Monday, January 17, 2011

Axe Campaigns: Too Naughty or Smart Advertising?








These videos and others in the Campaign are posted by AXE on the "axe effect" website and the "axe awesome clean" website. You can find them here, here, and more here.

These ads plainly use sexual innuendos in every possibly way. It can be found in the dialogue, characters, and the wardrobe choice for the characters; the list can go on and on. I first came across this ad campaign when browsing through Axe commercials on YouTube after Analysa told me about how kids were lighting themselves on fire using Axe because they thought it was cool. In the "Cleans your Balls" campaign, the ads are extremely forward and Axe in no way is trying to hide the technique they are using to forward their products. I don't know if these ads ever viewed on television or if they premiered as an Internet only campaign. I sure hope they never went on television...

Let’s take a look at the characters, shall we. They are all women (in the first ads in the campaign sequence), and let’s not beat around the bush, are all hot. They wear tight clothing and all represent different male sexual fantasies including the school teacher, the foreigner, the librarian, the dumb blond, the explorer/adventurer, the phone entertainer (girl-on-girl/three some references were also made in one of the ads). Also represented are all the dominating white physical traits such as blonds, red heads, and brunettes. As for the advertising techniques used, it might be easier to say which ones didn't get used like famous-person testimonial, hidden-fear, and snob appeal. That leaves us to identify bandwagon, plain-folks, and irritation.

Bandwagon: "how dirty boys get clean" implies that all the other boys are doing it and they are getting mauled by half naked women!
Plain-folks: usually non-celebrities are used in the commercials. Typically the Average Joe (within the targeted age rage which I believe stops at 24 years old) and a fairly (un)plain female or multiple females are involved in the commercials.
Irritation: Simply, the ads irritates half the population and make the other half roll on the floor with laughter.

At the introduction to many of the ads the “representatives” are described as being very “committed professionals.” Then the ad moves to display risers lined with attractive women acting fascinated and motivated to talk about male reproductive equipment. Of course this draws attention because it isn’t seriously something that can be considered a profession much less realistic. The fantasy is played up heavily in these ads whether it is a woman obsessed with talking about sex or the women themselves being the fantasy.

Here is an interesting thought; Axe and Dove are owned by the same company. Dove, a women’s line, also experienced quite a bit of attention for the Real Beauty campaign and on the other side of the spectrum, Axe advertises with scantily clad females (the very image that the Real Beauty campaign is speaking out against) aimed to attract young sex-obsessed stereotyped men. I read an article about this controversy and you can read it by clicking here. Just read the first seven or so pages and you really get a better understanding on the content and the controversy. When it comes to advertising, I am beginning to wonder if some companies like Unilever that own both Dove and Axe [for example] if they have any general code of conduct of ethics that they follow? I just don't see how these two dramatically different campaigns can be produced and promoted by the same company.

Clearly this series is campaigning to men since it is a men's line that is being promoted. I find it humorous in the context that sex in media is so expressive and prevalent that it solely can drive a campaign where in the past it was controversial to even teach sex education in schools much less talk about it on TV! This is nothing new! We see this all the time! Sexual advertising can drive anything these days and people are so completely desensitized to it that it is common place. These types of messages are memorable only when they are so outrageous that you think, “I can’t believe they went there!” In the film (viewed in class) Frontline: The Persuaders, there is a hurtle that has to be jumped by companies for their advertisements to be successful; breaking through the clutter. These outrageous ads do exactly what they are meant to do, which is to get our attention! We either hate the ad; we love the ad; we find the ad to be completely hilarious or are offended by it. Either way, the company now has been recognized and their name is in our minds. In addition to that, when ads like these Axe ads come out, we serve as a vessel to spread their advertisement! We tell others about it and we post their videos on our blogs or create complaint sites and talk about them! Fortunately for Axe, they have broken through the clutter and have people talking! The down side, they might be taking it too far. There are many ads from Axe that are banned in certain countries because of how tasteless they are.


There are many different things that can be learned from an ad campaign like this one. Obviously, I have found many negative things like the hypocrisy within companies, the lack of class or dignity left in our media, and that society is constantly looking for more and more things to shock them. Honestly, though I found these ads to be repulsive, it hasn't stopped me from buying Axe products for my fiance. Even though I despise the hypocrisy within the Unilever company and the mixed messages they are pumping into society, I still have Dove products in my bathroom right now. I haven't decided if I am a consumer that doesn't solely buy based on advertisements or if I am a consumer who the Unilever Co. already has hooked into the loyalty consumer group.

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