Advertising and Interpellation

Axe Alters Adolescents

            The TV ad that I have chosen for this post is “Axe Apollo Body Spray”.  The commercial begins with a beautiful woman trapped inside a burning building, screaming for help.  A handsome fireman appears and bravely rushes into the blazing structure to rescue her.  As they safely emerge from the fire, these two characters gaze deeply into each other’s eyes.  The girl unexpectedly turns away from her hero, and runs towards an average guy dressed in an astronaut costume.  The phrase, “Nothing beats an astronaut…ever” appears on screen with the product, as the girl continues running towards the guy.

            Despite the several unrealistic segments presented in this commercial, the “Axe Apollo Body Spray” ad is very effective.  It is obviously most appealing towards the young male audience, who may be ignorant to the fact that girls will never come running simply because of your cologne.  The textbook explains that one’s gender is the centre of one’s individuality (p. 185), and that companies use this to push their products to us.  All men want to be irresistible, but this can only occur when women rush towards them as the ad portrays.  However, the only men that have ever experienced this feeling are the likes of Brad Pitt and Channing Tatum.  Axe offers males everywhere a solution to this problem in their new body spray, guaranteeing that women everywhere will adore you for the rest of their life.

            However, commercials like this have twisted the thought process of young boys everywhere.  The perceptions and values of hygiene and women have changed because of the messages exposed through this ad. Because Axe guarantees the love of women in a can, many boys now think that one spray of axe is the equivalent of a full shower – a hygiene alternative that drives women away rather than towards them.  Also, women are drawn as nothing but sexual pleasure in this ad, which misleads boys to treat them as such.  This builds a horrific standard for women, and degrades their image.  The textbook suggests that ideology can control how we behave and act (p. 182), as is clearly seen through the impact of this commercial on juvenile boys.

            In conclusion, this ad does a terrific job appealing to my age and gender demographic.  Axe was able to represent the feelings on men in North America, and proposed an answer to the predicament of understanding women.  Axe has become a very popular brand with men, but I hope that their ideals in their commercials do not become accepted.

O’Shaughnessy, M., Stadler J. (2012). Media and Society Fifth Edition. Victoria, Australia: Oxford.