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I'm assuming I don't have to link to any of Isaiah Mustafah's Old Spice commercials, and that you've seen them all.
First, let me just make the comment on how it's changing my perception of the brand. I thought of Old Spice as the deodorant that my grandfather used.
Now I'm thinking, "Oh, right -- my grandfather killed a bunch of Nazis, didn't he?"
Anyway.
One of my favorite terms to use when doing feminist critiques of media is "agency" -- specifically the agency of women. In the medium, are women active participants or passive prizes?
In the Axe Body Wash commercials, women have no agency. If you (and "you" means "a male" -- the commercials ignore the possibility that half their audience might be female; females don't exist as PEOPLE in those commercials) use Axe, women will flock to you without any free will of their own. Women aren't people; they're prizes.
In the Old Spice commercials, "Ladies: Look at your man. Now look at me. Now look at your man."
It's addressed to women, with the impression that WOMEN are people who can make choices. It's not terribly feminist, yes, but there IS a difference between the commercials for men's deodorant which treat women as props and these, which at least make a nod to the idea that women are people. We can talk about how terribly heteronormative they are, but the fact that they at least acknowledge that women exist as sapient beings is a huge step forward for men's grooming product advertisements.
First, let me just make the comment on how it's changing my perception of the brand. I thought of Old Spice as the deodorant that my grandfather used.
Now I'm thinking, "Oh, right -- my grandfather killed a bunch of Nazis, didn't he?"
Anyway.
One of my favorite terms to use when doing feminist critiques of media is "agency" -- specifically the agency of women. In the medium, are women active participants or passive prizes?
In the Axe Body Wash commercials, women have no agency. If you (and "you" means "a male" -- the commercials ignore the possibility that half their audience might be female; females don't exist as PEOPLE in those commercials) use Axe, women will flock to you without any free will of their own. Women aren't people; they're prizes.
In the Old Spice commercials, "Ladies: Look at your man. Now look at me. Now look at your man."
It's addressed to women, with the impression that WOMEN are people who can make choices. It's not terribly feminist, yes, but there IS a difference between the commercials for men's deodorant which treat women as props and these, which at least make a nod to the idea that women are people. We can talk about how terribly heteronormative they are, but the fact that they at least acknowledge that women exist as sapient beings is a huge step forward for men's grooming product advertisements.
(no subject)
Date: 2010-07-15 12:34 pm (UTC)(Plus, Mr. Mustafah makes my glad I can see.)
(no subject)
Date: 2010-07-15 01:24 pm (UTC)(no subject)
Date: 2010-07-15 01:58 pm (UTC)(no subject)
Date: 2010-07-15 02:02 pm (UTC)(no subject)
Date: 2010-07-15 02:45 pm (UTC)(no subject)
Date: 2010-07-15 02:59 pm (UTC)(no subject)
Date: 2010-07-15 04:05 pm (UTC)(no subject)
Date: 2010-07-15 03:27 pm (UTC)My older son, I'd ask him what he wanted for smelly stuff, and it always boiled down to "what did you get me last time? That." But shampoo and the like, it's whatever I bought. He rarely had any interest in what was commercial and cool, still doesn't.
My husband only has a few preferences, otherwise, I just get him what I like. I'm the one that has to smell him, after all!
(no subject)
Date: 2010-07-15 03:32 pm (UTC)(no subject)
Date: 2010-07-15 03:42 pm (UTC)(no subject)
Date: 2010-07-15 05:02 pm (UTC)I suspect that deodorant is more culturally gendered than soap or toothpaste, though. But I may not be the best witness here, given how little television and hence advertising I see, among other things. (For ages, Cattitude was using the one I used to use; he stopped only because they seem to no longer be making that variety. (I had switched to an unscented one from the same manufacturer.))
(no subject)
Date: 2010-07-16 08:16 am (UTC)(no subject)
Date: 2010-07-15 01:26 pm (UTC)Most of the Moms, wives, and girlfriends I know do buy the man-no-stink stuff for the guys, the Old Spice commercials take that to a hilarious and really fun to watch level.
