The commercial grabs the reader’s attention and maintains it on the Old Spice man. It starts out with a former NFL player and an actor Isaiah Mustafa in an ordinary bathroom wearing nothing but a towel. He represents the “perfect male” for both women and as well as men. He is considered manly with the muscular physique, broad shoulders, bearded face and a stern voice. His strong posture and his deep male voice displays the masculine form, the women desire.
Without losing eye contact with the audience, Mustafa shifts from a bathroom scene to a yacht, to a beach and lastly to a horseback-riding which portrays that “anything is possible… with an Old Spice. Throughout his transformations he accomplishes impractical feats like obtaining tickets in an oyster and turning them into diamonds from which the Old Spice majestically appears. Overall all these actions and ridiculousness add humor and grab audience attention. The impossible feats that Mustafa displays, are made achievable by the simple use of Old Spice body wash. He initiates his monologue by directing the ladies to compare their men with him and indicating they can the least smell like him by using the Old Spice body wash.
Then, the scene quickly transitions to a scene on his yacht giving him a sense of pride. However, this time he uses emotions to attract women rather than stating. As he magically appears on a luxurious boat in a placid ocean, moreover shirtless with a silky pant, he conveys that “real men” should treat women like this. In the background, tied to the boat are flags of countries that he has supposedly travelled to, which signifies his standards. He then moves on to the beach with an oyster in his hand. Furthermore, the oyster holds “two tickets to hat thing [they] love” which then melts away into diamonds. As he addresses directly to women, he indicates that they are more satisfied with the true man as he knows what appeals to a woman. In the last scene, he shifts from the beach to horseback riding, signifying that “Anything is possible… “. He then adds, “I am on a horse” to add on to his humor and ridiculousness. The final image of Mustafa sitting on a white, majestic steed gives his audience a sense of a charming prince, ready for an adventure.
Mustafa consistently assumes that the men are not already using the Old Spice body wash, and therefore he declares that these men smell like a lady and are not manly. Old Spice offers a solution for many of men’s problems. With it, men will not only become manly but also can satisfy women with their masculine scent and appeal. The ad claims that Old Spice has the ability to achieve impossible and that other brands don’t, therefore convincing the audience to switch. The commercial uses ethos, logos and pathos to convince the audience in switching to Old Spice.
In this ad, the ethos is the “perfect man” that is represented by a highly reputed Mustafa. He is physically attractive and from his looks, posture to his manly scent, he is desirable to many women as well as men. Following ethos is the logos, in which the logic is that men can feel manly and not smell like a lady by switching over to Old Spice. Through this, they not only feel manly, but also have the ability to please any women. Regarding the pathos, there might not be any statistical evidence to prove the effects of the body wash, however the use of humor and stereotypes add an appeal to the audience, grabbing their attention.
Significantly, he accomplishes this in the repeated talk of, “look at your man, now back to me… ” and his satirical ending of, “I am on a horse”. Though Mustafa directly addresses to the ladies, this commercial is successfully targeted to both men and women. It targets the younger generation regardless of its ironic name, “Old” Spice. It indicates that men need Old Spice in order to impress women and be the perfect man displayed in the ad. In other words, the ad uses a man to tell his fellow men that this is what women want.
For the men who view this, Mustafa seems like a role model in which they can be similar to him by using the Old Spice. In the other hand, Women are not only attracted by Mustafa’s humor, but also are more likely to purchase Old Spice body wash, as they are convinced that their man can possess similar qualities to that of the perfect man. The commercial, “The Man Your Man Could Smell Like” starts out commanding the audience to get their attention. He maintains their attention through romantic scenes of him. He first starts out shirtless in a bathroom, by a steamy shower.
He then moves on to a beautiful boat and then to a fantasy beach wearing a perfectly folded shirt and a pair of white pants. He ends the commercial sitting on the back of a horse, catching his audience in awe. He mainly convinces his audience in purchasing the Old Spice body wash with his tongue-in-cheek comments, like the ability to please a women and smell like him. The ad is fast paced, short and straight forward. Most viewers would be tempted to watch it again because of its humor and flawless transitions.
The ad doesn’t provide any statistical reasons to purchase this product above other products, but, in a witty way, it does differentiate itself from other brands based on its capabilities of smelling like the perfect man. The commercial is about publicizing the Old Spice Body Wash through the actor Mustafa, however, it is really about how men will do anything in order to please a woman. As they are spending countless amount of money to attract a woman, buying an Old Spice body wash is the simplest of them.
The commercial successfully utilizes their weakness in converting them to Old Spice. Furthermore, Mustafa also addresses women as they are the primary shoppers in an household. They are more likely to buy an Old Spice product for their men in the belief that they will become their perfect men. Mustafa grabs the viewers’ attentions on his short monologue and convinces them of the feats they are capable of achieving and most of all, smell like him. The commercial uses ethos, logos and pathos in order to convince the audience to switch over to Old Spice Body Wash.
