Axe Body Spray: Time to Axe the Campaign.

By now you've all seen the ads for Axe Body Spray (and also Lynx in the UK). Some guy sprays the deodorant on, girls flock to him. There are varying takes on this premise (girlfriend's mother hits on the guy, girls smell the leftovers of the spray in other metal objects made from the recycled canisters, etc) but it's all basically the same: more powerful than a pheromone, it'll get you laid and quick.

At first, these ads stood out. Old Spice doesn't market like this. Right Guard doesn't market like this. But now the market is innudated with spots of women running after guys who wear this. At this point, even the guys are tired of it.

So... I'll admit it, it's nice when a boy smells nice. But I'm not going to jump him based solely on his scent. Axe, please, move on. I don't care if you won a Lion at Cannes this year. Put all of that angsty boy energy to better use, and maybe take a shower to rinse yourself of stench instead of just covering it over. Girls are pretty smart, we catch on to that.

Heck, for an alternative, check out how Mitchum's been pushing its deodorant. They have a highly effective campaign in the NYC subways which emphasizes masculinity, being a guy, being a cool guy, etc, without making women into creatures ruled by pheromones.