How Axe Became The Top-Selling Deodorant By Targeting Nerdy Losers
Unilever determined that The Insecure Novice would be their natural target, since he needs the most help in getting women, and would be easily persuaded into buying a product that could aid the woes of nerdhood.
T800Architect: “Hey, dorks, buy our stuff!”
*lots of dorks buy their stuff*
“WHOA! Not *that* many dorks…”
slothvader: Marketing towards insecure people is pretty easy, it’s most people. If you tell them all they have to do is spray some shit on them, and people will like them, they’ll do it.
LeVentNoir: Sadly their products didn’t work as well as the marketing. Or maybe it’s being marketed wrong, instead of deodorant, it should be some kind of scent based warning signal.
MyWifeDontKnowItsMe: To this day I still associate Axe with awkward, insecure preteens.
sentimental_goat: This article is from six years ago. Guess they really haven’t been able to turn that image around.
zorbiburst: The reaction to Axe is so mysterious to me. I always associated it with douchey guys, but it was marketed and apparently associated to awkward guys. I also hear all the time of most girls hating it and seeing it as a warning signal, but every girlfriend I’ve had loves it and got confused when I said girls are supposed to hate it. The marketing must’ve really worked.
HouseSomalian: >Unilever first analyzed the potential Axe user by breaking males down into six profiles:
>**The Predator** — He takes advantage of drunk girls, and lies about his job and where he lives
**NaturalTalent** — Athletic, smart, and confident. He doesn’t need to lie to score
**Marriage Material** — Humble and respectful, he’s the sort of guy you want to bring home to Mom and Dad
**Always the Friend** — He always hits that glass ceiling
**The Insecure Novice** — He has absolutely no clue what he’s doing, and things get awkward fast — the geeks and nerds
**The Enthusiastic Novice** — He has absolutely no clue what he’s doing, but he’s outgoing and tries valiantly anyway
>Then, they determined that The Insecure Novice would be their natural target, since he needs the most help in getting women, and would be easily persuaded into buying a product that could aid the woes of nerdhood.
This reads like something from outside
>Next came the ads themselves. The Axe TV ads proclaim that it will help you get chicks. And not just one at a time — their research showed that the ultimate male fantasy is to be irresistible to several sexy women.
Who’ld’a thunk it?
immaculate_deception: We considered Axe users losers at the onset of it’s popularity and that campaign continued for much longer.
dumbgringo: I had to quit using Axe because my girlfriend got pissed that each time we went to the beach 100+ women chased me around trying to handle my junk.
Abe_Vigoda: I wonder if Unilever has a similar list for women since they also own Dove soap which targets insecure women.
Nice scam. With Axe, they target insecure men by using bikini models. The perpetual use of bikini model grade women in advertising perpetuates the insecurities of not quite model grade women who can’t live up to that standard.
A ton of advertising is predatory and markets to people’s insecurities. Unless you’re in marketing or advertising, most people are largely unaware of how ads psychologically manipulate people.
I have a working theory that a big reason why so many people are depressed nowadays is because we’ve been bombarded so much with negative ads and media insinuations on why we suck and what we can buy to make us not suck.
People aren’t depressed specifically because of chemical imbalance, they’re depressed because they lack happiness with themselves due to the constant bombardment of ads attacking everything from what people wear to what people look like, what they drive, where they live, etc..
Oh you can’t live up to some coked up ad gremlin’s imaginary magic bar because he’s trying to get a bonus with some clever ad campaign selling chemical goo in a spray can.
Nuts to Axe.
Just shower daily and wear deodorant and you’re all good.
Five_Zero_Five: What does it mean when you are repeatedly gifted Axe products?????? (Asking for a friend of course.)
HurrDurrDethKnet: I used to buy Axe back in late high school/early college because I enjoyed the smell personally. I had no illusions about it getting me chicks, though. The green one, I think it was called “kilo”, was my favorite scent until they came out with that weird, vaguely chocolatey spray. I found the chocolate axe weirdly enjoyable and liked to spray on a little hint of it every morning after I got out of the shower. I think the big issue with axe is that gross assholes were treating it like deodorant when it was really just a cologne. Less is more, baby.
halos1518: You mean Lynx
radome9: All males are insecure. All females too, as far as I can tell. Just market to insecure people and you’ll be swimming in cash.
ai4ns: We work on the key visuals for Lynx/Axe. While this may be true for now, sadly with the launch of next year’s products it is starting to focus on the same insecure demographic again *sigh
Cloverfieldstarlord: Is this part of the marketing campaign too?
