SHE SURE LOVES THOSE SOCKS

American Apparel advertisements are known for having photography with more of an artistic sense rather than the typical fashion photography you'd usually see while flipping through any magazine in particular. They'll have the models standing by random objects, bending in weird positions, and doing awkward things to grab the viewer's attention. But if you'd ask people what was the first thing they thought of when the advertisements came to mind, most would probably say that they are very, very provocative. Many of the ads containing acts of nudity some would say is borderline pornographic. Even though not much is revealed in the ads in mainstream magazines, the shocking ads can easily be come across while surfing the web on more independently owned sites or art magazines. They don't make it hard for the viewer to get what they want. But isn't that the company's motive? To somehow get out the word to the customer how daring they can get? To show customers how unique their clothes are to get them to purchase the material?

   The advertisement to your left is obviously one that would create desire for many people. It shows a beautiful young woman who is completely naked besides for her socks and underwear. It is commonly known throughout the world of marketing that sex sells. Our society loves scandalous and dramatic things to involve themselves with. We want to be brought away from the typical life we live. The woman in the advertisement is giving off this mysterious aura. The looks on her face is telling me that she is hiding some sort of guilty pleasure as she grips her knee-high socks. Her stomach and breasts are hidden, the message is hidden. It begs the viewer to venture on. In the bottom right corner of the ad, it says her name is Laura Pheonix. Actor, director, "look her up." Not only are they selling the socks, but her name and body as well. The three smaller pictures on the left show three different shots taken close up to her face. She is biting her lip, with her eyes closed, gasping for breath, etc. It is clear that she is involved in some sort of sexual activity and the socks are making the experience that much better.

   The advertisement says, "safe to say she loves her socks." which is clearly trying to get the viewer to say, "if I buy these socks, I'll have good sex too." Even though it sounds kind of ridiculous, people will often fall for it. American Apparel ads many of the time show the model wearing only one or two articles of clothing from the store, baring the rest of their body nude. Some ads showing a group of models where maybe even a few of them are completely naked. Many people probably wonder why they do this and why they don't dress the models in full outfit to show how the different articles of clothing can be mixed and match. This is their trademark. They want to boldly express one thing to show how amazing it is. They want to explain to the audience that their clothes are just that comfortable and unique. That you can just walk around in a pair of underwear, or socks, and not want to take them off. Even when you're having sex. The advertisement on your right is another example of one of their provocative ads. It shows a woman only in leggings, bent over, and covering her breasts with her hands. She could easily have face her back to the camera and turned her head but that's obviously not what they wanted.

   To sell sex and clothing combined is the company's motive and they'll get as risqué as they can to prove a point, right? It's been done for many other companies such Abercrombie & Fitch and it obviously works because they've been doing it for years and years. The reason they make ads that mainly "tease" the viewer are so that the viewer will buy the product and find out what will happen for themselves. It's the hidden message they leave up to the audience that drives them crazy. The funny things about these advertisements containing nudity are that these companies have become some of the most popular. Could this be a pattern or just purely coincidence?

Light & Luscious

The tobacco industry is one of the largest industries in our society. Camel cigarettes is one of the most popular brand of cigarettes on the market, offering over 30 different cigarette designs and flavors. Although Camel has all these flavors, their target audience is focused primarily at the male gender. In order for them to continue to captivate their consumers and broaden their market, they designed a type of cigarette that is aiming at the other half of the tobacco consumers. Through the uses of a specific color scheme and marketing placement they have devised the perfect way to attract their costumers. The new Camel No. 9 offer a “light & luscious” taste, all wrapped up in two perfect little packages, waiting to be bought and shown off by the ladies.

