As the video Killing Us Softly showed women are constantly subjected to the images of unattainable beauty. While many companies are guilty of this practice Axe is often guilty of creating sexist ads. In a recent add they made for their new space "excite" they depict a group of angels falling from heaven because of the power of the space. Clearly the opinion they have on women is low if they think a simple body spay could make something as pure as an angel fall from grace. Sadly this isn't even their worse offending ad. Another ad ran a few years ago has a mob of large chested, bikini clad women running to an island because of the smell of one man's can of axe. While not every women in the mob is large chested the ones they choose to focus on are, even though most women aren't that endowed. Together this amount of focus put on the women's body provides a great example of the way women are objectified in the media and how all that matters there is their body. Luckily though the ads do seem to avoid the other pit fall of ads, and that is racism.
In watching the Axe ads, while the women seem to be mostly white, a few women of different back rounds can be seen, with them even given the focus at different points in both ads. However not all ads are able to avoid racist undertones, even if they couldn't see it when they were being made. Few better example exist then the intel screw up from a few years ago. In the add a black splinter has been copied and pasted around an office in starting position for a race to begin. While intel has used sprinters to show symbolize how fast the processors it was what they put in the center of the image that caused the fire storm of controversy. As the runners are "getting ready to go" they are seemingly bowing to a nerdy white guy. Not only does this kind of image create the appearance of subjugation of black man it also puts the white man in the center, the position of power, a clear sign of his dominance at the top if the hierarchy. Personally the sadist thing about the ad is that someone in the company more the likely looked at it before sending it out and didn't think that anything was wrong with it or that it might be offensive to some people.
While this ad is better known for the racist alteration it underwent, when the ad was first shown off in the US it provides one of the best example of diversity in advertisement. Here it shows three different types of people, a young asian, an old african american, and a "normal" white women. The ad showcases them as equals, all working together in a company. Why this is different, is also readily obvious, it's trying to portray the real world. Unlike the Axe commercials that are more so a joke then anything else, this is trying to create a real world business situation and there a wide verity of people will come together to solve problems.
Still, you can't pass judgment on company's and their ads until you think about things from their point of view. The best way to market Axe is to show it off as away to attract women, and that is perfectly fine. It's also natural that the women would be the ideal beauty since they are going after teenage boys, who find looks to be the top of the list when it comes to things they want in another person. The issue here is the way that they go about it is so exaggerated and impossible, that it's a joke, but maybe that is what they want. In looking at the intel blunder the idea to use sprinters as a symbol for how fast their tech runs is perfectly acceptable. As said, the thing that sank them was the carelessness in how the ad was created and how no one had the common sense to question it before sending it out. As such, advertisers should try to live in the real world, since no matter how much we may want the fantasy, it's just that, a fantasy and for heavens sake use your head when creating an ad, cause the group of black men bowing to a skinny white guy would seem wrong even to a child.
I have to agree with all of your points. More accurate portrayal of different ethnic groups is inevitable given their growing numbers, power, and influence in America. Advertisers will eventually have to portray them more fairly if they wish to make buyers of them. But I have to agree that sometimes even I think advertisers are completely clueless and ask myself what were they thinking on certain ads. I think removal of these kinds of things will ultimately come down to the buying power and will of these groups and when being inconsiderate on the social side becomes a financial liability.
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