Gag-inducing man-spray Axe is fighting back at Old Spice’s recent buzzed about, equestrian-themed campaign with this billboard that says “Axe is for men who’d rather be with a woman than on a horse.”
Does this mean if I spray Axe and Old Spice on I can ride a horse with a woman? Or perhaps a centauride?
[yfrog]
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I didn’t realize that axe was a de-odorant
Yeah, I’m pretty sure it’s an odorant, too.
I know; I thought it was a douchebag force field.
It’s a gag-reflex tester, which I guess could come in handy.
But my horse is amazing.
oh sweet lemondae
Give it a lick
oooh it tastes like craisins
I needed that lolz.
And that will be stuck in my head the rest of the day. Thank you for that.
I read that as “Axe is for men who’d rather be ON a woman than on a horse.”, and thought “Wow, way to work blue, Axe”. This version isn’t half as entertaining.
Beat me to it
You know they really wanted to…
Old Spice ads are quirky and amusibgly flirty. This one is sleazy. Doesn’t make me want to buy it for the bf.
Make that amusingly… I really suck at typing on a virtual keyboard.
One of the things Old Spice understood was that women are important to the demographic. It’s a men’s product, but guess who does most of the grocery shopping? Probably women. And if you offend women and objectify them, guess who is going to rethink buying your product? We bought Old Spice products before these ads and now we’re definitely brand loyal. Old Spice didn’t treat women like pieces of meat to be chased.
True, but if I use something, and I like it, my wife is going to buy it for me until we find something better, not that we often look for better when we find something we like.
Which is funny, since the Old Spice campaign objectifies men.
It’s funny you say that. When men get objectified, consider how they’re portrayed and perceived. They are not meant to draw the female gaze in the same way women in ads are meant to draw the male gaze. Men in ads are meant to be strong, attractive but in an aloof, masculine way that keeps women in their place. How often do you see shirtless male models from the back or side, or with their arms crossed and stern expressions on their faces? The body language is completely different. Women in ads are posed so that they’re inviting and open, that their bodies hide nothing their expressions are coy, seductive or simpering. Think about it.
Um, my wife may do the shopping some of the time but she’d never buy me a different brand of deodorant just because she didn’t like my brand’s advertisements. Just like I wouldn’t consider buying her a different brand shampoo or soap. She may consider and ask me because of price differences but never because of an ad.
In the case of Axe, I find the commercials to be sleazy and degrading. Why should I give my money to a brand that promotes an image of women I disagree with? Commercials are meant to get people to buy the product. If the commercials reflect negatively on the product, why should I still buy the product?
Coincidentally, your description of Axe would also apply to most of its users.
AXE = Douchebag spray. When I was in college in 2000, every guy in my dorm had that crap. Each guy that had it also read Maxim. Who also wore A&F. I’m pretty sure the same thing can said for AXE users today. I’m glad I got the hell out of the dorms when I did.
I was glad people couldn’t smell me from a mile away.
Would have been better if the sign said “on a woman.” And it would have fit better with Axe’s douchebag target demographic. Also, what a retarded ad campaign…
This reminds me…who buys Axe? Who actually likes Axe?
i know. i’m female but old spice high endurance deodorant actually works better for me. and i can stand the fragrances it comes in if i can’t find it in unscented.
i’d much rather smell like old spice than smell like a 14 yr old boy
Teenage boys. According to a friend his boys used something like a can a week.
Ugh…I dated a guy who used Axe. He was 33 years old, but possessed the emotional maturity of a teenager.
“Bros” like it. As in the type of douchebags who wind-up having to say, “Don’t tase me, bro!” because they’re engaging in some sort of douchebaggery. Axe body spray is apparently also implicated in “bro rape”. http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=3zvTRQr7ns8
Nearly ever boy 13 to 17 wears the crap. As soon as college years begin, it then turns into an effective douche detector. The “bros” who stand outside of my hall (I live with 4 sororities) always smell like it.