Camel’s standard marketing techniques are aimed at a very specific audience of the male gender. For many years the mascot for the Camel brand was a camel name Joe Camel. Even when the mascot of Joe Camel was used he still represented this man’s man figure. This is a poor choice for such a strong industry, considering the fact that about half of all smokers are female. This ad is a change from the companies standards because its specifically targeting females. In doing this it hopes to pursued women into buying this new brand of cigarettes. It reaches its consumers through ad placement. This ad is mostly found in a magazine like Cosmopolitan, Glamour, or Vogue rather than in Men’s Health or GQ. These are all magazines that target woman, but although this ad is meant for all woman it does have a main focus on younger woman. Tobacco companies need to focus their campaigns and make logical choice because of the fact that consumers die off and others manager to quit. Not only are they loosing consumers but also because their is no longer television commercials to reach audiences (the last commercial airing in 1971 for Virginia Slims), they have to put detail into every design and explore other marketing techniques. The design of the ad is the key to targeting its female audience, to beat out the brands like Virginia Slims and Misty which focus is primarily on woman.

Through movie, television shows, magazine ads, or any other form of advertisement throughout history until recent years has glorified smoking. This is how they lure in their consumers. They are not just trying to sell a cancer stick but the way of living. The main character in movies or television would normally smoke a cigarette, by having an idolized figure smoking it makes people want to smoke as well. The majority of teenagers started smoking because they thought it was the “cool” thing to do. The media made it seem as though everyone else was doing it so to fit in they had to as well. The Marlboro Man is an iconic figure, a cowboy out on his own doing what he wants when he wants. It gives this sense of individuality, that you can become your own person if you smoke these cigarettes. Although that is what ads like this promote, what you really accomplish by buying into these products is the exact opposite. You are becoming part of the consumer society becoming just like everyone else.


This ad stands out as being very feminine to reflect the packaging of the cigarettes. The ad uses subtle choices in color use to attract the attention of its consumer. The packaging of the cigarettes uses a hot-pink fuchsia and a mint-green blue lining and text on its black case for each of its two different flavors. These bright fancy colors attract the attention of females because the idea that “pink is the new black.” These colors reflect the colors that young woman find appealing in clothing and other products so by using these colors to show case their product it makes it as though the cigarette case is an accessory to a woman’s outfit. Designing a packaging like this makes picking out a package of cigarette more than just the brand and the type of cigarette you are choosing but the style. The ad also has elegant backdrop with a pink boarder the same color as the pink in the cigarette package. The cigarette packs are surrounded by pink flowers another symbolism of feminism. These cigarettes have a tag line describing their flavor as “light and luscious.” The diction in this phrase is also aimed at woman. In our society there are several food products that are describe as “light.” By using the word “light” it is as if smoking these cigarettes are better for you to smoke than most other brands. The word “luscious” makes it seems as though these cigarettes are full of rich flavor. This also adds a sense of class to the cigarettes, in a sense it represents wealth all in the brand of cigarettes you smoke. As if a pack of cigarettes had the same representation as diamonds do.

Lung cancer next to heart disease is the leading cause of death for women. A woman has a greater chance of getting lung cancer than she does breast cancer. With lung cancer affect men and woman of all shape and size, the tobacco industry has dealt with some scrutiny over their marketing techniques and placing blame on the companies for misinforming their consumers the dangers of smoking which lead to the requirement of placing a surgeon general’s warning on ever package. In this ad even the warning is aimed at woman. It warns of the dangers of pregnant women smoking and the dangers it could cause to the baby. This ad has down to the last detail woman in mind as its consumer.

Every aspect of the ad from its placement, design, and even the Surgeon General’s Warning is speaking to the other half of the cigarette smokers that Camel otherwise has disregarded. Its hard to deny that Camel No. 9 cigarettes are specifically designed to lure in the female tobacco consumer. It’s feminine design through its color scheme of light bright colors and use of the feminine symbolic figure of flowers surrounding the packages clearly mark these products to be property of women. The “light & luscious” tag line offers a specific appeal to a classy woman. The elegance in the design and marketing of these cigarettes makes them appear to be the perfect cigarette for a lady, making her stand out from the crowd.

