Axe "Office Love"

1. Axe "Office Love"

2. Background • Unilever (Axe's parent company) • 74% share of the market • Air Date: August 20, 2012 • BBH National TV Campaign

3. Background • Campaigns for Unilever's Axe brand in the past have been notoriously raunchy and sexual • Angels Will Fall: successful campaign that preceded the "Office Love" spot • Female angels giving up their divinity to get with a man that smells nice (banned in South Africa) • "Scrubbing away the skank"

4. Background "We talked to some of the more progressive kids and they were laughing at Axe. So we said, "you have to stop saying it's a magic potion, like a fine fragrance that just totally transforms the moment. Don't take yourself so seriously. BBH reformulated the pitch: It became (wink, wink) a magic potion that (nudge, nudge) totally transforms the moment. And that laid the groundwork for today's metamorphosis, with ads so cartoonish that guys and girls are expected to enjoy them together." -Emma Cookson, Chairman of BBH in New York

5. Inspiration • Axe's market team must be constantly doing market analysis to be a "testosterone whisperer" and speak effectively to their client base. • Axe’s goal is to push people together and make a positive first interaction between males and females • "Red pill and blue pill” anecdote from the Matrix: Illustrates the point that out of the Unilever brands, for Axe "the rules of gravity can be pushed" • "Axe wanted to speak to 18- to 24-year-olds' interests — which are, basically, girls, girls and girls — in a witty and irreverent way"

6. The Spot • "Office Love" • BBH (Bartle Bogle Hegarty) New York • Aired starting in August 2012 • Primarily shown in the US market • Tagline "Hair: It's what girls see first." • Features the song "True Love Will Find You In the End" by Daniel Johnston

7. "The creativity is so clever and funny, it made the whole team have many laughs. Probably the biggest challenge was to remain serious and focus on the job. It was a great project to work on," -Martin Lazaro, Lead 2D Artist "Office Love"

8. Ad Critique Analysis: PRO Argument Critics Credentials: Steve Hall - founder and publisher of AdRants Recency of Criticism: August 21, 2012 Type of harm identified: none! All the brand has done in this article is celebrate the carnal desire that is ever present between man and woman.

9. Ad Critique Analysis: PRO Argument Objective Reasoning: • The Ad highlights what's really important when it comes to first contact. • Axe's goal is to help make you look your best when you first approach the object of your desire. • Lacking in-depth data on the person we've just met, sexual attraction is about all we have to go on.

10. Ad Critique Analysis: PRO Argument Role of the consumer: • Active Usefulness of criticism: • This critic helps to point out that Axe is really just doing their job -- Their job is to get two people close enough so they can then discover whether or not there is a meaningful and sustainable attraction.

11. Cons - The ad was branded as sexist by a variety of media sources, even prompting one website, Policymic.com, to call for a boycott of Axe products. - “Office Love” commercial implies that men objectify women and judge them based only on their physical features. “The implication seems to be that a woman's breasts are what boys and men see first, all they see, in fact -- remember, the breasts are headless -- at least for the first five times they meet her and/or until they fall in love with her.” –Huffington Post.

12. Cons - Critics argue that it perpetuates gender biases and stereotypes. “Axe has once again turned to stereotypes and gender biases with its latest Axe 'Office Love' commercial, which essentially represents females as a giant pair of breasts, no head required.” – Trendhunter.com - Adweek criticized the ad for trivializing people to nothing more than their parts "In the Axe Universe, people aren't more than the sum of their parts -- they are their parts. So, you'd better make them look and smell desirable." - Adweek

13. Ad Critique Analysis: CON argument The Critics Credentials: Adweek - Tim Nudd Huffington Post- Emma Grey Policymic.com- Frank Hagler Trendhunter.com- Katherine Vong The Recency of the Criticism: All August 2012 The Type of Harm Identified: Sexist, Perpetuates Gender Biases, Perpetuates Stereotypes

14. Ad Critique Analysis: CON argument The Objective Reasoning Used • Implies that Men see women only as objects • Trivializes people to merely the sum of their physical features • Perpetuates gender biases that are unfair to women Role of the Consumer Passive Usefulness of Criticism • The negative criticism of this ad serves to represent an opinion pervasive in the community, that the ads can be considered offensive.

