Propaganda Use in Axe Shower Gel Advertisements

. Many companies use propaganda in their advertisement to lure or brainwash their customers into buying their product. The messages in most of the ads are designed in such a way that the audience may not realize the deception depicted with the majority falling into the trap by liking or value the advertised products. The reality of the messages lies underneath the ads and may not appear clear to the consumers. Axe shower gel uses crafted messages and picture in print to reach the customers (audience). However, in reality, the ad appeals to sexual desires and stereotype gender. The print media advertisement shows women as sexual objects and dirty. It hides the water conservation as the central message, yet it promotes sexual desires and actions. In this essay, we intend to analyses the Axe shower gel with the intention of identifying the propaganda use and the various concepts depicts.    

The Scent of a Man

It was 10 pm when Dave stepped out of the shower. He was going out to the bar by himself tonight, so it didn’t matter what time he was ready, plus nothing good ever happens before 11:30 anyway. Dave looks over the meager collection of colognes and aftershave inside of his bathroom mirror and starts to debate over whether to put on the old spice or the sex panther. After 30 seconds of heavy contemplation, he looks back to the shower at the new shower gel he picked up today and decided that it would be good enough. He throws some gel in his hair, trying hard to make it look like he did not try at all, slaps some deodorant on, gets dressed and heads out the door.

Several hours later, he wakes up in his bed alone, not remembering much of the night before. He hops out of bed and immediately kicks something. “Why is there a can of whipped cream in my room?” he wondered as he continued to the bathroom. Stacy stepped out as the as the door opened before he reached it. As she shyly stepped passed him, he looked at the shower gel and gave it a nod of approval. Stacy and Dave are not only the victims of advertisement. The company uses alluring messages in print, video and voice media to seduce many into believing that their products are superior. Millions of people throughout the world rely on such press to choose items to buy and use. The world of cosmetic is one that is significantly affected by deceptive and propagandist advertisements. The deception and misleading information have led many to believe that products are goods as shown in the ad. Axe shower gel advertisement uses propaganda and persuasion to lure many people into thinking it is superior in cleaning agent.

The company uses both female and male in the print ad to persuade both men and women to the consumer the gel. The ad shows a man bathing using the Axe gel and a woman squeezing cream on her body (”Ads of the World,” 2012). The advertisement shows a young man using less water with the gel while bathing. Besides, the man is a young and sexy female standing seductively. The is shown as enjoying the shower using the gel with a smooth body. Besides, the advertisement shows the man using the gel having as soothing sensation. Unilever has influenced many into buying the showering gel. However, the propaganda and deception behind the advertisement are more than the truth that it pretends to show. Consumers may not be able to note these deceptions due to the 

The print advertisement shows an attractive young model seductively standing as she presses cream on her body. The ad uses persuasion to move consumers to like the product. The ad aims to lure young men and women in their early twenties or late twenties to use the shower gel. The focus is to create sex appeal for both genders. The words the cleaner you are, the dirtier you get move men to buy the gel so that they can satisfy female (”Ads of the World,” 2012). Female consumers would also buy for their men or to make their men look better and attractive. The physically beautiful woman creates hallo effect by making men like the ad and gets attracted to the shower gel of the product. Associating the product with young and sexy female give the product stronger appearance in the eyes of young men. However, in reality, the ad is objectifying women and their sexuality by associating incredible feeling and sexiness with cream or grease. The nude and the woman pressing the cream on the body are entirely different things. However, because print media is promoting it makes consumers feel that any dirty they have including grease materials can be cleaned using the Axe shower gel.

 The advertisement also stereotypes the genders. It shows men as cleaning the cream using the shower gel while Women as being the source of dirt. The woman is shown in the ad as squeezing the cream into her body while on the other side of the advertisement, a man is using the Axe washing gel to clean. The intention is to improve the image of the gel by associating it with a young woman. However, in reality, the advertisement shows women as less valuable and cause of dirty and men as cleaner gender. The ad also indicates women as a sex object. The young man bathing beside the young nude female depicts that some sexual act resulted in the ”dirt” that can be cleaned using the Axe shower gel.

The ad also shows a man using the gel with less water in the shower. The company claim that the advertisement aims to help men to save water by bathing with a similarly minded friend or attractive stranger. It may seem to be genuinely designed to conserve water and promote eco-friendly. However, the hidden benefit is sex, and this lies under a thin a thin card cracking propaganda about water conservation (McClintock, 2009). The advertisement shows the man using less water with the shower gel. Besides, the fact that a young nude vibrant man and Young nude sexy female used close in the ad with one showing and the other showing bring the impression of sexual interaction. One can conclude that objective is to promote the idea of sexual acts among men and women and not conservation of water as alluded by the ad creators.

Axe shower gel advertisement uses propaganda and deceptive messages to persuade and lure people into believing it is superior to cleaning agent. The print ad aims to convince young males and females into buying the product. However, a keen look at the advertisement depicts propaganda such as transfer influence and card cracking to lures the consumer into purchasing the product. The propaganda is hidden, and most consumers cannot identify them. Similarly, most of the messages shown in the ad are aimed to persuade but the reality lies the propaganda used.

References

Ads of the World. (2012). Axe Print Advert Cream. Adsoftheworld.com. Retrieved 25 March 2018, from https://www.adsoftheworld.com/media/print/axe_cream

McClintock, A. (2009, October 28). Propaganda Techniques in Today’s Advertising. Retrieved from http://english098atcsn.blogspot.co.ke/2009/10/ann-McClintock-essay.html