Dualism: sex, gender and ads?

Let's face it.. no one wants to stand near a guy with distinctive body odour [and I mean.. Distinctive!]. So one fine day, the AXE company decided to come up with some pleasantly fragranced body products.. and nothing strange there.. However, a twist besieged the primary aim of such products..

.. and has taken the form of a programme:

'The AXE Vice Naughty to Nice'..

Male showering products are usually marketed as a requirement for meeting the standards of the other 'cleaner' sex.. yet AXE takes this fact to new heights.. How? Oh.. by promising sex.

We have all watched an AXE ad, at least once in our lifetime [if not.. just google or youtube AXE.. they'll take you to places you never been to]. We all know [?] what the contents of such ads hint to.. resulting into huge feminist uproars. This is nothing new.. Laurien Alexandre refers to Jean Kilbourne's Killing us Softly [1986], a short film depicting how multi-billion dollar transnational businesses make profit out of women's backs. Furthermore, Kilbourne states [1990]:

‘The ads sell a great deal more than products. They sell values, images,
and concepts of success and worth, love and sexuality, popularity and
normalcy. They tell us who we are and who we should be. Sometimes
they sell addictions.’

Even the Campaign for a Commercial-Free Childhood [a coalition of healthcare professionals and advocacy groups that is affiliated with Harvard University] is working towards stopping the AXE ads from being aired, arguing that they degrade young women. This line of merchandise is constantly marketed on MTV and MySpace, global windows which lots of young boys and girls more than just peep through.

And for those who believe images rule out sound and music.. the AXE team has made an agreement with what is described as 'the world's naughtiest band'; the Bom Chicka Wah Wahs, who, with their songs and voices, enhance the AXE ads with even more sexual content.. Fully loaded.. yeah baby!

In no way is this post meant to admonish the ads in question. Some boil these down to sense of humour; a good one at that. Others think they are just plain tasteless. Thing is Kilbourne maybe is right in saying that ads sell more than just mere products.. and companies actually invest in light of such piece of knowledge. The math is simple here: Men need AXE to draw women's attention.. they just can't do it on their own. I wonder whether Austin Power's secret to his Mojo was AXE deodorant.. I wonder..