There's something odd I've been meaning to bring up. I think at this point we all know about Axe products, right? Male perfume, deodorant, and shower products sold with the specific claim that it makes men irresistible to women.
I'm hardly the most ardent feminist out there. I imagine many would question whether I even qualify for the term. But still, come on, commercials that show people spraying on a certain brand of perfume and then having women seemingly drawn in against their will, acting like mindless animals that can't resist the scent? This is not a positive image to present. Again and again, the message is presented as "use our male perfume and pick up chicks".
I've since met a whole bunch of Axe wearers. I always figured that Axe would be used mostly by sad, pathetic teenagers in a desperate attempt to get some action. Well apparently that stereotype doesn't work. Some people just like the smell of their shampoo or shower gel. So I kind of had to get over the image presented by the advertisements. Odd that.
So this brings me to the point of this little tale. When I found myself taking a shower in a house occupied by two gay guys, I almost laughed out loud when I saw several Axe products in the shower. Yep, right there on the bottle was the picture depicting a silhouette of a man with the outline of a woman running her hands through his hair. The bottles were covered in that offensively stupid marketing message, and they were being used by two guys who had no desire to have women sucked onto their bodies as if by a force beyond their control.
So maybe this is obvious. Maybe it shouldn't be a surprise to me that gay guys can enjoy the same scents that straight people do. I've since run into the concept of gender neutral scents, and why not? Part of the important message of the whole GLBT revolution is that there isn't just one thing guys like and one thing women like. It probably makes sense that it seems like it's more popular with young people in general than sad, pathetic straight guys looking to pick up women for sex.
But anyway, there's something I'd like to see the makers of Axe do. I'd really like to see them get away from the whole "it makes women want your body" thing. But if they're not ready to go there yet, if they don't really see a way to transition to a message that's more like "Axe, it makes you smell nice and people might enjoy that", then... I'd love to see them make a gay commercial.
And I mean a gay equivalent of their usual commercials. A guy sprays on their stuff and then other men are just flung towards him as if he'd just become a penis magnet. Have fun with it, make it gloriously silly. I feel like it would go some distance to rehabilitating their brand name a little bit.
Okay, so I see the obvious problem there. Among the sad, pathetic teenager market at least that could be catastrophic. Some people probably would seriously fear that they'd be having to fight off gay men with a stick if they used it. But that's kind of my point.
I've met a lot of people who seem to like Axe products. And it's not like the stuff makes them smell terrible, I've realized I like some of their scents. But for the love of god, can they do something about the whole "it controls the minds of women and turns them into weak willed sex slaves" message? A gay equivalent commercial could be an interesting first step in transitioning their message. A bold one, to be sure, but, well, they're not exactly known at this point for subtlety. And it could provide a decent starting point to start moving to a message that's more like "Axe, a sexy scent for sexy people" or something similar. I'm not saying that's a revolutionary message, but it's got to be better than "Axe, it dominates the wills of women and makes them your plaything".
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