Axe Body Spray Slogan
This sample essay on Axe Body Spray Slogan provides important aspects of the issue and arguments for and against as well as the needed facts. Read on this essay’s introduction, body paragraphs, and conclusion.
To successfully sell any product, advertisers must be able to grab the attention of the audience in a manner that deserves more than a simple glance. With the numerous products available on the market today, original advertisement techniques are required in order to appeal to consumers.
Yet, advertisements continue to widely endorse products through the use of sex. Sex appeal is a very common technique that is widely used by advertisers. In fact, it has been studied by the American Scientific Research Society that “roughly one-fifth of all advertising uses overt sexual content to sell a product” (Schnieder).
This statement seems highly accurate; it is nearly impossible to go through a day without being exposed to some sort of sexually appealing ads. As we are driving through the highways, we pass by billboards that can have sexually appealing images.
As we are heading towards the checkout lanes in a supermarket, we can find magazines with sexy models on the covers right next to the register. As we are strolling through the cosmetic departments of a popular mall, we expose ourselves to perfume or cologne ads that have sex as their driving forces in advocating the products.
It has been found that “Sex is the second strongest of the psychological appeals” (Taflinger). According to Richard F. Taflinger, PhD, sex in advertising grabs a hold of a man’s attention by playing on his “instinctive rather than intellectual view of the world.
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“ Thank you so much for accepting my assignment the night before it was due. I look forward to working with you moving forward ”
” Taflinger also notes that this is done so “by using women’s bodies and associate getting the woman if he buys the product. ” AXE is a brand of male grooming products and is owned by the British company Unilever. AXE was first introduced in the United States in 2002, and is now the leader of “men’s grooming” markets.
Axe Hairspray
AXE’s progressive, synergistic, traditional/non tradition marketing campaign is responsible for AXE’s wide reaching influence and success. Utilizing sexual images, language and innuendos, AXE appeals to young males targeting the 16-30 age groups. Young males from this age group are usually more interested in the opposite sex, and this is what most of the campaign focuses on. When you see the brand name, AXE you can’t help but picture a dream like fantasy world in which attractive women, wearing tight jeans or showing off a lot of skin, is taking on sexual behaviors, acting as though she has an uncontrollable sexual drive.
The women in these ads are triggered by the AXE fragrance and cannot help but pursue their sexual desire. The lack of speech, the specific camera angles, the lighting and the surrounding sexy-music all help create a super sexual environment in these commercials. The brand turns the table on society’s perception of the guy going after the girl in the sense that the women in the ads are able to embrace their wild, sexual, rebellious side. The message behind the Axe commercials is quite simple, Use Axe body sprays and women will pursue you.
Even though many ads online may claim to be selling magic pheromones that are “100% Guaranteed to Attract Sex Now,” it’s pretty safe to say that there is no such thing. If it were true eHarmony and Match. com would be filing for Chapter 11 right about now. Nevertheless, commercials targeting young adults, such as Axe, adamantly exaggerate these unrealistic fantasies. In 2008 Axe released a body spray labeled Dark Temptation, its slogan implying that it is “as irresistible as chocolate. ” Encased in a rather stout container, the prints on it are rather gloomy and reminiscent of the retro era.
The commercial for it however, is quite lively and upbeat, which makes it unique from earlier commercials they’ve made. Instead of the usual adult movie reference, the Dark Temptation commercial was quite fantasy like. It reminded me of the Tin Man walking along the yellow brick road hoping to receive what he desperately needed. The commercial begins in a stark white bathroom. In front of a mirror is a young male in his late teens or early twenties holding a can in his right hand. The only sounds heard are sprays emanating from this can.
After a few quick spurts the screen fades out to the male placing the can onto a toilet top. As his hand moves away, all that’s seen is this dark brown can which seems to stand out amongst all the bleak items surrounding it. The contrast of colors makes it kind of hard to not notice the word “AXE”. After a quick silence a melodic beat starts to fade in and the view is returned to the mirror. But instead of the dull slim teenager we first started with, we see a jolly upbeat man made of chocolate. Looking similar to a Mr.
Good time Easter Bunny chocolate, only at a much grander scale, and with a daunting smile that seems resistant to movement no matter how hard he tried. After a last look in the bathroom mirror, the scene is turns into the new chocolate guy walking down the street getting licked, kissed, eaten and chased by women. Advertisements for Axe body spray are highly catchy in that they appeal to a man’s confidence level. Axe commercials are shown where a typical guy receives immediate attention from the opposite sex once he has used Axe body spray.
