What The Heil

The advertisement that I have decided to take a gander at is the popular “Smell like a man” television advertisement from Old Spice. This ad, as the phrase suggests, is aimed at men (of which I am). Concerning the age demographic, I would imagine this advertisement is focusing its attention on males that are between the ages of 15 to 30. What is it, exactly, that this (type of) advertisement is trying to suggest to us impressionable young men? Well, first and foremost, it is betting that we want to give off agreeable scents. I imagine there are not enough men who take pride in smelling foul to interest advertisers. Secondly, the ad makes the hopeful suggestion that we men want to smell masculine; Of course this comes hand-in-hand with being appealing to potential romantic partners. Finally, the ad is getting our attention by slamming a high standard in our face for us to achieve, thus giving us a challenge. Women will obviously look at the man on screen and bat their eyelashes in excitement and we, being who we are, will not stand for such a thing (at least in the eyes of Old Spice, we won’t).

Is the advertisement using a successful approach? I would have to say so. I know I have purchased their products on numerous occasions. I, find the scents of their products to be of a pleasant variety, and many of the people who I know also use their antiperspirants and body washes. As the 12^th chapter of the text suggests, simply imputing and reinforcing the desire to fit the standard of our sex affects who we are and what we strive to be. Our identities as members of our particular sex are engraved into our heads from day one and the media does its fair share of increasing the impact is has on us. This advertisement does nothing to dispute this argument and is, quite obviously, very much first-rate evidence that, as the text puts it, “being labeled as ‘boy’ or ‘girl’ may determine your behavior to some extent”.