Zachery Holder
Laura Bennett

Expensive Taste=uniqueness

The author Norman Douglas once said, “You can tell the ideals of a nation by its advertisements.” A significant ideal of American culture has always been the idea of social mobility. America was founded on the idea that a person can rise beyond the circumstances of their birth and reach the highest levels of society. Advertisements of the twenty-first century often reinforce this age-old idea. I have chosen a Venus Jewelry ad for my primary analysis. The ad features a young woman emerging from a pool at what appears to be a palatial resort, being attended to by three servants. It comes from the Venus Jewelry website, whose catchphrase is “Bring out the goddess in you.” This ad is a visual reference to a well-known piece of art, a practice which is becoming more and more common in modern advertising. Many modern advertisements appropriate classic art forms in order to create a desire for wealth and social mobility.
This ad is a visual reference to Boticelli’s “Birth of Venus” (1486). Thus, the ad appropriates the classic image of Venus rising out of the sea and replaces it with a model coming out of a pool. The original painting featured cherubs hovering in midair clothing the naked goddess as she rode out of the ocean. In this ad, the cherubs have been replaced by a pool boy with a towel and a waiter and waitress bearing fruit and drinks. Though not simply a mechanical reproduction of the original painting, this ad still appropriates the overall aesthetic of the painting to convey its message, relying on the aura of the original to create desire within the ad.
Though the ultimate goal of the ad is to sell jewelry, the ad creates a strong desire for class and taste by associating Venus Jewelry with Boticelli’s world-renowned painting. Seminal artworks like “Birth of Venus” are most often associated with the upper echelons of the art world, a world of wealth, taste, and superiority. Thus, the ad is equating Venus Jewelry with not only Botticelli’s painting but with the art world and all of the upper-crust prestige that comes with it. This allows the ad to portray the desire of lower and middle class people to rise to the upper class. But not just the upper class, the highest level of the upper class. Someone with such a personal connection to such an important Botticelli painting would clearly represent the greatest level of culture. Since time immemorial, less “cultured” people have aspired to the top rung of society. It has always been a profoundly American ideal that, no matter who you are, you can leave behind a meagre upbringing and become a beacon of social superiority. This ad leads you to believe that all that is required to reach the top of the social mountain, all you need to do is buy Venus Jewelry.
Appropriating art works into advertisements has become increasingly popular in the twenty-first century. In my second ad, Dolce and Gabbana has dressed a group of models in what appears to be eighteenth century clothing and arranged them in a garden scene. The artistic appropriation of this ad does not come from a specific work of art, but rather from a general group of works. This ad is aesthetically very similar to the innumerable garden scenes and portraits painted in the late seventeenth century to the early nineteenth century.
Just like the previous ad, this ad relies on the aural power of the works of art from which it draws inspiration to create desire. Portraits from the time period this ad represents were essentially the domain of the upper class. Only someone of wealth and importance could afford to have a portrait commissioned. Thus, Dolce and Gabbana is implying in this ad that by wearing their clothing, you will be a person of wealth and importance. Therefore the ad also creates a desire for social mobility. The ad tells us that if we buy Dolce and Gabbana, we have the chance to rise beyond our current social status.
Advertisements in the twenty-first century often appropriate classic art forms to establish desires for social mobility and wealth. Such desires have been the driving force behind consumerism since advertising was invented. Advertisers know exactly how to play up people’s fears and insecurities regarding class issues to keep the money piling up for their clients. It is highly unlikely that the average consumer will break this trend any time soon.

Joseph Otterson
TA: Laura Bennett

Canadian Club Whiskey

The ad I have selected is from a Rolling Stone magazine, and it advertises Canadian Club Whisky. The ad is made out to look very authentic and retro with its grainy pictures and the sort of plain colored text that accompanies it. The photos show fathers in a rock and roll lifestyle. There is an old photo that takes up most of the space on the ad, and it shows a band with the father performing on stage in a suit. Underneath the picture is the text that speaks directly to the reader. To summarize, it says, “Your dad drank Canadian Club Whisky”. Underneath these texts are more old photos of bands and fathers. I think this ad is trying to sell its product by saying that you should follow your dad’s lifestyle, and you can do that by drinking his choice of drink; Canadian Club Whiskey.

