http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=V6rAQHa1gmc
Jason Na, Cliff Brady, Xinyi Wang
The commercial above is an Axe body spray. It ran approximately in the year of 2007. It is a European commercial that took place in a factory. A white muscular man sprayed two bottles of axe across his whole body. Then he put on the shirt that says “Axe” and took it off constantly on the conveyor belt. The girls next to him in a line, who were waiting for the shirts, took a sniff of the shirt and the first one fainted. The commercial pans to the lady packaging the deodorant, who was wearing a nose clip, so she can’t smell the deodorant in order to work. The commercial then switched back to the testers and the next two preceded a fight for the shirt. It was a long and fierce fight where they pulled each other’s hair, punched in the face, and pushed them around just to smell more. The girls who were the next to smell just stood there and watched them fight. At the end, the two girls who were fighting appeared to kill each other. At the last scene of the advertisement, the narrator said “The Axe effect” and some other lines in other language. Also, they put the price tag up next to the Axe package.
The good looking guy in the beginning appeared to be an athletic, muscular, clean, short cut, and wearing soccer jersey. They chose a man like this so the viewers would see him and want to be like him. Also, the attractive man like this associates more with the people. The fact that he puts on a sport jersey is important because it associates the product with sports. People who play sports generally use deodorant more so it appeals to a larger audience. When the viewer sees this men using Axe’s product, they see that people like him use it and more inclined to do so in an effort to be like him.
The next thing we see is the lady packaging the product. She was wearing a nose clip so she couldn’t smell the deodorant. This implies that even if she wanted to ignore the smell, she wouldn’t be able to so she had to force it to block the scent. The reason she did this is to be able to work and not act the same girls in the video. Another interesting point is that her distance from the actual smell. She is quite far away which implies that the smell is strong and long-lasting. When the viewer sees this, they see that girls can’t resist the smell even if they want to.
The last thing that we saw that was interesting was that a long line of girls were waiting to smell the shirt. They were dressed in a white, fit, and low cut uniform that showed a lot of cleavage. This is an odd uniform for a factory worker. The first girl that smelled it fainted by the strong smell. When the next two women smelled the shirt, they go crazy for it and proceeded to fight over the shirt, just like drugs. They weren’t able to control themselves and were almost like animals. The fact that they were stereotypical sexy and attractive women implies that when the viewers see this ad, it urges them to buy the product so that those kinds of women go crazy for them.
Is there a reason that the color scheme make the viewers feel cold? All the colors are white, blue, and dark. There weren’t many bright colors. Is there a reason that the product is overwhelmingly strong? The man sprays himself once and puts on many shirts. It seemed to last forever when he kept putting and taking the different shirts on and off. Why didn’t anyone seemed to be surprised or concerned by the fight that was happening right in front of them? Both the man and women packaging the product just watched unaffected by the fight. Even though the two women fought until death, nobody appeared concerned.
In response to the question about the reason the product is overwhelming strong. I think its safe to say that this product is very potent and should be treated as such. Anyone that has a boyfriend or friend that uses this product can testify that it has an overpowering effect. I think this commercial is communicating that just a few sprays (or even one spray for that matter) will last a long time. And the effects of having the scent on your body for a long time will be beneficial to the user. The user will get the desired effect of having beautiful women fawn over you just because you smell amazing. Also with being such a strong scent others literally have no choice but to smell you. I know whenever I've passed someone that has Axe or other perfume/deodorant spray on, I stop to try figure out what it is because it smells so good.
ReplyDeleteI think you've pointed out some good things. There's a reason why the man only needed to use the spray once and put on many shirts. It is to prove that the product is long lasting and effective. I think the man and woman working in the factory were aware of how the body spray would affect the women which is why they were unaffected by the way they were reacting. If the women had simply smelled the shirts and had no reaction they would know the product wasn't doing its job. So for the workers to be unaffected it proves that they were making sure the women were greatly affected by the product and the ad is trying to display how the body spray works to viewers when it is applied.
ReplyDeleteThis analysis has very strong details and descriptions. Among the 3 opinions, i strongly agree with the last claims, urging guys to purchase for getting girls. I really like the way you guys interpreted this point by watching ad. While reading this post, i felt like this product only focuses on guys who are more active than women. Overall, i really enjoyed reading this article.
ReplyDeleteThe details in this are great. I can see everything happening without even watching the ad. I can see the scantily clad girls killing each other over this scent. I guess you could say this fragrance is "to die for". Maybe no one was surprised about the fight because they expect girls to do anything to get to this smell.
ReplyDeleteI believe that it is human nature to associate these colors with being cold, they are the colors of winter and we have been conditioned to be cold in winter. They use hyperbole to creat a better market for the product saying that it will last longer and be stronger. I dont think they noticed the fight again because the deoderant was way too overwhelming for them to think of anything else.
