Is This the Worst Axe Commercial Ever?
From Argentina, the land of completely naked Dancing with the Stars, comes this new ad for Axe Body Spray, the misguided aphrodisiac of the masses. Ads for Axe are always creepy and stupid and vaguely misogynistic, but is this one the brah-iest of the bunch?
In the ad, Axe is telling men that having a girlfriend is lame and not worth your time when there are so many strippers out there you could be fucking right now. So just leave your girlfriend sitting at a table in a restaurant while you go have sex with a prostitute in the men's room. That makes you cool. Infidelity is awesome because women are awful harpies that are trying to ruin your inherent manliness. OK, that's not exactly what it's saying, but that is the message it's giving off.
For all of you non-Spanish speakers, here's a transcript of what the ad says (provided by Adrian, our tireless Argentinian correspondent).
Last September 24th it was Boyfriend's Day.
What does Axe have to say to boyfriends?
Hey, dude. There's nothing to celebrate.
We know you want to be with all of them, except with the one you're with.
That's why we set up some secret installation in the men's room,
And gave them 5 minutes of singledom.
Welcome to the Axe Strip Toilette.
This is just a way of reminding guys that they are "castrating themselves" [Ed. note: Down here when you say a guy is "castrated," it means he only does what his girlfriend/wife says.]
...limiting the power of the Axe effect to just one girl."
Girl: What took you so long?
Guy: The restroom was a mess.
Girl: Oh, sorry to hear that.
That's it. Don't let your lady castrate you! Go out there and fuck all the hookers waiting for you by the urinal in the Axe toilet! There's nothing more macho than that.
This isn't the first time Argentinian Axe (which is also a sex position I once attempted and ended up dislocating a shoulder) has had questionable ads. There was one last year that featured a scary fisherman seemingly hell-bent on rape.
So, what do you think? Is this ad sending the wrong message? Should women everywhere be offended? And does this mean I have to stop wearing Axe, because smelling like a teenager's taint always seems to get me laid?