Veronica Borja

Process Piece #2

In todays society, controversial advertisement is part of every day life. If the
advertisement is getting the target audiences attention, then that is all that matters, right?
That is what some companies think to be true, specifically, the brand that I have chosen
for my project, Axe. The Axe brand is a mens grooming
supply company that uses sex and women to persuade
lustful men that numerous female encounters are in their
future. Many of their ads could definitely qualify as being
sexist but the brand has somehow grown tremendously
since its introduction in 1983. The first advertisement that
I am using is a picture of a nun that has her nose plugged
with a clothespin. The point of this image is to make men
feel like even the most holy, religious woman cant resist the extreme power of Axe. The
second advertisement is a huge calendar that is placed over the side of a female, college
dormitory. In this ad, there are
girls in each window because it is
supposed to convince men that
you can get a new girl every day
of the month. Both of the
advertisements were made to
make oversexed men feel superior
and to convince them that they can get whatever they want, whenever they want.
Although I, and hopefully most other people, know that both of these cases would most
likely never happen, the idea of these situations influence men to buy the product so that
they can feel the satisfaction that they desire. As much as I disagree with the topics of
each advertisement, the brand manages to explain or show their rhetoric in each ad.
One of the first things I notice about most Axe advertisements, and specifically
these two, are the sexualization of innocent women. The first one shows a nun who has to
force herself not to smell the man that is wearing Axe so that she doesnt do anything that
would go against her views. Some people like the idea of rebelliously going against the
norm and viewing things in ways that they arent. An example of this would be sexy
nuns during Halloween. Axes rhetoric is to show men that women like this nun are
inferior to them and that the nun wants sex just as much as he does, even though most
nuns stay very true to their beliefs. This misogynistic idea that followers of God would
completely change their principles for a man, who sprayed himself with some Axe, is
very much part of this advertisement. This pathos idea is used to bring in humor, but in
return, it is mocking an innocent person and their religion. In the second advertisement, a
calendar is displayed with many women for each date of the month. The idea is that the
women are like daily prizes that men can receive if they decide to use Axe products. This
is just another example of young women being used as sex objects to increase personal
business growth. The first advertisement sexualizes nuns, while the second one
sexualizes female college students.
The colors and visual presentation of the advertisements play an important
role in the overall impact. The first ad uses black and white as contrasting colors so
that your eyes directly to the nuns face. Its also zoomed in pretty close so that you
can read the emotion that is showing on her face. She seems to have a look of
irritation, which could be from having to plug her nose in order to control herself
from the great sexual urge she has. This situation of discomfort that is pretty
obvious on the girls face just gives men a sense of power that he didnt have before
wearing Axe. The second advertisement of the female dormitory is also very neutral
colors. Obviously the main picture that you are drawn to in this ad is the calendar
that has been put onto the side of a building. If my own eyes are drawn to this
particular picture, it is very likely that the companies target audience, young men, is
also hooked by it. On the side of the calendar is a picture of an Axe can so that you
know exactly what the product is when looking at the advertisement. While the first
ad doesnt have an obvious setting, the second one does. Placing the calendar
directly to a female residence hall gives men a clear look at what their future may
hold. When men are casually walking by, like the man standing at the bottom of the
advertisement, they might see the calendar and decide that they want to feel the
same pleasure that other Axe users supposedly receive. Both of the advertisements
clearly state the rhetoric for men and their possible future with many different types
of women.
It is obvious to tell that the target audience is straight, young men, but in
reality, there are woman, gay men, and others who also use the product. There
seems to be some kind of rule that women can only wear fruity or flowery scents,
but in reality, anyone can smell however they wish. If a female decides that she
wants to smell of dark temptation or cool metal, she should be able to do so. Axe did
make a female scent called Anarchy but only because of controversial arguments