The ad is using the technique of speaking to “you” directly. So these pictures of dad’s in a band are supposed to be your father. The pictures and text show the type of lifestyle that your dad had. He was in a rock and roll band, and he “had groupies”. He played solos, and when he drank, he drank Canadian Club on the rocks. The lower left picture shows a dad passed out on a girls lap. That picture suggests drinking and sex, two prominent lifestyles of a rock and roll lifestyle. The picture to the right of that shows a band dressed in hippie clothing with long hair. This gives a whole other feel to that rock and roll lifestyle we all know compared to the big picture at the top. All of these pictures are trying to portray how your dad lived in his generation, and to accompany the lifestyle; his choice of drink was always Canadian Club.
The text’s and fonts in this ad say a lot about the point they are trying to get across. I think they are going for that rugged, traditional manly lifestyle. By saying “He drank cocktails. But not in martini glasses,” they are saying your dad was not a wimp. They say “Damn right your dad drank it” to tell it like there is no doubt about it your father was a hard whiskey drinker. Your father was very popular and sophisticated. “People paid to see him”. The choice to put the text “Canadian Club” in cursive gives the product a classical look to it and suggests that high-class people drink this drink.
The desire being created through this ad is the want to be like your father was. They first do this visually through identifying the type of lifestyle your father had as I explained earlier. This also has an aural sense to it because the period your father lived in while being a rock star relates to this choice of drink giving it traditional value. They use this father son connection to try and evoke a certain stylistic expression that accompanies people who drink this product. If you drink this product, you will, in a sense, live like your father did. You may not become a rock star, but the closest way to follow your father’s lifestyle is by drinking Canadian Club Whiskey.

Another ad by Canadian Club Whiskey uses essentially the same techniques as the first ad for selling its product. However, this ad gives the father a more rugged manly look. The old grainy picture at the top shows the father playing a game of billiards. “He didn’t wheel his luggage, drive an automatic, or drink anything rimmed with sugar.” This text is saying that the father never takes the easy road in life, and to accompany this rugged sophisticated lifestyle of his, he drinks his Canadian Club Whiskey. Both of these ads are using the same techniques to sell their product, but just in slightly different contexts. They are both trying to get you to follow your dad’s lifestyle by drinking this whiskey, but they are just changing the lifestyle that your father has. In one ad, the father is a rock star, in the other he is a rugged, simple, yet sophisticated man.

When a boy grows up, his dad is a big role model to him. He will watch him fix something in the garage with power tools and do all things that give him man-like qualities. All of these things, the boy hopes to do on his own one day. The advertising company knows this, and they use this to their advantage by creating this father-son connection that we all have through their product. They speak directly to the viewer, making it feel like they are important, and that the text has specific relation to just them. You may not be like your father was in so many ways, but one way to be like him is by drinking this whiskey, and that is the main idea and desire that drives this ad.

Kyle Probst
Laura Bennet

California Wishing

Mitchell Keller
TA: Laura Bennett

Advertising guru’s have continually attracted the eyes and ears of the American people with catch phrases, well placed music, comedic satire, and self-questioning. If an ad fails to draw the attention of a targeted individual, it is considered a failure. Hours are spent determining what people buy what products and also what drives these people to buy them. In some regards it may be considered an art, let’s face it; there’s a visual and audio display that often leads to contemplation. Some would argue they are demeaning and treat the American people as idiots or mindless sheep. One company, however, does attempt to take advantage of the fact that people, in some instances, are in fact clueless followers. While I will try to remain unbiased about my opinion of American Eagle Outfitters, it’s obvious its ad campaigns have continually followed a certain structure and often times repeat themes time and time again. The American Eagle Outfitters ad shown below uses young men and woman, the beach, and up-beat-music and text to create desire for friendship, fun and relaxation, and a “no-worries” attitude on life.



In this advertisement the viewers see a group of friends playing Frisbee with a dog on the beach as well as playing volleyball and participating in other physical activities. All of the action is fast paced, and the young adults are constantly smiling. In one moment, a man picks up a girl and carries her into the water, and then they playfully run back to the sand as waves come crashing in. The ad is trying to portray the enjoyment an individual may be experiencing with his or her own friends, or, possibly creating the desire of having these kinds of moments. While the intention may not be to appeal to kids who hang out on the beach all day, it certainly creates the feeling of wanting to have a day on the beach with a golden Labrador and some of your closest allies.

