Axe Advertisement Analysis

Kayla Schnell
McCarthy
English 101
September 15, 2014
They Got You Again
Men and women are constantly up against this battle of how society exploits them in the media and in advertisements. Whether it’s really obvious or quite discreet, this is an issue that doesn’t seem to be dying down. This affects everyone in some way or another. People take great offense to how advertisers portray people. Most of the time is just for their own sake and good, not thinking about how their ads really disturb people. The fashion and cosmetic industry continues to push over their boundaries in their depiction of women and men. They play with our thought process and minds, just so we will buy into their products or services. Most people view this as any ordinary Axe Body Spray advertisement, but after analysis its clear that this company degrades and sexualizes men just to sell their products. Looking at this ad and analyzing the movement, the first thing you’ll notice is the bottom half of a man’s body facing the window of a lingerie store, which contains a woman wearing very revealing, red undergarments. This is the center and focal point of the whole ad. After noticing that, you’re probably wondering where the other half of his body remains. Well, moving on from the legs, the next thing to take notice in is the upper half walking with a woman, that appears to be his girlfriend, maybe even his wife. Her being his wife is immediately discarded once you notice the man has no ring on his finger. The couple appear to be dressed fairly casually and having a great time together. The woman seems to have no notice in the fact that the man she is with doesn’t have legs. After checking out the people, we move our way to the text. “Part Good, Part Bad. That’s Man’s Essence.” Pondering this greatly explains the detachment of the man’s body. One part of his body must be the “good” while the other half must be the “bad.” Obviously, the good part is the man with his date, and the bad part is the legs standing in front of the fairly sexy dressed manikin.
Very commonly, advertisers will play with your emotions and passions. Everyone has some sort of sexual need, whether you’re a male or female. Axe’s ads portray various ways the products supposedly helped men attract women. Their angle of vision strategy incorporates a lot of sexual desires into their advertisements to appeal to a man’s feelings, also known as pathos. Axe is selling their body spray by unconsciously showing men that it will also satisfy their sexual wants. Presented here is that men will get sex, along with women, if they use their body spray. If a man really thinks that just by wearing a certain scent that they will meet their sexual needs, they have got the idea all wrong. Axe only uses this approach because it works for a product like this, but it is actually not worthy of doing what it shows it can do.
The medium of this ad also gives it a lot of meaning. This ad was more than likely in a magazine in which men will look at. The advertisers take advantage of every little thing they can for their own good. Although we can’t be sure of the placement or which magazine this ad was in, it still makes sense for the message they are trying to convey to readers. It’s short and simple, but it really rakes in men who have sexual desires. Does this really seem fair? It’s almost like a tease or charade game they play on men’s minds. This ad had a lot of thought put into this as well. Even the placement of everything involved a strategy. Without the right placement, you can’t have the right movement. The movement starts you off with the sexy dressed lady and pants, which is the main focus behind the meaning of the ad: sex. Moving on from that you notice more and more things that the advertisers strategically do just to appeal to their target audience. Even the colors are all apart of the plan. It’s not convenient that the thing that pops out the most is a bright red, sexy outfit on a manikin. This is exactly what they want every man to look at first just to even feel like their needs are being satisfied throughout the use of the product. Everything else in the ad remains a neutral color because they really want the target audience to take notice in the red before everything else, and over everything else. The caption to the ad, “Part Good. Part Bad” really puts everything into context. Men are constantly trying to achieve this bad or toughness in them. What better way to achieve that then by wearing Axe?
After analysis, it might be clearer what the company Axe does to negatively portray men. Axe only wants to think they are satisfying a man’s desire, when they are doing nothing but exploiting them. It’s not fair that a company like this can put this image into men’s heads. Men shouldn’t think that just because they buy a product, it would change their life and satisfy their needs. Will Rogers once said, “Advertising is the art of convincing people to spend money that they don’t have for something they don’t need.” Making advertisements isn’t just a business plan, rather than a game. Companies play these games on people’s unconscious minds to see what brings more customers and money in, stopping at no extent. This is an ongoing problem in society that needs to be stopped. Advertisers shouldn’t be putting these obscure thoughts into minds. It isn’t fair to men, nor is it fair to anyone else.