stating that the brand was being sexist. In all the advertisements, women are used
to draw in the men so that they will use the product. Also, going along with this, gay
men are not targeted at all in the advertisements. In the first ad, a nun would
obviously not attract a gay male and neither would an entire female dorm. Axe
makes it sound like women will chase you and tear your clothes off if you wear the
products, but what if you dont actually want this? Men of all types with many
different sexual orientations could use the product if they wanted they, along with
women, just arent being correctly represented in the ads. The product is very one
sided in their advertisements and dont really think of other types of people besides
the straight men.
There is an obvious assertion that comes out of these advertisements and
that is that using Axe will get you sex. With the first advertisement, they use a nun,
whose religion means to have no sexual relations with any man, to convince men
that the woman will give up everything she is worked for to have sex with him. The
second ad implies that sex will happen every day of the month with a new female.
The idea of ethical appeal, or ethos, is used to convince men that this is what their
future holds and that the creators of Axe are experts when it comes to women. Since
a large portion of the target audience is boys in middle school and high school, the
idea of sex, that most of these boys have never known of, is very exciting. By using a
variety of different girls, Axe indicates that you could literally have whichever girl
you wanted as if you could pick them out like ice cream flavors. It also makes it
sound like the men can just chill back while the girl makes the first move. This
confident attitude and abundance of sex that most men desire explains the mirror
effect. Axe uses seduction and sex to draw every man into the idea that they can get
whatever they want while using the product. The idea that using Axe will give them
all of these things in their future explains the window effect. Even the tag lines imply
that sex will be achieved with Axe. Some examples would be It Can Happen
Anywhere, Get Dirty, and Spray More, Get More, which all relate to sex.
The two advertisements are very similar but also have things that make them
unique. Both the advertisement of the nun and the advertisement of the college girls
imply that women of all kinds wont be able to resist a man using Axe. Both ads give
men hope of forbidden sexual activity that they otherwise couldnt have. This is
shown with a woman of religious background who has devoted her life to God who
would be willing to give up everything for a man and by saying that a new college
female could be in the mans future everyday. The color scheme for these
advertisements is also very similar. The black, white, and brown colors draw you
into what needs to be soon without distracting the eye with many colors. Both of the
advertisements are definitely sexist and use men as their target audience. The first
ad, though, uses religion and offensive behavior while the second uses many girls for
an overall sexual experience. Also, the advertisement that uses the nun has a close
up of her face so that you can see the reaction and emotion of one female in the
situation. The other ad has images that are too far away to see emotion so that the
females are mainly just sexual objects.
There are many controversial issues of sexism that take place in all of the Axe
advertisements. By using certain colors, themes, and sexual ideas, the company
manages to acquire business from a large portion of their target audience. Although
the ways that they advertise doesnt include people outside of young, straight men,
the product still seems to be used by many. The rhetoric that Axe uses is obviously
stated throughout most of their advertisements, which is that using Axe will get you
women and sex. Even their milder ads somehow lead to sex, which shows that lust is
what pulls men into the usage of their product. From the analysis of these two
advertisements, I was able to get a better view of the brand and I have come to the
conclusion that it is all about sex.















Works Cited

"AXE." Unilever USA. Unilever, n.d. Web. 27 Sept. 2014.
<http://www.unileverusa.com/brands-in-action/detail/AXE-
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"AXE - Men's Hair, Deodorant, Body Spray and Shower Gel Products." The
Axe Effect. Unilever, n.d. Web. 27 Sept. 2014.
<http://www.theaxeeffect.com/#/axe-products/anarchy-for-her-body-
spray>.
Mi Sun, Kim. "Axe: Calendar." Ads of the World. Media Bistro, Feb.
2009. Web. 27 Sept. 2014.
<http://adsoftheworld.com/media/outdoor/axe_calendar>.
Bobillo, Juan Cruz. "Axe Deodorant: "NUN" Print Ad by Vegaolmosponce."
Creative Advertising & Commercials Archive. Awarded Ads
Database. Unilever, July 2000. Web. 27 Sept. 2014.
<http://www.coloribus.com/adsarchive/prints/axe-deodorant-nun-
2364655/>.