The beach itself holds a strong message for viewers. The area is highly secluded and the only people we see are the four of five friends that came together. Connotatively the beach says “relaxation” and “fun”. Especially considering the massive uprising of “beach life” in today’s young American culture, it seems evident the AE Outfitters ad is jumping on the Orange County bandwagon as well. Sitcoms and clothing stores have, in too many ways, linked together (Hollister does so with MTV’s Laguna Beach) and this ad tries to relate the feelings of relaxation and “easy-goingness”, seen on TV, with the lives of possible customers. Essentially, the advertisement wants its viewers to believe that, while there may not be any warm saltwater oceans in Wisconsin or Wyoming, there are American Eagle Outfitters, and we can all dress in that relaxed beach atmosphere simply by putting on their clothes.

Finally, the beach uses a catchy song and phrases in order to portray the infamous feeling of hakuna matata, or more simply, “no-worries”. The song has a fast and repetitive guitar rift with imperfect and lazy vocals whining on top. The song gives the “driving in the car” kind of feel, or something that would be played when someone is in a more positive or active mood. The lyrics in the song even say, “Well it’s all going to be alright, hanging around, hanging around.” Now, if viewers didn’t get the idea of being easy going and not having a care in the world, the advertisement goes one step further by displaying it in text. With the song still playing, the words: No Cares No Worries. The Day Unfolds, pops onto the screen. Without being redundant, it is quite clear that AE Outfitters is attempting to sell the idea of mental freedom from the problems in our lives. With some “kick back” music and rather blatant text, AE brings in customers believing that the product may bring peace of mind. However, this style of commercial has not been the first time American Eagle Outfitters has used these specific desires as selling points.



When comparing the second commercial (above) with the original, it’s hard to tell a difference. All of the facts from before are present, yet again, in fact, one may find enough evidence to say that it is the same exact beach used in the first ad. We see a group of young adults parading about what looks to be a photo shoot for American Eagle itself. However, we have reason to believe these models really are just friends and see them engaging in sports activities on the beach. Some moments are painfully repetitive, especially when we see another young man lifting up a girl near the water and also witness a man skipping stones into the ocean, another activity the teens engaged in for the first ad. Finally, another active and upbeat song is played in the background with the same style of disjointed vocals as the original.

While it may be easy to pick on American Eagle for the repetition, it can be witnessed in other campaigns as well. These two are simply easy examples of the methods use by advertisers today. It shows a great amount of the redundancy in these ads and leads me, as a viewer, to assume that it must actually be working. For some it’s easy to look past the obvious implications in the ad but for me I simply see the selling of a lifestyle that has been completely fabricated by sitcoms. So ironically, people are buying into a life that isn’t even real, but instead an exaggerated representation of what life on the coast is actually like. Yet, the longer this notion survives the more people tend to adapt the lifestyle, despite it’s fallacy. So with a thumbs up from writers and directors of these sitcoms, American Eagle Outfitters continues to sell California desires with attractive people, the ocean, and music.