AXE: The Smell of Puberty
At least they didn’t use “with” as the predominant preposition.
Are you trying to illustrate the difference between a grammar guru and a grammar terrorist?
I believe there is a fine line between the two. One test is to measure the increase in blood pressure when the person reads the following sentence:
“That begs the question, is there many unique solutions to helping a horse in taking it’s reign?”
I use Axe at the gym and ONLY at the gym. I find thats where I’m at my stinkiest and $5 for a bottle ain’t bad.
Trust me, the Axe makes you stinkier
(
I’ve heard that taking showers after you exercise can help with the stink, too, and clean water doesn’t smell anything at all like Axe.
I use the shower after the gym to get the Axe off.
But you guys may be right the the Axe is worse than the me.
I promise no one at the gym appreciates that.
Showers at gyms are usually free. And you smell better afterward.
I’m betting it originally read “On” instead of “With”, but some bean counter said “that’s way too racy”. It just doesn’t work very well as-is though.
if it were up to bean counters, there would be no advertizing
Dude, Old Spice has backing from Grover and Sesame Street. No contest.
Axe wishes it was as clever as Old Spice.
I always thought Axe made you smell like a woman. Or rather, a female tween who’s just discovered Grandma’s perfume drawer.
Look at emo Axe dude. Look at Isaiah Mustafa. Case closed.
+100
This FTW!
Lovely, :-]
Men. Look in a mirror, now at Isaiah Mustafa. Are you Isaiah Mustafa? No! And as long as you use Axe products you never will be.
This billboard is a false dilemma.
See my horse? – look over there – now look back – my horse is now a woman – look at her toes – now at her face – she’s wearing diamonds – look at the mountains – now look at your feet – you’re standing in midair – can you fly? – no you can’t, goodbye……….
FAIL. The day the geniuses behind Axe figure out that there’s a bigger market share to be had by selling to women, rather than selling an impossible image of women to adolescent guys, is the day they actually get somewhere.
Of course, even if that day arrives, Axe will still stink and Old Spice will still have Isaiah Mustafa.
THIS
They’re just taking the usual “if you buy this, women will find you irresistible and become incredibly horny” message of most ads, and stating it more explicitly, just shy of literally.
Old Spice may have Mustafa, but it still stinks.
Axe stinks, too.
Common denominator = stink. No commercial campaign can overcome that.
For those who wish to object that one or the other product does not stink, I can only say that I am sorry that you have burned out your olfactory organ with cheap, stinky colognes and deodorant.
canada’s #1 men’s deodorant… I have nothing against canada but… I like bacon better than ham…
I never understood where your Americans came up with “Canadian Bacon”. In Canada, bacon is bacon: strips of fatty pig. The stuff you call “Canadian Bacon” is ham.
Americans have a lot of things like that…
ham = leg
bacon = belly
canadian bacon = loin
irish bacon = loin
“Spice on I can ride a horse with a woman? ” – :thumbsup:
“Or perhaps a centauride?” – not sure if there’s a ‘smiley’ that fits my expression here.
But Old Spice has tickets to that thing I like.
Boy I really hate Axe. Juvenile ads (that’s being generous) and just all around poor product
It does however always remind me of a time in high school a few years ago. 12th grade, earth sciences or something. One of the loose girls, you know the one, always parading about and looking generally sticky and gross. Made a comment at the end of class that she smelled some Axe body spray and liked it. At at moment one of the super nerdy kids, you know the one, never talks to anyone unless he’s correcting them, not even the teachers like them. Almost jumps up, very enthusiastically claiming it was him.
It was almost like he was expecting her to jump on and start raping him because of it. The whole class started laughing. I felt amused and very very sorry for him at the same time.
Aaaaaaaaaaaaand I’m old.
An ad campaign that tries to boost its sales by attacking a popular rival campaign is the equivalent of that kid on the playground that repeats everything you say in a mocking tone just to annoy you.
So’s your face!
Hehe.