The use of this product acts as an instantaneous female response mechanism, or at least it seems so. The feedback that a male receives with the use of Axe is referred to as the Axe Effect. According to its creators, the Axe Effect is an “internationally recognized name for the increased attention axe-wearing males receive from eager, and attractive female pursuers. Regardless of where you can ‘get some’ axe effect by going to a store near you and purchasing one of the fine products” (Axe Effect).
The sexual innuendo found on the product’s web page relates itself back to one of the product’s recent slogans, “It can happen anywhere”. This one particular commercial portrays exactly that. A cute young man who hasn’t finished buttoning up his shirt walks into an elevator. He sprays on some Axe, exits, and another guy, more of a nerd gets on. Apparently the smell of Axe lingers in the air, because the attractive woman who steps in next finds herself drawn to the nerd. It’s the Axe Effect! She presses the emergency stop button.
In the next shot, the doors open and apparently she’s attacked him in a quick intense make out session. She’s straightening her dress, his hair is messy and he looks dazed, etc. As the door starts to close, another woman approaches, and you can see in her eyes that Axe is working on her, too. In a magazine I came across two ads for AXE. The first one shows a woman in a dressing room who has previously engaged in sexual activities or at least in modern day terms referred to as “fooling around. The focus point found in this image is located on the models back of what is seen as the imprint of a hanger. Although the details may not seem obvious, the price tag still attached to the dress along with mirror and its bright lights in the background suggest a fitting room. The light background softens the image of the ad and gives a glow to the female’s bare back. The colors present are not overpowering and therefore go very well with each other. Attention is given to a portion of the maroon colored dress and the aluminous skin tone of the model.
The face of the female is not visible, but when looked upon closely to the details of her hair structure, it is a fair assumption to say that she is of Asian descent. Although this may seem as if it were a minor detail, it is possible that it was the creator’s vision to use this subtle illusion as a technique of appealing to males of various races as well as various preferences of different characteristics as skin tone and hair color. The second AXE ad depicts the same situation but rather than a dressing room, the female is found to be outdoors, near the water, with an imprint of a boat steering wheel on her back.
The source of the imprint is imagined to be given the surrounding details such as her attire, the clear sky, and as mentioned before, the blue water. In the same manner as the previous image, the background is not overly exposed and does not take attention away from the model that in this case is Caucasian with blonde hair. Not only has the ethnicity of the model have been changed, the color scheme of each ad has differed in order to better depict the scenario. Because this is an outdoor scene, the choice of teal for the bikini goes very well hand in hand with the blue tone of the backdrop.
The focusing on both images is nice. The background is blurred so it does not serve as a distraction; rather, it acts as one of the elements that aids in deciphering the content. An interesting note of the company’s method of advertisement is that it is not directly campaigning the product; the product does not even appear within the ad itself. This is done carefully in that it shows the creativity of the product’s manufacturer. Any company can find the best looking models and have them hold the product in her hands but instead, Axe goes a different route and arefully manipulates the technique for delivering the message across to the audience. They are leaving the interpretation up to the audience of what Axe products can successfully do. The imagination of the Axe Effect remains with the viewer. Nowhere within the ad does it say that these girls have engaged in sexual activities, although the insinuations are present. These campaigns simply display the possibilities of Axe, just like how it can be possible for a typical male to witness such promiscuous encountering.
By using different elements from ad to ad, the company is able to better reach out to a wider range of audience or more specifically a wider range of male audience. Because not all males may have the same exact taste in women, Axe uses various ethnicities of the models, her skin tone, hair color, and body structure as a method of appealing to different men. Just like the model herself, Axe varies the environment within the ads to not only support its slogan, it is a way for the male audience to connect with the message according to whatever is better fitting to his own lifestyle preference.
Usage of sex in commercial advertisements is highly recognizable but the important issue is whether or not it truly works. Research done by Ellie Parker and Adrian Furnham of University College London reveal that in actuality, the technique of sex in the advertising industry does not work. Even with the presence of strong sexual innuendos, people tend to have problems recalling such advertisements. Basically, sex within ads “does not sell anything other than itself” (The Big Turn Off). This may due to our human nature or simply the particular topic itself.
Sex initially grabs our attention but possibly loses our interest and we no longer recall the merchandises that are in the advertisements. Whether an advertising company believes sex sales or not depends on what type of information it has been exposed too. The general idea of sex is that it sales because of the public’s interest towards the subject matter. Research however has been done to disprove such claim. Until advertisers can go against the usual norm of disbelieving that sex does not work, we will continue to see sex as the underlining message of many ads, whether subtle
Axe Body Spray Slogan. (2019, Dec 07). Retrieved from https://paperap.com/paper-on-axe-body-spray-1247/