ReplyDeleteThe way that the two women fight during the commercial over what seems to be the last shirt that was worn by the man that sprayed himself with Axe, seems to be in a way an animalistic fight, like they are controlled by instinct. So no one stops them because it is the natural order of things, though it is the normal thing to do in our society to stop physical altercations. So the makers of this commercial seem to sell this product with it will create an uncontrollable, carnal reaction to the smell from women
ReplyDeleteI can easily see what is happening without watching the advertisement. The details are well analyzed. Most interesting part is that the man uses the spray once. The smell seems lasting forever. It has an effect to viewer. The viewers might think that the smell lasts very long time, and how the spray work when it is used.
ReplyDeleteAt the beginning, we can say there are a bunch of T-shirts waiting for be put on by the man. But the man only sprayed the deorderant once, all these mean the deorderant can last really a long time. Also, the woman who is packageing the product wears a nose clip. This is so interesting because this point implies that she can't work nomally without the nose clip. In my opinion, the cold color background in this scene compared to the fierce fighting for the T-shirt, this makes the fighting between these two women more fierce, also makes the deorderant more popular.
ReplyDeleteI agree that Axe products always have an overwhelmingly strong smell. The user would be satisfied with the product because a little goes a long way. It is only $4.99 and it could last months. I found it interesting how the man and the blond woman were just watching with no emotion. I didn't really understand that part. You did have a good point when bringing up the soccer uniform. It is appealing to all the athletes out there that want an effective and cheap fragrance.
ReplyDeleteNote in this commercial how the women are lined up to get a smell of the man's shirt followed by the scene of another woman a distance away wearing a clothes pin over her nose. This exagerates the point of how it is known or suspected what the effects of the deodorant are. It appears as if to be an experiment of some sort. Also note the ratio of men to women. This clarifies somewhat who the experiment is being conducted on. With one man spraying on deodorant, wearing and removing shirts, then placing them on a conveyor belt for women who are individually lined up to smell sets the conditions of the experiment. The music gives a very eerie feeling to the commercial. The neatly stacked shirts being worn and removed by the man show a limited supply. Two of the last three women fight to the death, or knocking each other out at least, use up the last shirt. One women is left helpless as there are no more shirts. The commercial implies to women that good men are in short supply. At the same time it implies to men that women will go crazy for you for $4.99 if you look like this guy. This commercial objectifies both men and women on an equal stereotypical basis that "GOOD MEN" are going fast and that women need to hurry before there are no more "GOOD MEN."
ReplyDeleteoverall, it is a wonderful analysis; the guy used the "axe" spray once, but constantly wore those shirts then took off, showing the lasting effect of the spray. the main colors, purple, white and black also help emphasize the whole effects. the woman behind the two fighting women does not care them but the shirts which have the smell of the spray. many details are also been observed and interpreted. however, the classic music and those two women violent fighting is a binary, which also help reinforce the whole effects.
ReplyDeleteThe detail that was provide was pretty excellent. In response to your analysis, I think you made a few valid claims about the commercial on a whole. While the product plays a small role in the ad the main focus is unquestionably on the fight between the two women. It is essentially playing at a man's emotions by saying have any girl you want fight over you. While the scent is highlighted in the beginning by the girls fainting I would be hard pressed to say it makes the viewer want to buy the product for its scent. Axe's motto should really be changed from "Get some hair action" to "We can maybe get you laid".
ReplyDeleteWhile it may be a valid point that, the color scheme is supposed to give the viewer an image of coldness, I believe that it is also a possibility that they may have just been using this color scheme because it is, for the most part, very neutral, so there are not any distractions from the ideas that the advertisement is trying to get across.
ReplyDeleteI believe that this commercial is directed to a very specific audience, and has many aspects throughout it that make it appealing to that audience. (average joes). The effect that the scent of the cologne persevering through numerous shirts and still having the same effect on these woman that go hysterical for it shows that the cologne is long lasting. Also at the end the price is shown which is a reasonable 10$. I feel as if the commercial was trying to portray a "more bang for your buck" type of situation. Overall I always find these commercials pretty entertaining, but far from what is real. Axe smells awful anyways.
ReplyDeleteThe analysis is well done and covers all the specifics of the commercial. I agree with the comments above of how the ad would appeal for men and encourage them to buy the product to get all the girls. I think it was interesting that the ad didn't have much talking until the very end besides the screaming of the women.
ReplyDeleteThis analysis goes into very good detail and explains everything very well. I agree with all the points made. Good use of specific details too. The ad clearly infers that if one wears axe body spray, women will become attracted to them and the man will have his sexual desires pleased.
ReplyDelete