Ad Analysis

I'm not even really sure where to start with this ad. I don't know the context in which it was published, since I found the ad by searching google for Axe ads. I was looking an ad spot for their new scrubber thing but found this and thought it was more interesting.
The concept behind the ad seems to be that a male, who was wearing Axe Body Spray was in some way sexually assaulted/raped by a group of sorority girls and is now seeking counseling for the mental trauma of the event. It appears to be aimed at a highschool-college age male.

This ad is offensive to so many groups of people it is kind of ridiculous. First, it takes either sexual assault or rape and turns it into in essence a joke. Or it at least treats sexual assault as something that would be desired by the males who would purchase Axe products based on this advertisement. The ad doesn’t just mock sexual assault in general but more specifically sexual assault on men. It takes the common notion that men are not/cannot be raped by women and that they in fact desire this to happen to them and mocks the mental trauma that occurs because of sexual assault.

The ad uses a similar concept to that used in music videos as discussed in Dreamworlds (at least the old version, which is the one I saw). The women being referenced by this ad are similar to the nymphomaniacs in the music videos who cannot help but attack and conquer the men around them.

This ad also interestingly sexualizes the psychiatrist/psychologist suggesting that she too is unable to resist the incredible scent of his Axe Body Spray.

Also interesting is that the women referenced are “sorority girls,” a group of women about whom there are so many stereotypes/fantasies/etc. that I don’t even know where I would start to analyze their inclusion in the ad.