Sexy Women of Body Spray Commercials: AXE versus RGX
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| (Sound of a metal-spring doorstop vibrating) |
Before anyone gets too angry with me, the only thing ‘awful’ about these commercials are the implicit messages to men that body spray will have some kind of magic power over women. I think these spots are well done, and in the case of the Axe Body Spray commercial under review, will promptly drop everything to closely examine the spot for continuity errors when it comes on television.
This first collection of spots by RGX seem to be in response to the Axe body spray ads, trying to talk some reason into men who believe that swarms of supermodels will descend upon you if only enough body spray is applied. They certainly have picked a hot, alluring girl to communicate this message. The only problem is that men really will tend to be more easily influenced by visual messages and subconscious signals that are not difficult to process (like dialogue).
This spot does do a good job of positioning its product as an alternative for anyone experiencing Axe-back (negative connotations with the product because it seems to be so widely used and over-applied).
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| A horde of woman can skeletonize a human being in a matter of seconds in the Amazon basin |
The above commercials for RGX, while very hot, just don’t have the wow factor of ads like this for Axe, featuring countless supermodels crossing the wilderness to close in on a man covering himself in body spray.
It doesn’t really matter if wearing too much of this stuff is obnoxious, as long as the commercial gets guys thinking more is better they are going to both buy the product, and use too much of it (ensuring they buy more of the product faster, thereby spending more money).
It’s hard enough to sell perfume to men, but while you’re at it you might as well take advantage of the fact they don’t know how to use it.
The jury is still out on these spots, and I feel as though I must continue watching them over and over before I render a final verdict.
Pingback // April 20th, 2007 // 5:51 pm
[...] This two minute mock video for the Axe ESP campaign is a good follow-up to our previous post about body spray commercials, and is one of my favorite things in the world: a parody of an awful commercial. [...]
Comment // April 21st, 2007 // 5:40 pm
I hate that Axe commercial. What I want to see is the next 20 seconds where the woman tear the man apart.
Comment // April 22nd, 2007 // 8:36 am
Over here, Axe is called Lynx and has the exact same advertising strategy and problems. It’s generally seen as a pretty low quality product used mostly by teenaged boys (a kind of “My First Deodorant”) so to push it they made up the Lynx Effect that turns women to jello-brained half-wits. Shocking.
Love your blog, by the way.
Cheers.
Comment // April 29th, 2007 // 11:12 pm
shes HAWT
Pingback // May 14th, 2007 // 12:20 pm
[...] A few weeks ago we looked at some Axe Body Spray ads. This spot is a funny addition to their series, managing the line between sexy and humorous quite well. [...]
Comment // May 20th, 2007 // 8:41 pm
have you seen the new ones where all the women turn into porn stars. I didn’t think it could get worse until I saw those ones.
Comment // May 23rd, 2007 // 6:10 pm
the new axe commercials don’t cut it—leave the boom chicka wow wow sounds on the “BRICK HOUSE” track!!!
Comment // August 3rd, 2007 // 9:32 pm
i think the RGX girl is sooooo damn hot. she is really short and i love my short girls. just look at those eyes and u tell me she doesnt want you to take her. :P
Comment // October 3rd, 2007 // 7:35 pm
The company who sells AXE also make those Dove and the campaign to give women self esteem and confidence because looks shouldn’t matter – a bit of an irony seeing that AXE appears to be quite the opposite.
Comment // October 9th, 2007 // 10:51 pm
I sprayed this so called love potion, all over my bod. I didn’t even buy the stuff, I just walked into wal-mart with nine of my cousins and stole me some spritzes. The store o-zone was immediately compromised. We all hopped in the family van (a u haul truck we haven’t returned yet). We got home and as soon as I go inside our dog “chino” starts circling me. He’s staring at me like I’m a pork chop. I said “Chino stop staring at me and circling me like I’m a pork chop”. He barked as if to say “hell no”. This stuff works, be careful! What if “chino” was mean.
Comment // January 30th, 2009 // 4:40 pm
Why any guy would buy an AXE product after seeing their latest TV ad campaign is beyond me. A nagging dyke with a bullhorn? Come on. I’ve switched to a competing brand and plan to stay with them until the duds (sic) at Axe get their act together! If I want dirty hair, and want to use their excellent product on the rest of me, I sure as hell don’t want a dirty girl telling me to wash my hair, etc on their ads or their website. I get enough of that from my mom.