The Problem with Axe

I just watched the video at www.AxeVice.com and was surprised that Axe is getting away with such distasteful advertising. First of all, the ad reinforces gender stereotypes while humourizing sexual agression, assault, and injury. Last time I checked, those crimes were no laughing matter, but as soon as the act is performed by an attractive female, it is no longer deemed offensive. Terrible acts of sexual violence occur every day, mostly towards women. Turning the situation around does not take away the horrific aspect of such crimes, it just reminds us of them.

First of all, it gives the definition of a 'nice' girl as law-abiding and cookie baking. While cookie baking is an innocent enough activity, used in this context it seems to support the image of a 'timid homemaker' who is submissive to male gender-ideals. Maybe 'naughty' girls like to bake cookies too. Somehow these women (deans list students included) lose all sense of dignity and self control and completely throw themselves at men wearing axe products. They are now deemed 'naughty' and 'wayward,' and need to be rehabilitated. So the ads are basically saying that this is not acceptable female behaviour, but we are using it to sell our product; men want women to be so attracted to them that they lose all self control. I also don't find the man in the coma, happy as he may look, to be particularly funny. Any image of an injured human being isn't funny in my mind, especially when they are displayed in a way that would be exploitive if it were a real life situation.

This video, as well as all Axe television ads, takes the way sex and attraction are used in advertising to a whole new level. They portray women as lustful lunatics, whose only force is their sexuality. The concepts of naughty and nice are manifested through sexual inequalities, and are subjective definitions. Axe portrays them in the most stereotypical forms, and presents the two extremes as black and white, rather than a palette of shades of grey. A woman can be intelligent, attractive, a feminist, a great baker, and be comfortable enough with her sexuality to make the first move and go after what she wants. Just not in the world of Axe. I'm sick of seeing bullshit like this that is a disgrace to men and women and everything imbetween as human beings.

On another note, have you seen any of the progressive Dove ads? Check out evolution, onslaught, and pro-age. Within themselves, I appreciate these videos, but they are an ad campaign, used to sell products. The company decided to take a risk and try something different, which is great, to see if it sells. This isn't advocacy or activism, its advertising. And there isn't necessarily anything wrong with that, we just have to recognize it for what it is, and not leave Dove unquestioned just because they have some good ads. Dove is a huge corporation, and doesn't care about its consumers. Their products contain chemicals that are known carcinogens. They can get away with this, since the affect of carcinogenic cosmetics is not a well known risk, and many companies include such ingredients in their products. My point is that if Dove actually cared about women, it would make all its products 100% safe. Search Dove on Environmental Working Group's chemical database if you would like to learn more about this (www.cosmeticsdatabase.com). Dove also tests on animals, which wouldn't be necessary if they weren't using questionable ingredients in the first place, and still isn't necessary even if they do. So why did I start ranting on about Dove when my post is supposed to be about Axe? Because Dove and Axe are both owned by Unilever. So two companies with drastically different approaches to advertising are owned by the same company. I'm not necessarily asking you to boycott Dove, but I think their connection to Axe is something we should call them on (Unilever and Axe should be contaced as well). As for Axe, buying their product is telling them that their advertising is working, regardless as to whether you have actually seen their ads or not. So unless you don't consider their tactics to be an insult to the human race, look for another company to buy from. Better yet, stay clear of overpowering bodysprays in the first place. People need to breathe.

Going back to the site, I just realized that I veiwed the U.S. video. The Canadian version is actually less offensive, but this doesn't change the fact that the U.S. version still exists. Its interesting that ads are catered to us diffently than to the U.S.