Old Spice Commercial Analysis
Our society has
turned into a constant cycle of marketing and consumerism. Every day we are
tempted by advertisers to buy products. These products are displayed to us in
such a way which makes them seem irresistible, constructing an idea in the
consumer that they need that product or lifestyle to be happy. Advertisers
usually promote their products with the intention that the consumer will look
at the advertisement a certain way which will it turn lead to sales of the
product.
In
the popular Old Spice commercials,
men are being advertised to in a way that makes it seem as though the company
is advertising to women. The actor is a tall, dark, and handsome man, who is
directly talking to women, and indirectly advertising to men. Through the
commercial, the advertisers use text, cinematography and symbols to create an
ideological situation for men and women if Old
Spice is used.
The
man is always centered in the frame, and never breaks eye contact. The whole
commercial is a comical switching of scenery and magical solidification of
random objects in a quick 3 “scene” sequence. The camera never makes a cut and
is one seamless sequence. This appeals to women because it subconsciously looks
as if the man is giving you his “undivided” attention through the absence of
cuts or breaking of eye contact.
The
first sequence opens on a man who only clothed in a towel in his bathroom. He
immediately commands the “ladies” (audience) to “look at their man” and compare
their men to him. This immediately puts the actor in a place of power over the
women because the is telling them to do something. He goes on to say that if
the women’s men stopped using “ladies scented body-wash” they could smell like
him. This is saying that smelling “lady-like” is a negative thing and should be
changed in order for the men to gain more sex appeal and respect from their
partners.
Again
the actor commands the “ladies” to look away and back at him, and then the
scene then switches to the man being on a boat. The boat looks as though it’s
on a calm, possibly tropical ocean. In the man’s hand suddenly appears an
oyster in which has two tickets “to that think you love”, the tickets then the
tickets dissolve into diamonds. This scene is chock full of symbolism which is
meant to get the consumer to buy their product based on the desire to be like,
or have their man be like the actor. First off, the man is on a boat. Everyone knows
that to have a luxury yacht/boat, one must have a large amount of disposable
income and time. Boats are very often symbolic of wealth, leisure and luxury;
so to have the actor relaxing on a boat in the middle of a tropical ocean
infers that the man has money and free time to spend with his partner. This,
for obvious reasons is very appealing to most women. The tickets to “that thing
you love” show that the man knows what makes women happy. However, he doesn’t
remember what that “thing” is. This hits more with men than women because men
often take enjoyment in the same live entertainment that their partners do, but
go because their partner wants to go. The last part of this sequence is when
the tickets turn to diamonds. Diamonds are known to be “a girls best friend”
and are considered the most precious of gemstones. All of these symbols (boat,
tickets, diamonds) symbolize the fact that this man has money and can provide material
things for his woman. This is seen as a manly trait, and the fact that he uses
Old Spice is supposed to make him ‘more of a man’. This also in a way
represents women as only interested in material goods, and nothing emotional or
mental.
The
final transition occurs when the man is no longer on a boat but instead sitting
on top of a white horse on a beach. His last line (coming from the scene with
the diamonds) is “anything is possible when your man smells like old spice and
not a lady”. The text then comes on the screen saying, “smell like a man,
man”. The line the actor says about how
“anything is possible” is very loaded. I would say that if the line was simply
“anything s possible when your man smells like Old Spice” it would make for a
clever, mainly normal fragrance commercial. However, the end of that line has a
very laden message. When one adds “and not like a lady” it gives the impression
that women cannot achieve the same wealth and luxury that a man can. If we are
meant to critique this commercial, I would argue that Old Spice is insinuating
that women need a man to buy them expensive things, and that they can’t do it
themselves since “anything is possible when you don’t smell like a lady”. The
white horse that the man is sitting on at the end is representative of a
woman’s “prince charming”. The fact also
that he is sitting with a huge horse between his legs could also be insinuating
another “manly” trait…He is their saving grace to help whip their men into
shape so that they start smelling, acting, and delivering like the actor in the
commercial. The white can also represent he cleanliness that Old Spice body
wash will give their men.
The
product itself is in a red bottle with black, silver, and gray writing. This
color combination is often seen in men’s product packaging because the colors
all represent power and manliness. The entire commercial strives to get women
into thinking their men are inadequate, and if they buy this for their partners
they will benefit from wealth and ease. Similarly,
men will think that they will be wealthy and attractive to their women f they
use this product. True, the commercial is quite funny because of the way its
shot and the assumptions made about both genders, but if looked at from a
feminist point of view points women in a negative light. The company means to
idealize a life style of wealth and glamour and manliness, and aims to make the
consumer desire the things that are being shown on screen. If one were to look
at the whole commercial in still-frames, it would probably resemble a print ad
for 80% of this commercial because of the product placement, and general vibe
given off my the actor and scenery.
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