Music Without Limits

Andrew Megow

Music should not be just a tool for conforming and fitting in with the norm. Music should be free to do as it pleases and have limitless possibilities, and music without limits is what the company Rhapsody claims to provide. The commercial ad that I have chosen is for a website company that advertises the selection of over one million songs wherever we are, and whenever we want, with genre after genre of music to fill all of your music needs. The idea that we now have all this freedom of music has come into the advertising companies' minds and they're selling yet again. It is hard to realize we are merely conforming now through being an individual, listening to different genres of music, and the desire to choose what best fit our personalities.
The ad that I've picked is a commercial on the internet and television which features a woman on the roof of a building in Manhattan. The sound we hear is the usual ambience of the city streets below, nothing special. As she looks down she notices several large bubbles floating amongst the skyscrapers. With a look of confidence in her eyes she leaps from the building and the closer she gets to a bubble, the closer music starts to be apparent amongst the bubbles. Landing safely into one of these majestic bubbles the woman is entranced by the "wall of sound" the bubble features inside. The particular song is a R&B song entitled "Squeeze Me" by the band Kraak & Smaak, which has a funky beat that delights the woman. After a while she presumedly gets bored and falls out of the bubble into another bubble passing by. The bubble has the same feature, a surrounding wall of sound, only this bubble features the alternative pop rock music of David Bowie's "Sound & Vision". It ends with the bubble rising into the sky along with several other bubbles each containing their own person bewildered by the sound inside. The ad kept up with me displaying the websites affection for the individual up until that last scene where it was apparent the women wasn't the only one who knew of the website or in her case, had their own bubble. The idea of individuality is apparently not what the ad is aiming for, by showing other people with their own bubbles. How can one impress others if we're all the same?
In the 20th century, we were told what to wear. We were told what to listen to and symbolically, what to think. During the late 20th century it was well known people were fed up with the idea of conformity, so the idea of one single person, or an individual taking a stand in front of all the popularity of conforming, was a real shocking and rebellious thing for the time. We have one big difference between the early 20th century and the present, and that is choices. So many products are offered to us via the television and internet and other selling devices and through all those millions of choices it was now possible to represent yourself as an independent person and feel good for possessing an identity. For a few brief moments the individual was king of the world rebelling against everything advertisers stood for, until the advertisers got smart. Advertisers began to promote the idea of having hundreds of millions of choices and these choices are brought to us with the courtesy of such companies. In my ad, Rhapsody's goal is to give you millions of songs through Rhapsody with songs of different genres and styles. The actual song may not be owned by Rhapsody but in a way you are listening through rhapsody. Choices are represented in the commercial through the woman's action to jump from bubble to bubble. If each bubble is unique in it's own way, then it is possible to change bubbles if boredom shall arise.
Apple Dictionary defines the word "Desire" as "A strong feeling of wanting to have something or wishing for something to happen." Dreams are desires and dreams can be a sense of fantasy and wonder. The ad of which I picked depict the scenario of being able to leap off of tall buildings and land in bubbles that we may be able to hover above the streets of a city. It is no argument that this thrilling, exciting, wonderful idea would be an experience of a lifetime, so it's no wonder that most people would find this commercial overwhelmingly appealing. Therefore it is no surprise when imagery stays in our self conscious and we think back to Rhapsody and it's magical bubbles. Overall I feel the desire it's trying to reach to us is the idea that we all want music that excites and inspires us to do great things. With the freedom of music you could almost do anything, and never be afraid to turn down certain oppurtunities. No one in their right mind would jump off a building in order to get in a bubble, but with the freedom of all music just a click away, dreams will become reality. Dreams reflect on our personalities and if a particular person is not into the whole "dream" escape scenario of commercial, never fear, Rhapsody's second commercial gives the comfort of choice we all share.
The second ad of which I speak is not visually pleasing in terms of imagery, whereas the latter of which I spoke was. My second ad is a more informative commercial for Rhapsody which promotes the freedom of choice. The one million songs concept is still present but now through Rhapsody we have the ability to listen to the songs we want wherever we want. It goes on to list the certain locations where we might listen to Rhapsody whether it be the house, the car, or your ex-grilfriends house, but wherever you go, Rhapsody can be with you at all times. There seems to be a sense of security being brought to us via Rhapsody and it just feels like there's nothing to worry about, because the company has got you covered.
As we look at the overall feel of Rhapsody I will admit I don't see it a threat to my psyche nor my sense of intelligence, I find Rhapsody to be innocent at most and think it is just trying to stay alive with the rest of the music websites. It's something never quite thought of when some analyses one music website that they are merely conforming to the other websites that offer one million songs and different genres and styles. All claim to be the ONE site that will offer many DIFFERENT genres of music that best fit YOUR personality, and these philosophies are fought between the companies and chain down to the public in the run of things. Is one website better than the other? Most people would say yes but to me, I feel there's a little bias there. Conforming is the name of the game and I feel the majority of the websites are the same. They just have different wallpaper backgrounds.