There goes their contract supplying the RCMP
“Gag-inducing man-spray Axe”
This is what I was trying to explain in the Apple thread the other day. There will never be an article here that is devoid of all negativity, even if it is unwarranted and unrelated to the topic of the article.
There will never be an article here that is devoid of all negativity
The short ones are. So are the morning deals and PSAs.
It was a slight exaggeration. The point is that the senseless negativity isn’t just directed at companies like Apple. Consumerist editors hate all corporations simply because they’re corporations.
Axe actually does smell really bad. The set of people that like it is quite tiny. So, I fail to see that kind of “negativity” as pointless.
First, “gag-inducing man-spray” took me somewhere else entirely.
Second: Psst! Axe! Over here! See, women can see your ads, too. It was sorta funny way back when Axe first came out, but now the constant “Our spray turns every hot chick (and ONLY hot chicks) into a crazed sex-bot” is just insulting and tacky. Yeah, sex sells, but sex (even pretty women) can be used to sell to both men and women. You can’t put out ads that women are clearly going to get sick of and ultimately be offended by, and still claim the product will attract women. It’s gotten to the point now that all a girl has to do is catch a whiff of Axe on the breeze and she’ll be reaching for her rape-whistle.
Old Spice did it right- they got a hot guy + humor + impressive execution, and it all = awesome. Women want Isaiah Mustafa, so men want to be him. Techy and artsy types have their own field day with how the whole thing was pulled off, which gets tons of word-of-mouth and free advertising. It was genuinely humorous without being too blue or too juvenile, so everyone laughs, it’s a good time, and people associate Old Spice with awesome good times.
Now, Axe just proved how moronic they are. If a dude wants a woman, he’s gotta smell like something a woman wants. A woman doesn’t want the guy who smells like desperation and sleaze.
Sex sells, but it’s a fine line between sexy and trashy. The trick is just a *little* subtlety goes a long way.
How did that end up as a reply? Wasn’t supposed to be.
Oh, interestingly, Old Spice has been a fav scent of mine since I was 12. I even sometimes spritz a little on a pillow or blanket. So, Old Spice is not only coming off as more likable, but actually would get a reaction from me that more closely matches an Axe commercial. Axe smells like chemical warfare, so that just makes me head for an exit or at least crack a window.
Sounds like you need to head on over to AlwaysHappyPositiveStories.com!
Maybe Consumerist will stop being negative about something about the same time you’re able to make a comment that doesn’t put down either the Consumerist or the OP/consumer/victim in a Consumerist story. I’m not holding my breath waiting for that to happen.
This was a bad move. Better to let the far superior advertising concept for your competitor fade quietly rather than reference it.
Old Spice smells better, and has done so since way before it was cool.
This is pretty simple: I will never purchase an Axe product because of their advertising choices. I’m even starting to shy away from Unilever products altogether, partly due to them.
I did not realize that Axe was a Unilever product until you pointed it out. The same company that owns Dove owns Axe.
And what’s the first thing that comes up if you search for Unilever on YouTube?
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=SwDEF-w4rJk
Yep, pretty much.
Thanks for posting the link to that video. Ever since I learned that Unilever makes both Axe and Dove products, I can’t take the Dove ones seriously – I keep thinking about the message girls are exposed to from the Axe ads …
I once had a marketing professor who also worked for Unilever during the day in their marketing research dept. She didn’t like when I pointed out how it seemed hypocritical to market Dove with it’s “Real Beauty” campaign while also marketing AXE.with misogyny.
I didn’t stay in the MBA program past that semester.
I thought that read “for men who rather smell like a horse.” Because that’s what Ax makes you smell like. I’m trying to guess where exactly that billboard is–from the scenery around it, it’s near a bus platform at a Toronto subway station, but I’m stumped as to which one — and CBS Outdoor’s site is no help either in trying to figure this one out. Nonetheless, time to take another shower–the thought of Ax and their marketing campaigns make me feel dirty.
