Monday, January 3, 2011

Sexism Sells: Axe Commercial Edition

Misogynistic advertising keeps pushing the limits, and it’s time for us to push back. It seems that numerous advertising agencies have taken a page from the recent Atlantic Monthly article announce “the end of men.” They have responded by demanding that men rescue their apparently fragile masculinity by reclaiming their everyday purchases from the conniving womenfolk, in everything from take out food to soap. While each of these advertising campaigns brim over with enough misogyny for a complete doctoral thesis, it is the Axe ad campaign I find most troubling.

In the unlikely event that you’ve been lucky enough to escape their advertisements (I would find this surprising; personally, the other day I had to walk under an large Axe cardboard archway display in order to buy my own girly shampoo), they can be summarized easily: a 20ish slightly dorky white guy applies an Axe product, which instantly makes every woman around him unable to resist him, sometimes to possibly violent ends.

The women in the ads, of course all white, skinny, etc., etc., might possibly be individuals at very beginning, but all of their free will is quickly overridden by the singular desire for the male main character. These women, working tirelessly towards a single, collective end, seem like characters out of some of our scariest movies: zombies, cult members, victims of electronic brain implants, and other groups of people who have lost the ability to think for themselves. In one ad, the man applies the spray and turns into chocolate, and as he walks around town women literally cannibalize him, taking large bites of his various body parts. In another ad hordes of women stampede through the landscape, bikini-clad and barefoot, all converging on one man who, of course, smells of Axe. As with most of their ads, it seems more likely that the women will rip his arms off than have sex with him, so out of control is their desire.

These terrifying ads are made to appear silly – that’s what makes them insidious. Most viewers will watch, maybe chuckle, turn the channel, and allow the positive associations with the Axe brand sink in. When women object, saying that these ads depict women as brainless sex objects, we’re written off as just more feminists with no sense of humor.

We’re not laughing because it’s not funny. These advertisements support rape culture in two main ways. While the ending is never shown, it is always left to the viewer to assume that the woman/women have sex with the man. That the women were supposedly under the influence of this magical Axe scent and therefore were never able to consent to sex is of no concern. All that matters is that men who, it is strongly insinuated, normally have no chance of getting laid, have some hot sex with some hot women. Additionally, the ads poke fun at the very concept of women raping men. Sure, says the commercial, the women assault the men, but what kind of man would turn down having sex with a hot woman, no matter what the conditions? (Answer: not the kind we’re ok with)

It’s nothing new that there’s a sexist advertising campaign going on. It’s not even new that there’s an egregiously, disgustingly sexist ad campaign going on. What’s different about Axe and similar ad campaigns, what makes it absolutely essential that American society reject them, is that the sexism is blatant and unapologetic. The goal of these campaigns, just beneath selling the product, is selling sexism. They are about men claiming what is rightfully theirs, and in Axe’s case, this means women, specifically sex with women.

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