Axe Prepares Men For Sex

Brenner Thomas succumbed not yet aware of the Axe ad campaign messaging, went out and bought some of the company's shower gel then, checking the campaign out, commented on heavy intertwining of sex to sell the product, writing, "As I've said before, male showering is marketed as a requirement for meeting the standards of the other, cleaner sex. But Axe takes this a step further. Attractiveness isn't the end goal of showering here; sex is. The Axe website makes their intentions clearer than a horny freshman at a sorority party. The splash page features suggestive images of a shower's ceiling lined with mirrors, and bathroom with towels engraved with "His," "Hers," "Her Roomate's," "Her Sister's." You can just see the famous jocks of Heathers punching it in. Even the loading icon is horny. It reads "Your Mojo is Loading." And I guess that's what Axe really is, a mojo-enhancing lube for heterosexual sex.

by Steve Hall    May-24-05   Click to Comment   
Topic: Brands, Opinion   

Enjoy what you've read? Subscribe to Adrants Daily and receive the daily contents of this site each day along with free whitepapers.



Comments



Comments

...The logic here isn't necessarily bad or even wrong. Sex has sold beer and cars for decades. If anything, Axe shower gel is just the male answer to Herbal Essences.
True indeed. I looked down upon the product initially, simply due to my reaction to their advertising campaign. Eventually though, I decided to give their spray-on a try and came to like it quite a bit. If you want to rail against something, rail against "TAG" body products for ripping off AXE's commercials blatantly. I'm not talking themes here, either. Shot-for-shot and sfx-for-sfx TAG commercials are 100% rips of Axe spots. They go so far as to close their commercials the same way, with a shot of the product floating in black space. As the product is activated (sprays, squeezed, whatever) a sound effect of a woman moaning or some such is played. So weak.

Posted by: Peter on May 24, 2005 1:57 PM

Now repeat after me: "Sex does NOT sell anything except porno films, romance novels, and STD testing kits."

If some dumb ass dude thinks he's a stud with "Hers" "Her Roommate's" "Her Sister's" on towels...he will be rudely awakened. I'm shocked it didn't go ahead and include "Her Mother's" "Her Grandmother's" "Her Daughter's" towels.

LOL--fastest way to repulse a *normal* woman is express interest in screwing her friends and family.

Ad Genius. NOT.

Posted by: steven streight aka vaspers the grate on May 24, 2005 3:27 PM

point of clarification. I didn't "succumb" to the ad campaign. I bought the product unware of its messaging. Safe to say I wouldn't have gone near it if I had.

Brenner

Posted by: brenner on May 24, 2005 4:39 PM

I would take the AXE ads more seriously IF they assured me that:

A) AXE deodorant contains Viagra;

B) AXE deodorant contains pheromones which are scientifically proven to arouse women;

C) AXE deodorant stimulates production of male hormones through sweat, instead of just suppressing it;

D) Chemically blinds women to the man's physical and social shortcomings - i.e. contains LSD or some other hallucinogen.

But I guess that would make AXE too expensive...
:)

-A.R.Yngve
http://yngve.bravehost.com

Posted by: A.R.Yngve on May 25, 2005 11:36 AM

wait. advertising is real? and to think i thought it was about being tongue-in-cheek. thanks for the heads up.

Posted by: the crossfader on May 25, 2005 2:56 PM

re: first post

i actually thought that TAG and AXE were one and the same b/c i never paid much attention to the brand names .. in fact, i have no idea which commercials were for which brand when i try to recall them...

your Herbal Essences comment made me ponder this: using Herbal Essences made woman orgasm... and AXE makes women near orgasm... so, wouldn't it be better for the guy to just take along a bottle of Clairol on his next night out at the bar?

Posted by: adnoob on May 26, 2005 12:14 AM

I know there's a joke about soap-on-a-rope here somewhere. The towel labeling seems incestuous if unfamiliar with this particular bathroom. When I personally shower....I'm rubbing my genitalia lovingly, passing onward to more forgotten areas of sexual enhancement that need a spring cleaning.

This stuff works!! I'm mentally and physically more confident in myself about how I will present and approach the cleaner sex.

It’s great seeing products that really make a difference in the real world....such as bad odor removal….shown in a real world example with a human thinking about rubbing this on the private parts to sow the seeds of love. It's a good ad.

The ad is allowing me to see that if I drop my soap-on-a-rope enough times with more confidence about myself….I know statistically I’m eventually going to have sex with “something” or have someone pick up my soap. Did any of those towels have a cell-block number?

Posted by: kab on May 27, 2005 2:01 AM

come people its just a commercial, i think the real problem is that it doesnt degrigate men like every other commercial out there.

Posted by: me on July 25, 2006 3:52 PM

After seeing those commercials for Axe & Tag I was lead to believe that both products contained pheromones,if so I think it should be illegal for any person to wear a cologn or deodorant with this ingredient in the work place. I wonder how many sexual harrassment lawsuits could be blamed by saying "It's the company's fault for making the deodorant with pheromones."

Posted by: Unfair Advantage on August 9, 2006 6:10 AM

I would only use axe if it made me skinnier because im a fuckin fat ass. I weight about 450lbs and i would also wish it it was a antibacterial spray because most of the time i cant wash down there because im so fat, my flubber is covering up there. I'll give you an example of what it looks like down there. think of a tropical rain forest, and dread locks. it is hot a muggy and i havent shaved for over 10 years. So please please help me out and actually make it attract women, because im craving the pussy. Oh p.s. don't forger i am a fat ass female who is attracted to fast food. So watch out for big mamma.

Posted by: jennifer on October 19, 2006 10:47 AM

I just came from a French site called Business Garden and they are all in an uproar over Axe commercials and towels too! And I thought the French were so much more "liberal" in their thinking!

[Ad Genius. NOT.] I disagree...the products, the towels...they will sell like hot cakes! The marketer IS a genius. He is appealing to BOTH sexes because...

The more if a guy is seen as dangerously desirable, the more women will want him and fight to keep him in spite of the fact that he is a bad risk. Danger and unpredictability in men is sexually arousing to women.

Don't ask me why.

Posted by: cenglish [TypeKey Profile Page] on March 4, 2007 1:01 PM