Product: Axe Dark Temptation
Summary: A guy sprays on deodorant and is transformed into a chocolate man with a grinning Easter Bunny rictus. He breaks off and melts down parts of his body to feed a large number of attractive young ladies. In traditional Axe ad fashion, the last scene sees him walking in front of a glass-windowed gym as women, so overcome with choco-lust as to have forgotten the existence of doors, throw themselves against the glass to get near him. Then someone speeds past on a moped and snaps off his arm.
Themes: transubstantiation, cannibalism, black sexual potency, neoliberalism
See Also: Be Aggressive; The Burger King; Mandingo; Bewitched, Bothered, and Bewildered
I often feel uniquely terrified by advertising. Other people seem to be able to take these things in their stride; they do not suffer nightmares; they do not see the Burger King when they close their eyes. This ad in particular threw me for a loop--I quite enjoy Allen Toussaint's song, and when I heard it I looked up from my monitor excitedly only to see two women gnawing into the flesh of a brown man's face as he grins in that special clown/horror movie way. But I seem to be alone in my terror: other people either think it's "funny" or "bad" or "overly sexual".
Everyone wants to be desired. But body spray ads are a whole different kettle of fetish. Here, above and beyond the traditional threesome, the ultimate goal is to be drowned in a sea of female flesh* -- or in this case, consumed wholly by the lust of women. In ads where a woman has been made irresistable, men stop and stare, fixed in place. In Axe ads, the women hurl their bodies at the irresistable man like zombies. This has traditionally been the end of the ad, but here we see the logical conclusion: the Maenads rip him to pieces and consume him. To me, with my simple lady brain, this is something I fear. It is fearful. But apparently it's a desirable enough outcome to sell chocolate cologne.
*I say "flesh" but the more accurate term is of course "stick insects"
Sunday, September 28, 2008
The Sweet Touch of Love
Product: Axe Dark Temptation
Summary: A guy sprays on deodorant and is transformed into a chocolate man with a grinning Easter Bunny rictus. He breaks off and melts down parts of his body to feed a large number of attractive young ladies. In traditional Axe ad fashion, the last scene sees him walking in front of a glass-windowed gym as women, so overcome with choco-lust as to have forgotten the existence of doors, throw themselves against the glass to get near him. Then someone speeds past on a moped and snaps off his arm.
Themes: transubstantiation, cannibalism, black sexual potency, neoliberalism
See Also: Be Aggressive; The Burger King; Mandingo; Bewitched, Bothered, and Bewildered
I often feel uniquely terrified by advertising. Other people seem to be able to take these things in their stride; they do not suffer nightmares; they do not see the Burger King when they close their eyes. This ad in particular threw me for a loop--I quite enjoy Allen Toussaint's song, and when I heard it I looked up from my monitor excitedly only to see two women gnawing into the flesh of a brown man's face as he grins in that special clown/horror movie way. But I seem to be alone in my terror: other people either think it's "funny" or "bad" or "overly sexual".
Everyone wants to be desired. But body spray ads are a whole different kettle of fetish. Here, above and beyond the traditional threesome, the ultimate goal is to be drowned in a sea of female flesh* -- or in this case, consumed wholly by the lust of women. In ads where a woman has been made irresistable, men stop and stare, fixed in place. In Axe ads, the women hurl their bodies at the irresistable man like zombies. This has traditionally been the end of the ad, but here we see the logical conclusion: the Maenads rip him to pieces and consume him. To me, with my simple lady brain, this is something I fear. It is fearful. But apparently it's a desirable enough outcome to sell chocolate cologne.
*I say "flesh" but the more accurate term is of course "stick insects"
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