Who Needs Body Image when Sex Sells
First off, to put it bluntly, I am very disappointed when I first read this article and case. Last week I wrote passionately and from the heart about how I felt Dove made an incredible impact of the women of my generation. They helped to start shaping the way women felt and acted towards themselves and others. Actually having one of the Dove campaign woman come talk to our organizations on campus; I was personally affected by her demeanor and confidence. She possessed so much of what I wanted to have within myself and after leaving the 2 hour speech, I felt I had had a conversation with an old friend. She had sold me on the brand, their position statement, and ultimately, I bought their soap. I felt that they were making a difference and I wanted to be part of that change.
Furthermore, I spent hours searching and writing an article for this same blog praising the work that they did as a company. All pro-bono; no sponsorship or even classroom grade accepted. Now I find out that they are directly linked to Axe. A company that focuses on and emphasizes sex. Not the Victoria Secret-I’m-a-beautiful-women sex; but, the sex where half naked young ladies are running around because a man took a shower. Whoopie, you cleaned your hair. Just because you are wearing “Dark Temptation” doesn’t mean you are at all closer to getting close to me or my bed. Axe aims to misbehave. Even more unappealing is how this message not only distorts women’s views on themselves, but ethically goes against everything that the Real Beauty campaign hoped to achieve. Where’s the line Unilever? When do values get thrown out the door just because you want to sell one more bottle?
Axe Market
Upon searching “Axe”, Google quickly popped up millions of options. The first two stated “Getting the girl has never been easier, thanks to the AXE effect!” According to Fast Company, the International Flavors and Fragrances facility in Manhattan is the start of this mad house. They possess 84,000 bottles filled with various potent oils that have graced the likes of Oscar de la Renta and Calvin Klein’s lines. This business is no joke. Every year there are contracts that go up for sale in order to win the company’s new smell. You may sneer and state that how hard could it be to put in a high school locker room or gym clothes into a bottle, but IFF makes it all feasible with incredible ease.
Inside IFF, lobbyists troop around looking for the next big smell. They’re hoping to make an offer to Axe that they just can’t refuse. Skipping all the fancy nodes and fine fragrance you’d find in your upscale lines, Axe goes for the throat, rips off their paints, and places their big ol’face right in front of you. There aren’t any subtleties and their hope is to get the average customer walking around Walmart looking for a cheap, but well smelling brand.
Sex Sells
A $2.5 billion brand with nearly 14% growth from 2010-2011, Axe has continued to grab the marketing community by storm. Its youthful, hormone culture has displayed big chested young women that have gained them a large part of the $5 billion market. Nearly 58% higher than its nearest competitor, Old Spice, the brand doesn’t focus on unchanging demographics. They understand that the way in which girls and guys interact is a constant evolution. Being able to gauge this and market it to the correct demographic is key to the company’s success.
Even more crucial? The risk tolerance that the brand has built up over the years. Unlike Dove, it can produce ads with an all or nothing mentality. Appearing on sites like CollegeHumor.com, they’ve been able to test try different mediums that would have never worked if used on other platforms. They are the ultimate test kitchen and boast these qualities proudly. By leveraging their success to other brands, Unilever hopes to integrate some of the marketing research it has gathered from their Axe experiment.
My Main Problem with Unilever's Philosophy…
Experimenting, finding out what works, and manipulating it to fit your other brands seems like a great idea. Companies would be fighting tooth over nail to get their piece of the action and total market pie that Axe has acquired. I cannot fight this success. I applaud them for finding a way that fits their needs and using it to the best advantage. Business-wise, they’ve made incredibly innovative and smart decisions. Unilever on the other hand, has not.
They have tried to doge the bullet by stating that although these brands are quite different, they help people to “look good, feed good, and get more out of life”. They want people to understand that “both brands resist telling people how they should look and both aim to build people’s confidence and self-esteem”. The main problem is easily addressed by Dr. Susan Linn, director and co-found of CCFC, “The Axe campaign makes clear that any concerns Unilever has about girls’ well being take a backseat to their desire to exploit stereotypes for profit. With Axe, Unilever is creating the same toxic environment addressed by its Dove campaign”.
These divergent brands take away from the success of either brand. Alone they stand up, leaning against each other the tower falls. Russell Davies, author in Campaign’s “Media Perspective” section wrote concerning Unilever: “If you’re going to claim big, meaningful values, you’re going to have to live them, not just assert them”. I could not have said it any better myself. Unilever needs to pick one and go with it. They cannot continue to ride the fence in hopes that they won’t get their pants ripped. Own up to the challenges you’ve put yourself in as a company and maybe, just maybe, you’ll win back some of your annoyed customers.