Girls, Sex, and the Art of Using Axe

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Recommended: Concept of gender stereotyping

Advertisers will go to any length to get the attention to their demographic. They create outlandish, eye-catching advertisements that do anything from mock another person to give exaggerated advice to their audience. Doing just that, in 2012, Axe released a new advertising campaign following the boyfriends of five different types of women in one-minute clips. Each clip pairs the five new shower gels they were releasing to the five times of girlfriends that Axe believes exists: brainy, high maintenance, flirty, sporty, and party. Each clip looks familiar, a boyfriend of a type of girl trying to make her happy, so that in return she will make him happy. The advertisement plays on strong female stereotypes to create a backbone for the clips. Then, through the use of sex, narration, and playing on the viewers emotions, the clip is strengthened to appease to their demographic. They equate being able to handle and please these types of girlfriends to being a “real man” through the use of Axe. They continue to support their past claims made in past advertisements than if you use Axe sprays or shower gels, that you will attract women and in return, receive sex.
In their series of advertisements, Axe uses a series of stereotyped girls and their relationships and sex to appeal to their general demographic of men age 18-24. The second installation of the series titled, “The High Maintenance Girl” follows a couple walking down the sidewalk with the boyfriend carrying his girlfriends numerous shopping bags, her purse, and walking her miniature dog. A voice narrates the situation and his thoughts over the scene describing the struggles of the boyfriend of a high maintenance girl. This specific advertisement plays on the stereotypes of exact...

... middle of paper ...

...t’s not intended to be taken seriously, it still carries a strong message that through the use of Axe, men can deal with anything and be rewarded for it. The advertisement continues to press on the belief that using Axe will help any man deal with women, handle their problems, and receive sex in the end.

Works Cited

Aleman, Paloma. "The Axe Effect." Media Literacy Project. N.p., 2013. Web. 11 Mar. 2014. .

Gray, Emma. "Axe Shower Gel Ads Tell Men to Appease Women, Get Laid (VIDEO)." The Huffington Post. TheHuffingtonPost.com, 21 Mar. 2012. Web. 10 Mar. 2014. .

"Axe Commercial High Maintenance Girl (2012)." YouTube. Axe, 20 Mar. 2012. Web. 11 Mar. 2014. .

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