Axe Anarchy for Him and for Her

The advertisement pictured above is for Axe Deodorant. Although in my experience this product has been primarily marketed towards males, it seems in this particular instance it is being marketed towards both men and women (although apparently only or at least primarily heterosexual men and women). The advertisement appears to take place at a gas station. The man is holding two jumper cables which appear to be electrically charged. The woman is holding a gas pump and gas is flowing from it, although it's not attached to a car and the gas is pouring out onto the ground. Both of the people seem to be failing to notice the hazards that they are creating for themselves and for others because they are too caught up in gazing into each other's eyes. They are so fantastically drawn to each other that they can't even manage to bring themselves back to reality for long enough to notice that they are putting themselves into a potentially fatal situation. The text in the corner draws the whole image together. Next to two bottles of Axe (one blue and one pink), the text reads "New Axe Anarchy, for Him + for Her. Unleash the chaos." 

This, of course, is what many people what from their romantic encounters. No one ever talks about being "sensibly in love" or "gently walking into love." We say "madly in love" or "falling in love" for a reason. Although this does not, of course, apply to everyone (the notable exceptions being asexual and aromantic people) many people desire a sense of unbridled passion in their romantic affairs. Especially amongst young people, we want things to be quick and exciting and thoughtless. That is the image and desire that this advertisement hopes to invoke. The young man and the young woman are so intensely attracted to one another that they forget that they are holding live jumper cables and an open gas pump. Imagine that--seeing someone so attractive that you forget that you are pumping gas and spill it on the ground just so you can stare into their eyes. But it gets better. Imagine that they, too, are so attracted to you that they forget that their jumper cables are live and carelessly let them fall to their side, just so that they can stare into your own eyes. Imagine having that kind of instant spark between you and someone that you like, within seconds of the two of you seeing each other. That sounds amazing to me. Axe is using this desire for that kind of relationship to sell their product. They want people to think that if they use this new Axe product, then they will be able to "unleash the chaos" and find that kind of wildly and thoughtlessly passionate relationship. If you are a girl and you use Axe Anarchy for Her, then maybe someday you'll encounter a boy that uses Axe Anarchy for Him and immediately embark on a reckless and passionate journey with that boy because of an unquenchable spark of attraction between the two of you. 

This advertisement is remarkably free of damaging gender stereotypes, at least if we are operating within the parameters of cisgender and heterosexual people. The boy and the girl are about the same height (although the girl is wearing high heels, the effect is still the same). They both appear to be the owners of cars, and the girl's even appears to be newer. An unfortunate trend that many advertisements demonstrate is the tendency to play on the "different kinds" of attraction that men and women supposedly feel, in which men supposedly feel greater sexual attraction while women feel greater emotional attachment. That is not the case in this advertisement. The attraction that the two people seem to feel for each other is implied to be the same in both degree and in nature. However, both of the people featured fall within Westernized societal parameters of "conventional attractiveness," with neither of them having any unconventional features--i.e., they are both thin white people. Furthermore, they conform more or less to expected gender presentation roles of cisgender girls and boys. Although the intent of the advertisement is to attract all people--regardless of whether or not they fit the physical image that they put forth in the picture--to buy their product in the hopes of finding a relationship that will sweep them off of their feet, this portrayal may have consequences beyond the advertiser's intent. As a consumer of an ad, this can make it seem or feel like one has to have those specific set of features in order to be included in this possibility of a wild romantic affair.