15. OUR ANALYSIS

16. Controversial Issues: • Implies that men only see women as objects • Basically a parody on objectification • Perpetuates Gender Bias • Erving Goffman - "What is portrayed in advertising is not actually how we behave as men and women, but how we think men and women behave" • Unilever is being criticized for being “hypocritical" because their Dove campaign contradicts their Axe campaign. • Shows the increasing need for coordination between agencies working with similar brands manufactured by the same company

17. Has this campaign been good for axe? • Axe came to dominate the now $5 billion U.S. men's body-spray market in 2007, only five years after entering it, and continues to do so today • It currently owns a 72% share of the body-spray category, 58 points higher than its nearest competitor, Old Spice • Each Axe scent -- there are 13 for sale now -- will sell about three times the volume of an average fine fragrance • $2.5 billion global brand

18. How has this ad contributed to the image of the brand? Short Term: • Sophisticated Kiefer Sutherland ad that came before • With "Office Love" axe is back to being axe" -AdWeek Long Term: • Axe will most likely continue to market their brand in the same way because it is working for them

19. What is the advertising strategy for Axe right now? • Many people think these ads are just a case of "sex sells" • If this were true Axe's brand would be easy to replicate • Its success is largely the result of constantly monitoring youth culture's subtle shifts so as to stay hot on the hormone trail • Axe is planning on continuing to push the envelope with their controversial advertising approach

22. Discussion Questions 1. What was your reaction to the ad and why? 2. Do you think there is a more effective way for Axe to advertise? If so, how? 3. Do you think it is okay for advertising to exaggerate gender roles? 4. Have you ever been turned off by a brand simply because of their advertising strategy?

23. Works Cited All Is Vanity: Grooming Brands Target Men With Ads Using Sex, Humor. WWD: Women's Wear Daily [serial online]. September 17, 2010;200(59):1. Available from: Advanced Placement Source, Ipswich, MA. Accessed January 27, 2013. Feifer, J. (2012). AXE'S HIGHLY SCIENTIFIC, TYPICALLY OUTRAGEOUS AND TOTALLY IRRESISTIBLE SELLING OF LUST. Fast Company, (168), 104-109. Gray, Emma. "Axe Headless Breasts Ad: 'Office Love' Spot Makes Romance All About the Boobs." Huff Post Women. 21 Aug 2012: n. page. Print. <http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2012/08/21/axe-ad-headless-breasts-proves-sexism-advertisi ng_n_1818829.html>. Hagler, Frank. "Boycott Axe Deodorant: The Latest Ad Campaign That Proves Sexism Sells." policymic. Aug 2012: n. page. Print. <http://www.policymic.com/articles/14366/boycott-axe-deodorant-the-latest-ad-campaign-proves-that-sexism-sells>. Hall, Steve. "Why Axe's 'Headless Breasts' Ad Is Strategically Sound - Adrants." Weblog post. Why Axe's 'Headless Breasts' Ad Is Strategically Sound - Adrants. Adrant, 21 Aug. 2012. Web. 29 Jan. 2013. Nudd , Tim. "Axe Gets Back to Being Axe in New Spot with Headless Pair of Breasts." Adweek. 21 <http://www.adweek.com/adfreak/axe-gets-back-being-axe-new-spot-headless-pair-breasts-14 3019>.

24. Works Cited Stewart, Dodai. "Dove Vs. Axe: Is Unilever Hypocritical?" Jezebel. Jezebel, 12 Oct. 2007. Web. 25 Jan. 2013. <http://jezebel.com/310320/dove-vs-axe-is-unilever-hypocritical>. Vong, Katherine. "Audacious Gender Portrayals." 23 Aug 2012: n. page. Web. 29 Jan. 2013. <http://www.trendhunter.com/trends/axe-office-love>.