SENSUALITY HELPS? MAYBE.

Advertising and promotion is something which go hand-in-hand. We can’t just think ‘brand (s) ‘as a name anymore, it’s much more now. Several new ideas and perspectives on brand building are offered. There have been several advertisements which most of the parents and children find awkward or rather embarrassing to watch together. Some of these ads are of ‘Condoms’ , ‘lingerie’ and ‘sanitary napkins’. Now deodorant ads are too becoming a part of this because of it’s extreme sensuality in the advertisements.

SOURCE:  http://newsthatmattersnot.com/wp-content/uploads/2012/07/Axe_Body_Spray.jpg

Deodorants are the second largest contributor to the space after shaving products. The overall market today, stands at around Rs. 1,500 crores of which 65% is men’s market. The deodorant advertisements target people of age ranging between 15-25 years old as their primary audience. The secondary audience range from 26-35 year olds.  Axe has been and continues to be the market leader in the space with a share of around 16%. Park Avenue, a distant second trails with half of the market share. Wildstone follows with 5-7%.

SOURCE: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=WEnt6rJKA4c

Experts feel that most of the brands run the risk of being given the common platform of sexuality being used by almost all of these advertisements for promotion. Also, the name of  the brands are associated with it’s brand of condoms, reeks of sensuality and attraction, a platform strongly exploited by deodorant brands.

There are several advertisements which include the act of sensuality. In one of the advertisements, a woman finds a man’s deodorant so stimulating that she starts undressing herself.

    The Wildstone deodorant ad shows a Bengali            woman in a saree who bumps into a young man      after being distracted by his Body Spray and            starts imagining herself with the young man in a      sexual way.

SOURCE: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=rHaTjaoBJ7o

The portrayal of women in these advertisements has been overtly sexual. The women in these ads are lustily hankering after men under the influence of deodorants. In one particular ad, a woman begins to strip down after catching a whiff of an Indian hunk wearing a scented body spray to be taken down. The advertisements are very slick and usually display a normal male but with oodles of self-assurance as an  deo user. The females get irresistibly drawn to this male implying that the deodorant acts like a nasal aphrodisiac. 

SOURCE: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=SlBrquEhPdI

The pitch has started moving from sensual to sleazy.

If one handles sexuality or sensuality a little tastefully, it is fine. But, too many brands are doing random sexual behaviour with no logic or reasoning. They just throw in a man and a woman and that's it. Some brands still manage to keep the balance going.

SOURCE: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=lCAGaPCub30

This ad opens with a girl flying a kite on a terrace with her younger brother. She suddenly gets fragnance and she spots a man on the adjacent roof flying a kite. The man is wearing Wild Stone deodorant. Mesmerised by the fragnance, the girl is not able to take her eyes off the man. He guy cut her kite's manjha. Then she goes over to his terrace, takes his kite's manjha and cuts it with her teeth. She gives the Wild Stone man a last glance and walks away smirking.

-REEMA BHADURI