Old Spice: Smell like a Man, Man.

Recent advertisements that have struck me are the Old Spice ads. There are quite a few reasons why the Old Spice ads strike me. First of all, the man in the commercials is physically attractive with a deep voice. He immediately strikes you as confident and interesting. He speaks directly at you, and keeps you constantly engaged the whole commercial. While the commercial is for men’s body wash, the commercial is primarily aimed at women, trying to persuade them to buy Old Spice body wash for their boyfriends or husbands. The commercial is also visually engaging as it jumps from one set to the other. It seems almost absurdist and while it doesn’t even make much sense it appeals to a simplistic approach of simply telling women that while they can’t make their man look like the man in the commercial, they can make their man smell like him. I think that one reason that this commercial is so successful is that unlike many recent commercials it doesn’t attempt to make a bunch of ridiculous claims to the audience. It tells you that “anything is possible when your man smells like old spice and not a lady.” While this claim is completely ridiculous, it is just ridiculous enough that you know that this is not the actual argument the ad is trying to make. Simply enough the ad just tells you that if you want your man to smell good, you should buy him Old Spice body wash.

OLD SPICE COMMERCIAL: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=owGykVbfgUE

One appeal that Professor Straubhaar talked about was the appeal of how advertising displays an escape from ordinary life. Advertising that takes people out of their element makes them believe that the product being advertised will take them to a new and exciting place. While the appeal is not often this simple and is usually not as successful as intended, it often at the very least catches peoples eyes. People are often expecting mundane advertisements that simply show the product advertised in the atmosphere in which it would be used. However, commercials that are able to convincing display their product in a way that makes the consumer believe they have “escaped” ordinary life are often successful.

The Old Spice commercials provide changing scenery multiple times in the commercial to more fantastical places each time the scene changes. The commercials display the “Old Spice Man” moving from a bathroom to a boat and then finally to the back of a horse on a beach. The commercial is very simple and shows very interesting transitions from one scene to the other, never actually changing scenes but just shifting the “Old Spice Man” without actually cutting. The ad, along with other Old Spice ads creates a kind of fantasy world along with a fantasy man that you wish you could escape to. While the ad makes no claims that your man will look like the man in the commercial nor will where you magically shift to the place shown, it simply tells you the closest you will get to the surreal universe displayed is by smelling like it. While this may sound absurd it is actually quite addicting and convincing. I watched the commercial quite a few times and never actually grew tired of seeing it. It is funny and it’s blatantly sarcastic attempts to brainwash you make you feel like you can watch it at ease without pressure.