
shows, movies, and music also present as the ideal male figure.
Another hidden message in the slogan I created to criticize Axe commercials is that
relationships between men and women can be reduced to the idea of “getting” and “any”.
Instead of being about people getting along or even having fun, the message is to get, as in to
have or possess. Using the word “any” in my advertisement alludes to the fact that in most
Axe commercials, the women featured are not shown as people but just as body parts. The
anti-ad shows the idea that it does not matter who or what you “get”, but just that you “get”
whatever you can.
The anti-advertisement represents this idea by clearly showing the concept in Axe
advertisements that any manly man’s goal is simply access to body parts, and Axe makes
any guy seem like a manly man. Instead of being a cause and effect advertisement like the
commercial I analyzed, my anti-ad is an even more reduced comparison to show how Axe
connects unrelated things (like hair care products and half-naked women) to sell their
products. Through the subliminal messaging in Axe commercials, and the many
commercials like it, ideas about what it means to be an attractive, likeable adult are warped.
My anti-ad takes says out loud what these companies whisper to sell people products
through their advertisements.
I think my anti-advertisement is successful because it addresses the issues of
masculinity, femininity, and objectification. It also hinges on the same basic questions that
people struggle with as they attempt to form relationships in the process of becoming an
adult. Through this struggle, young people are often looking for a way to find acceptance or
identity. Axe presents itself as a tool in this search, but my anti-advertisement exposes it for
what it is: a sexist way to sell hair gel.