After doing some searches on the web for Axe products, I found numerous photos and Youtube video commercials regarding their products, that, time after time, degraded women and used them as solely objects. I realize, though, that Axe isn't the only one to blame: numerous companies, from Calvin Klein to Burger King, depict women as only sexual beings used to pleasure men. However, it is especially disturbing that Unilever owns not only Axe, but Dove. Dove has a somewhat recent movement called "Love Your Body" and the ads try to promote body and racial diversity, as well as media awareness education for young girls. In the campaign video below, titled "Onslaught", we see how young girls are bombarded with images and videos of how to look and act, and it is our responsibility to tell them that they are good enough. But imagine how hard that must be for a parent when the same corporation bombards us with images of near-naked women covered in mud in a shower asking to be washed by a man? The first image above is sexist in a more subtle way: there are no people in the ad, but the image of the sweater reaching into the man's pants gives enough clues of promiscuous sexual activity.
Dove: "Talk to your daughter before the beauty industry does!"
Dove stresses the importance of media awareness, yet their sister company, Axe, tells girls to act overly sexual and strip down to nothing to attract a guy. I'm old enough to realize the discrepency of these ads, but it is disturbing how much we are manipulated by the media.
Photos from:
http://3.bp.blogspot.com/_2oq2bSN-S9o/R8yxbsiC-II/AAAAAAAAA78/k_k3rAhDLs8/s400/effetto+axe+great+ads.jpg
http://blog.lib.umn.edu/raim0007/gwss3307_fall2007/axe.jpg
Video Courtesy: joseelias452
It pays to remember that corporations DON'T CARE ABOUT US. If they are using feminism in their advertising, it's because they've identified a significant buying demographic, and they're trying to get that group's attention.
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