Congrats, Axe body spray! After years of catering to the douchebag, douchetron, and douchenozzle crowd, you have finally perfected your brand of bro-centric marketing and created an ad where the entirety of womanhood has been summed up as a floating, headless pair of boobs. Watch the atrocity below and lets discuss.
Yes, the ad is saying that the first thing men notice is boobs while women, who are far more refined, first notice hair. There's so much wrong with this ad, I don't know where to start.
First, why isn't the woman represented by a floating pair of eyes? That would make more sense. It would say guys notice a woman's eyes (which, believe it or not, we do) and also it would explain why she notices his hair. And why does the guy get to be depicted as a floating mop of Jim from The Office hair while the woman is just her giant, disembodied cleavage? Who greenlit this ad, a caveman? One of the Mad Men staffers? How can a major company get away with this sort of blatant sexism? It also bugs me that the ad is supposed to be about "true love." It reduces women to a body part but also says that all a man can fall in love with is a huge pair of breasts. It presents a gross stereotype of men and women rarely seen these days outside of CBS sitcoms.
Also, do we even buy the thesis of the ad that women first notice a man's hair? Yes, it's trying to sell a hair product. But does that notion even work? I have met many women in my life, and I've never heard one of them say "the first thing that made me fall in love with him was his hair." Oh, sure, women like a man with a nice head of hair. But the first thing they notice? What about eyes, laugh, smile, facial structure, nose, sense of humor, shoulders, pecs? If you polled a random group of women and asked what's the first thing you notice about a guy, I would imagine hair wouldn't even be in the top five. I'm guessing smile or eyes or smell would outrank hair by a longshot.
What do you think about this ad? Is it offensive or clever? And is hair the first thing you notice on a guy? If not, what is the first thing you notice?
Yes, the ad is saying that the first thing men notice is boobs while women, who are far more refined, first notice hair. There's so much wrong with this ad, I don't know where to start.
First, why isn't the woman represented by a floating pair of eyes? That would make more sense. It would say guys notice a woman's eyes (which, believe it or not, we do) and also it would explain why she notices his hair. And why does the guy get to be depicted as a floating mop of Jim from The Office hair while the woman is just her giant, disembodied cleavage? Who greenlit this ad, a caveman? One of the Mad Men staffers? How can a major company get away with this sort of blatant sexism? It also bugs me that the ad is supposed to be about "true love." It reduces women to a body part but also says that all a man can fall in love with is a huge pair of breasts. It presents a gross stereotype of men and women rarely seen these days outside of CBS sitcoms.
Also, do we even buy the thesis of the ad that women first notice a man's hair? Yes, it's trying to sell a hair product. But does that notion even work? I have met many women in my life, and I've never heard one of them say "the first thing that made me fall in love with him was his hair." Oh, sure, women like a man with a nice head of hair. But the first thing they notice? What about eyes, laugh, smile, facial structure, nose, sense of humor, shoulders, pecs? If you polled a random group of women and asked what's the first thing you notice about a guy, I would imagine hair wouldn't even be in the top five. I'm guessing smile or eyes or smell would outrank hair by a longshot.
What do you think about this ad? Is it offensive or clever? And is hair the first thing you notice on a guy? If not, what is the first thing you notice?
This is so disgusting, it makes me want to barf. I think they should just pull it.
Saw that recently, made me want to ask my little brother (a 6'4" 22 year old lol) to stop buying axe products.
I agree -- should def. make the "Worse Commercials Ever" list.
just when I though Axe couldn't get much douchier they had to go and prove me horribly horribly wrong... and mad men would have at least made it more appealing to women so they would buy it for their husbands or boyfriends.... ugh
About as bad as that NBC Olympics spot that got pulled.
Good advertising gets its message across easily and quickly.
Even the "m&m" commercials with the guy m&m taking off his "coat" to be naked after seeing the female brown m&m, and dancing to "sexy and I know it"...appeals to the most immature folks, but isn't trying to be high brow.
Sexism, done "right" can be campy, even funny. Like the Budweiser powderpuff football "girls" or something that pokes fun at our own stereotypes in a self-depricating way, without really hurting anyone.
This however was neither funny, nor clever. It was a sad and slow, almost, depressing (with bad lighting and composition) tale, which didn't seem to ignite a cause, or even fan the negative flames of sexism for shock value.
I understood that the busty torso represented the stereotype of a "woman's perception of a man's view of women" but didn't understand the "cousin it" mop head character as being the guy, either.
I think the Axe folks could get a new ad shop that can play up the taboo nature of how "douchey" it is to like Axe....bring it out in plain sight. That would be ballsy. Kind of like the campy Old Spice product. Making fun of itself, while increasing brand identity.
I totally agree...however, the point of advertisment is to get people to talk about a product. And as I am seeing, it is working. I can't even enter a room without someone speaking about this ad. So as much as I hate this ad, I have to respect it as a marketing tool. Bad press is good press.
Yes, this add is very offensive. Thanks for letting us ladies to know that men notice the eyes first. What I notice first about a man is his smile and laughter. When a man laughs a hearty laugh it is like a song in the air.
I find it more stupid than offensive. The premise is stupid, and you don't even really know what they are trying to sell unless you look very hard.
I say the add is amazing.. It started a whole group of people on a guys site to start a thread about it... Now your thinking of Axe.. :)