Axe: For those who wish they could be with a woman
Old Spice: For those who have a woman.
Old Spice is still Manlier!
What’s with the argument that Old Spice is appealing to the female demographic? Are there guys out there that really let their wife/girlfriend/S.O. buy their toiletry products for them? If so, please hand in your man card immediately.
I have a deodorant, if my wife bought me something different, it wouldn’t get used. Because it’s not my brand.
And to head off the cries of sexism, we split the shopping, and she’d feel the same way if I picked up something different for her.
When it comes to deodorant, I buy what works best for me.
If my woman buys me a cologne that I’m not averse to and enhances her inclination to peel my clothes off, you bet your ass I’ll wear it.
Why would a guy hand in his man card for making sure his sig. other didn’t gag every time they got close?
If my husband started using Axe I would toss that shit out immediately and get him something else. If he tried to argue that he wanted to smell like ass, he could argue all he wanted away form me. Probably in the back yard.
(Silly) men wear crap like Axe to attract and please women, not just smell good for themselves. If a man just wanted to not stink, he could use an anti-bacterial soap or Arm & Hammer or some neutral, perfume-free soap/deodorant/spray.
Old Spice seems to be appealing to women because it is not overwhelming and the ads are clever.
Women make the majority of decisions of what to buy in most households. But then again, you’re speshul.
Ugh. Just thinking about Axe gives me a headache.
The Old Spice ads are clever. Axe ads are annoying and douchey (as in douchebag-esque, not Summer’s Eve not-so-fresh-feelingy)
Invalid without Isaiah Mustafa.
Every comment in this thread is pure genius.
And Axe guaranteed that they will never be seen in my home (I do the shopping). I always hated their commercials, but they really crossed the line: you don’t mess with the Old Spice dude.
*rides out of the thread on a horse*
Axe isn’t deodorant. It’s perfume. Made by people clinically incapable of smelling anything.
They all stink. I want my man deodorized with unscented scent.
Blech, as a woman, I’d rather smell the horse.
This reminds me of 50 Cent’s response to Cee-lo Green’s “Fuck you.”
Completely not getting it.
A junior high student in a class my mother was teaching managed to puncture an axe bottle and release its entire contents unto the unsuspecting world. They closed down several classrooms with connected air supply for the remainder of the day due to nausea.
But Axe, well, reeks.
and the guy on the horse is hot.
Just sayin’
This reminds me of the old Camel cigarette ad: “Nine out of ten doctors prefer Camels”. Mad Magazine added: “The other would rather date a girl.”
*sniffles* I… actually wear axe. I happen to like the smell of phoenix (coincidentally, the one on that billboard) and after a day of lugging groceries and bags from my car to the dorm, trekking back (Why didn’t I park near the dorm and move the car when I was done? Because I was stupid, is why) and not smelling like a gym sock, I was rather impressed.
Of course the advertising is horrendous and a lot of the other smells are downright gag-inducing. I can’t deny that. If I find something that smells as good, i’ll switch…. in 2012 or whenever I run out of what I have (I misplaced an almost full stick and replaced it, then found it again)
In basic training, everyone used Axe.
Yeah, they used it for removing boot scuffs from the floor.
I hate axe too and I think these ads are a cheap shot.
I will give them props for the caveman commercial though. It was pretty funny; not that we would buy it based on the ads but the ads were good. Come to think of it, the tar and buffalo probably smelled better.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=mGXBlyOXweU
Good luck with that, Axe. “For the man who’d rather be with a woman without a nose”, I’m guessing. No woman I know would get near a guy wearing that stinky crap.
Dunno about this whole Axe/Old Spice nonsense, but I’ma go watch me some CBS!
I’d be embarrassed for a girl to know I was wearing axe body spray. I don’t want to smell like cheap.
I think it means: Use Axe and attract female horses.
“Does this mean if I spray Axe and Old Spice on I can ride a horse with a woman?”
No, but according to Axe mentality, you can ride a woman while on a horse.