(no subject)
Date: 2010-07-15 02:07 pm (UTC)Completely agree
Date: 2010-07-15 02:07 pm (UTC)Re: Completely agree
Date: 2010-07-15 02:30 pm (UTC)In our household, I do almost all the shopping, and my wife tends to use either LUSH products or Doc Bronner's, and uses Mennen Speed Stick (not Lady Speed Stick, which she doesn't like as much). So I tend not to think about the gendered nature of shopping, except when advertisement makes it really, really obvious.
Re: Completely agree
Date: 2010-07-15 08:35 pm (UTC)On a side note, I used to use Secret Powder Fresh, but I recently swapped to a lavender scented one. It's not overpowering like most women's deodorants.
(no subject)
Date: 2010-07-15 02:08 pm (UTC)(no subject)
Date: 2010-07-15 02:31 pm (UTC)Probably the best single source for them.
(no subject)
Date: 2010-07-15 02:50 pm (UTC)(no subject)
Date: 2010-07-15 02:58 pm (UTC)"Ladies. Look at me. Look at your man. Now back at me again. Now back at your man. Does your man look like me? No. But could your man SMELL like me? Yes."
(no subject)
Date: 2010-07-15 03:10 pm (UTC)(no subject)
Date: 2010-07-15 03:17 pm (UTC)(no subject)
Date: 2010-07-15 03:29 pm (UTC)(no subject)
Date: 2010-07-15 03:47 pm (UTC)(no subject)
Date: 2010-07-15 04:13 pm (UTC)(no subject)
Date: 2010-07-15 04:31 pm (UTC)I don't watch TV -- mostly because of the ads -- but I saw one of these when I went to the movie theater.
My reaction was that the real message was for men, and it was the usual -- "You aren't worth anything as yourself. Your only hope to get a mate is to hide yourself in the image of this unattainable sex symbol, and look, we're selling a product that will do it! Just give us your money and you can paper over your inadequacy!" Yes, they're superficially addressing women, telling them their men are unattractive but this product can transmogrify them. I suppose it's a better message to women to tell them they have the power to choose to transmogrify their men rather than to just use the women as props to demonstrate the transmogrifying effect. I suppose it's better, if some guy walking by kicks me in the nuts, if he doesn't also spit on the woman standing nearby.
(no subject)
Date: 2010-07-15 04:47 pm (UTC)(no subject)
Date: 2010-07-15 05:59 pm (UTC)(no subject)
Date: 2010-07-18 05:54 am (UTC)(no subject)
Date: 2010-07-16 12:06 am (UTC)Yeah, commercials that send any variant on this message kind of suck, but in general? The guy kicking you in the nuts isn't spitting on the woman standing nearby, he's stepping on her.
(no subject)
Date: 2010-07-15 04:49 pm (UTC)(No, not taking the mickey. BTW, I think the 2nd - 4th sentences of your entry deserve some sort of award...)
(no subject)
Date: 2010-07-15 07:16 pm (UTC)Of course it has to be funny and OTT, because everyone would laugh anyway. But the secret is it's appealing, not that it's funny.
Diamonds, for god's sake! And not diamonds-as-self-decoration or diamonds-being-sold-to-men-as-a-means-to-display-ownership. Piles of diamonds for me! To own! Piles! And horses!
I was just ... stunned. I see now why sex sells. If it's actually directed at you.
(no subject)
Date: 2010-07-15 07:56 pm (UTC)(Yeah, I'm wearing Old Spice with a pink dress. Wanna make something of it?)
(no subject)
Date: 2010-07-16 12:07 am (UTC)It's true. It's really, really true.
(no subject)
Date: 2010-07-16 12:44 am (UTC)I don't fancy him. But I love the ads.
Shame I hate Old Spice.
(no subject)
Date: 2010-07-15 07:43 pm (UTC)(no subject)
Date: 2010-07-16 12:09 am (UTC)(
(no subject)
Date: 2010-07-16 03:39 am (UTC)(no subject)
Date: 2010-07-15 11:23 pm (UTC)Aside from his not matching my physical preferences, I don't need a man to create adventure or do things around the house for me.
(no subject)
Date: 2010-07-17 10:55 pm (UTC)