Isaacvithurston: Pretty sure that was obvious to anyone. It’s commercial message was basically “hey are you not getting any action, spray this shit all over yourself”
Regrettable_tattoos: My mum gets me a box set of Lynx/Axe every damn year. No matter how many times I tell her I don’t use it “But its tradition!”
parodixicalreaction: Not sure why a brand would back pedal if they’re raking in cash hand over fist.
AfghanTrashman: Generally I hate just about every Axe product. The only exception being a hair pommade I randomly picked up in a pinch based on consistency and smell. I’ve had that shit for two years plus and still haven’t used it all. Hopefully it’s still around in the next six months to a year if I ever use it all up.
understandingreal: This sounds more like a showerthought than a TIL
16chapel: Marketing be damned – Axe / Lynx smells like a chemical weapon.
UltimateThrowawayNam: Anybody know what ads and efforts they actively put forth to to backpedal?
fencerman: Is anyone else concerned that one of their “six basic profiles of guys” is essentially “rapist”?
call_of_the_while: It was sold as Lynx in some countries. I really liked one of the songs they used in their ads and scoured the net hoping to find the full song but sadly I discovered it was made specifically for the ad and there was no long version of it: Manuk – You give me love
trixtopherduke: About 15 years ago, when I worked at a Walgreens, an old, gray haired guy bought Axe and let me know that it works on the ladies.
zebra-in-box: “The Predator — He takes advantage of drunk girls, and lies about his job and where he lives
NaturalTalent — Athletic, smart, and confident. He doesn’t need to lie to score
Marriage Material — Humble and respectful, he’s the sort of guy you want to bring home to Mom and Dad
Always the Friend — He always hits that glass ceiling
The Insecure Novice — He has absolutely no clue what he’s doing, and things get awkward fast — the geeks and nerds
The Enthusiastic Novice — He has absolutely no clue what he’s doing, but he’s outgoing and tries valiantly anyway”
There could be a youtube skit on this haha.
Aan2007: so something like Reddit?
dilbot4: It’s Lynx out our way but is still used by young men to advertise that that they are bereft of social companionship and are longing for someone, anyone, to drag them somewhere and scrub them clean in (please, oh, please) a shared bath or shower.
beastrabban: Axe messy look hair gel is pretty good. Makes you look slightly scruffy but still professional
SEI_LA_PORRA: If their stuff wasn’t so stinky maybe I would use it.
Babosarang: Wasn’t there a kid who suffocated from using too much axe??
bicyclemom: Ah yes, the Old Spice of the 14-17 year old set.
Murphler: TIL Lynx is called Axe in America :/
garysai: I always thought their target was middle-schoolers.
shags2a: I have read their client brief (the one given by the Axe to their Ad agency), it specifically says:
target group: age 20-25, male, insecure, always thinks about sex but doesn’t have a gf.
I_am_Kubus: Isn’t most advertising target as insecure people. Anything that tells you is going to make you “sexier” is just playing with ones insecurities.
lowlife9: I never understood axe deodorant, why not just buy some cologne ?
PeteyToldMe: It’s the best thing to use to spray a bag of dildos.
aaron0021: Man axe had me feeling like I was gonna pull every girl who came my way.
blitzb: Lynx/Axe is what young lads use. If you’ve over 20, buy something else.
SyrupBuccaneer: I actually kind of liked their body washes. Snakepeel felt and smelled surprisingly good.
hoboturtles: Just shower properly, let your own pheromones do the job that they were meant for.
‘You’ve always had the power to go back to Kansas’ Glinda the good witch
You’ve had the power to be liked all along!
TheMadFap: Does all this hate for Axe extend to the body wash? Because those smell decent, and all the ladies Ive been with love it and always ask about it.