The man your woman could smell like

Once upon a time, Old Spice ads were aimed at men. And just like most ads aimed directly at men, they focused on implying that using their product would attract hot women to you. Like this one. Models want to fuck a dude who smells like Old Spice, bro! Get you some! But thanks to a pioneering 2010 campaign, all that changed. I know you all remember this ad:

We never talked about this one on the old blog, and it's obvious why: everyone liked this ad, including us. It was huge! Very few brands keep 13-year-old commercials active on their official YouTube channels, but with 61 million views and counting, Old Spice knows this one has to be up there, even now. Looking back, you could argue that there's still some sexism at play here, particularly in the idea that a real man shouldn't "smell like a lady." I think this ad can mostly get away with it because of the overall archness of the tone, and anyway it was 2010; ads could have a little sexism, as a treat.

In any event, there's a gulf of difference between this ad and, let's just say, the Dr. Pepper Ten ad that clearly tried to ape this general aesthetic but just ended up playing the Goofus to Isaiah Mustafa's Gallant. This ad is pitched at women. It's right there in the copy: Hello, ladies! Are you unsatisfied that your man doesn't have a "manly smell" after bathing? Well, we have a product that will solve that! Frankly, by acknowledging women as purchasers of products other than, like, tampons and kitchen supplies, this campaign was way ahead of a lot of its competitors. Who is more likely to make the body wash purchasing decision for the household? And who is more likely to care what "their man" smells like? Yes, there's a whiff of sexism, but I think it can be forgiven in context. (By comparison, Dr. Pepper Ten told women to fuck right off and was rightly rewarded with low sales and eventual discontinuation just seven years after its launch, and if you think I'm not gonna take a lap on that one after getting flambéed in the comments of that post you've got another think coming.)

Interestingly, this modern Old Spice ad I saw recently seems to be continuing the pitch to women. But I feel like it's gotten a little jumbled:

Deon: "Admit it: you used my Old Spice body wash."
Gabrielle: "Of course... I'm not letting hotel soap near my skin."
La La: "Pray."
Deon: "Now I'm gonna be ashy."
La La: "It's the lavender and mint for me."
Savannah: "Get that-"
Deon: "Savannah, if you don't get your moisturized hands off my body wash..."

I think I've made it clear enough that I have no particular use for gender stereotypes, but this is still Old Spice we're talking about. Lavender, really? I mean, name me a LESS stereotypically male scent. The pitch has apparently shifted from "get our product so your man doesn't smell like a lady" to "actually you're gonna want your man to smell like a lady in case you need to steal his shit."

This series of ads has actually been running since 2019, I found out while researching this post, and the plot of basically all of them is the same: Gabrielle keeps using all of Deon's Old Spice products because they just smell so good and are also extremely effective moisturizers. This feels like the real signal that this campaign is targeting women, because it doesn't seem that appealing to tell a man "buy our product and your wife/girlfriend will keep using it all up." Ads where one person keeps getting their favorite product stolen from them are usually selling children's breakfast cereal, but it's not like Lucky Charms is trying to market itself to actual leprechauns.

The tagline, "Men have skin too," implies a probably overdue shift in thinking - it's okay for a man to have softer, healthier skin, rather than hands that could double as their own exfoliating gloves. To the extent that this ad is still aimed more at women, I guess the point is "this product will help your man have better skin and hey, it's so good even you could use it in a pinch!" Sort of reminds me of the old Secret deodorant "strong enough for a man, but made for a woman" tagline, only in reverse. "Moist enough for a woman, but made for a man!" To be fair, I can see why they didn't go with that one.

I do have to call bullshit on the entire setup of that ad, though. The premise is that Gabrielle Dennis' skin looks like that and you're telling me she doesn't travel with an entire trunk full of every possible moisturizing product? Okay.