Blog post #10: The Man Your Man Could Smell Like

Advertisements which I find to be especially effective are the recent advertisements of Old Spice. Why are they so effective? They employ a character which women want and which men want to be like. Isaiah Mustafa, now forgetting that his name already sounds inherently awesome, Old Spice is sure to use his sex appeal to draw in a female audience. He is depicted either in only a towel, or shirtless in most incarnations of their advertisements. He even directly addresses women and states he is "the man your man could smell like," insisting that their current significant other smells inferior. By making this assertion, he is made more desirable to women, who at this point must think "yeah, my guy does smell pretty bad--do tell me more mysterious attractive shirtless man." Sex appeal is essential to their message--if their actor was in any way "inferior" in appearance, their message would not be as well received and viewers would be less inclined to listen to their advertisement. Because really, who wants to listen to an unattractive male tell you how to smell nice. Now, another important component of their advertisements is their ability to make men feel inferior, and hence envy the man who uses their product. It creates a fear that if a man cannot do all these amazing things then at least he can smell like the man who does these amazing things, so of course after viewing this commercial every man becomes insecure until they are able to go pick up some Old Spice and smell like a man. The commercials effectively target men because they challenge their masculinity; when a man's masculinity is challenged, they feel a need to prove themselves--in this situation, by buying Old Spice scented body wash. It's like children on a playground: when you relentlessly taunt a child, "I bet you can't go ALL the way across the monkey bars," that child will feel an inherent need to prove the contrary, and have the opportunity to say "I can too!" With men wanting to be this man, and women wanting their man to be this man, it's clear why Old Spice's marketing is affective. It is able to appeal to two different demographics in very vulnerable ways: women with sex appeal, and men with challenges to their masculinity. *It should be noted that after watching this commercial, my brother went to CVS and immediately bought three bottles of Old Spice. Why three? I guess he's extra manly, or....well, never-mind.