Most commercials for deodorants you see today feature a guy walking out smelling daisy fresh, and skimpily dressed girls around him go into a frenzy. They might also include sisters-in-law—otherwise coy—but who suddenly develop affections for close relatives. What next – incest?
Audiences don’t need a jury to tell them why such ads are not just pure bunkum, but are downright offensive. Even to a majority of the guys, whose fantasies these ads purportedly claim to cater! How guys would wish it was so easy to woo a girl! Just spray on a Rs 150 deo, and play the pied piper to all the femme fatales in town. Whoever said fancy cars, fat bank balances and personality are important, can eat crow.
Alright, we know that sex is a powerful tool to sell products. Sprinkle a bit of humour, and it acquires an air of disarming sensuality.
Recall an old commercial for Axe – a scrawny guy and a girl are shown in a close-up, cheek-by-jowl, literally, appearing to be travelling in a crowded train. The camera pans out, and you see that the couple is all alone in the compartment. The sign-off: ‘The Axe Effect’. Nice and easy!
Compare it with the ads you see today. Bikini clad girls emerging from a dip in the ocean (copied frame-to-frame from a Brazilian ad), bhabhis or newly-wed girls turning naughty at the sight of the neighbourhood hunk… the ads seem to make such a desperate and crude attempt to sell the product. All the commercials seem to drop off a mould. Lately, even Axe seems to have fallen into the trap, and taken the easy way out. Whatever happened to USP and positioning!
I guess the creators of such communication (client + ad agency) should wake up and smell the coffee before they expect customers to try out and smell their ware.
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