TA Laura Bennett

My first Ad:


My Second Ad:

"Spray more, Get more"

Chris Schasse
TA: Laura Bennett



This commercial starts out with someone running through the woods, which right away captivates the viewer, setting them up for some kind of epic drama. Then it shows that the person running is a very athletic, muscular and skinny woman in a bikini, with a very determined look on her face, as if she were hunting something. The rest of the commercial is various other women, depicted like the first, all seeming to hunt the same thing, competing in the race to get there. Finally, they show what the woman are running towards, which is an average man, depicted as a god, spraying two cans of axe all over his body with a huge smile on his face. This commercial is doing something very interesting. It is sets up all the women as very strong and athletic and determined. But it is sets up this man as, through the power of this bottle, having power over these women. It is giving the viewer (a male) a desire to have many 'hot,' athletic woman flock to them by simply spraying a bottle.

The first thing this ad does is creates an "epic" mood; "epic" as has been defined over the years by Hollywood. They start out with just the footsteps of someone running, and go to show a woman standing tall in a forest as the music slowly fades in. The music I could best describe as the "screaming monks" genre, and gives this commercial a very spiritual aspect to it. The quick cuts and the good form of the women running and the first woman looking back constantly contribute to this "epic" feel. Chase sequences like this have been, since popularized in the 1920s by D.W. Wright, the most suspense and dramatic sequences in film. The woman is then joined with more women, and the camera keeps cutting from close-ups of individual woman (all depicted as strong and skinny) to long shots and extreme long shots showing the vast amount of women, all running in the same direction with the same determination. This is a technique of cutting from close ups to extreme long shots was again perfected by D.W. Wright back in the 1920s. The music builds through the whole commercial and climaxes at the very end.

It is interesting that the women in this commercial are depicted as strong and independent. This is a contrast from the 50s when woman were depicted as nice, submissive housewives or as conformists as with the dames. But the women in this commercial are all very diverse and of different ethnic groups. The fact that the "desired woman" has made such a switch since the 1950s is mostly because of the large feminist movement that has happened over the last century. But the women in this commercial, though depicted as very strong and individualistic, are put under a kind of "trance" by this man, and are perusing him with all their abilities because of their desire for him. So this man, who is not depicted as extraordinarily strong, has power over these multitudes of beautiful, sexy, and strong woman, all because of two bottles of Axe Body Spray.



This second commercial (Also by Axe) shows another phenomenon that is subtler in the first commercial. The man is walking around, seeing beautiful women walk by him, and undressing them with his eyes (the second time he looks at them they appear in a bikini). Each time he smiles at them and gets nothing back from them. Then, in a supermarket, he quickly sprays some Axe Bullet on himself and walks past one of the women he was previously undressing with his eyes. The woman stops and looks back at him, depicting the man in a leopard speedo (inferring that SHE had undressed HIM with his eyes.

What the second Axe commercial is creating is a desire much more subtle in the first commercial: the desire for a man to have a woman look at him the same way he looks at her. The man wants the woman to want him as much, or more, than he wants her. The man wants to be in control of the woman through this desire, and he wants to be in control of the strongest, most athletic, most confident and smoking hot babe (or, in the first ads case, multiple ones).

It is also very interesting how the men in both these commercials are depicted. They are not depicted as extraordinarily strong or very confident or well put together. They seem like pretty average dudes. But these average dudes become something greater when they spray the contents of this bottle all over them. The man in the first commercial is depicted as a man who has stumbled upon a magic bottle that makes him a god (this is shown by the way the light comes from above him in the very last shot, and the way he sprays the bottles, and his overall demeanor). The man in the second commercial is depicted, after spraying this bottle, as a pimp or a playboy, or someone who woman desire.

So, to bring this all together, these commercials depict the "desired" woman as strong, confident and individualistic, differing from the 1950s when they were depicted as submissive cookie-cutter conformists. But what these commercials do is tell the viewer (a male) that their product has the power to harness these beasts, to control them, so that they only submit to you. This fulfills the desire in men to be strong (by having a strong woman submit to them). Through these commercials, Axe is indirectly saying "Our body spray will make you desirable, and not only that, it will make you strong and confident, and not only that, it will make you a god in which woman flock to and worship.” The real question is if these commercials are more offensive to men or to woman, or if it is just offensive to society in general, or if they are sincerely good commercials, since Axe Body Spray is the most sold body spray, and the movie Idiocracy was a good prediction of the future of our society.