Does she come with the product?

When I was younger, I would always ask my day why there were almost naked chicks in ads posing in front of cars, well dressed men, guns, ect., and he would always tell me the same thing every time is asked. "Absolutely Nothing" he said, "But I doesn't matter because you stared at that ad a few seconds longer than you would have if there was no girl there." It wasn't until I got a bit older that I realized what he meant.

 Unfortunately, that mindset has gotten a bit out of control and Jean Kilbourne's Killing Us Softly and Sut Jhally's The Codes of Gender only convinces me further that pop culture, business profit, morals, and lifestyles have been blended into a dangerous way. Advertisers still continue to display women in humiliating ways, not allowing their strength or independence to be displayed such as in this ad here for a fancy clothing line.

Woman has been "saved"

In this picture we see six men and one girl (a common theme in clothing ads nowadays, and most of the time they are in poses that suggest gang rape.) She has no clothes on, is white, thin and pale. She is also clutching onto what appears to be the alpha male of the picture/ group, the one holding one of the most phallic objects of power: a gun. This image is also a scene of man's ability to kill others males in the name of power and in doing so, becoming the center of the woman's innocent and passive affection. Her eyes and posture suggest a sense of innocence, longing, naivety, and lack of balance and stability.
The woman has been deprived of everything that could make her an individual and instead is reduced to an co-dependent organism.

In tearms of an ad featuring a strong, independent, confident woman, I could not find one. The all take women and their bodies and sexualize them in ways I couldn't even think were possible. It seems that this generation has had the concept of what women should be like nailed into our heads and we can't even see that we are allowing corporate agenda chasers pull us around on the leash of fashion, youth, and pop culture. I could rant for hours about some of the things I have seen and learned in the past few days, but i'll save it for another time. Instead, ill show you this image and hopefully leave you all on a humorous note. (Not implying reverse discrimination here. Its just funny)

LOLZ! 

So after learning about the Frith Analysis, I am going to reassess the reason why the old spice commercials are so popular. Since there are quite a few old spice commercials, I am going to choose this particular image to analyze:

Creepy right?

So now that we have had a nice look at this ad, lets answer the first question in the frith method: What is the surface meaning in this picture? Well, the first thing that we notice is that there is a guy on who appears to have half of his body missing with another guy living inside him. The bigger guy looks a bit nerdy and overweight and the other guy looks like a rockstar.

Alright, next thing we need to look at is what the advertiser's intended meaning was in this ad. What are they trying to tell us? To put it bluntly, old spice is telling guys that if they use old spice body wash, they too can smell the way that men are supposed to smell, because old spice magically unleashes this inner "man". 

The last thing that we need to look at is the cultural setting behind the message. Starting with the surroundings of the add, we see the two men standing in what appears to be a fancy library or place of knowledge, a place usually popular among middle/upper-class intellectuals. This setting is also one of prestige, something most humans desire to attain more of.

 In the center of the frame, we see the two men. Or is it one man? Judging by the slogan, it appears that it is just the ONE man, and that the other is the man that is waiting to be unleashed from the prison that is the bigger, nerdier man. Looking at them both, they both are polar opposites of what is perceived as cool in our society. The first guy is overweight, wears glasses, plays the saxophone, and carries a messenger bag with pins and superhero logos from his favorite comic books. He is the uncool one, the unsexy one, and the unmanly one. 

On the other end of the spectrum, we see what a "real" man is supposed to like. He is fit, muscular, tattooed, wild, and judging by the lipstick marks and female undergarment hanging from his double necked electric guitar, sexy. This is the American rockstar that all little boys wanted to be when they grew up, and that gives this particular advertisement it's allure. When guys see this ad, this image tries to connect with their inner rockstar spirit, and if rock and roll is not their cup of coffee, then there is also this ad in manly, no fear soldier form.  

Personally, I find this ad a bit shallow. Who says playing the saxophone is not sexy?! Have they never heard of the sexy sax man?      

Yay! I get to build a website!

You can learn to play these!

Even though I have zero website building skills, I get to learn how to make one thanks to COMM 352! My subject matter for this project will be drumming oriented, with the emphasis  on how to pick a drum set, styles of playing, tutorials on different techniques and playing styles, and a possible a music gallery of me playing a range of drum genres. As a drummer, I had and still have moments where I could have more information or examples of particular products or actual demonstrations to answer my questions. I want my site to have pictures, videos, and music files, so that way guests can focus less on reading and scanning for information, and spend more time observing and learning all the drum basics at one source. So psyched!

Hello, Ladies...I am not the old spice guy.

One of the men of the Old Spice world

Hello world of blogging! I am back from my Christmas Break adventures to bring you information regarding my favorite add campaign, the Old Spice Campaign! There are not that many people that I have meet that have not seen an old spice commercial featuring Terry Crews, Isaiah Mustafa, or Fabio Lanzoni, and most would agree that they are total attention grabbers.


 Each commercial features one of these three men explaining why old spice body wash is the best body wash on the market. In Terry's commercials, he yells at the audience and tells them that Old Spice Oder Blocker Body Wash is so powerful that it can block out the sun. But then it gets to cold, so it makes another sun; DOUBLE SUN POWER!!!! Then the screen explodes!

The real appeal for these commercials though is just how absurd they are. They are so detached from reality that it is literally funny. I actually went to the store the next day and purchased the stuff just because the ads were so funny, not because I thought the product worked or was even good. Even if my mom thinks that they are just plain stupid, you just can't help but grin when you hear that old spice whistle tune on TV.

The product definitely targets both young men and women simultaneously; the men love it because it appeals to our desire to be loved by the ladies, and it appeals to women because of of the men who advertise the product. All of these are reasons why I love the spice! The video down below provides a montage of the best of Terry Crew's, Isaiah Mustafa's, and Fabio Lanzoni's Old Spice commercials. Enjoy!