Commodification of Old Spice

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"Hello ladies," he says. "Look at your man. Now back to me. Now back at your man. Now back to me. Sadly, he isn't me. But if he stopped using lady-scented body wash and switched to Old Spice, he could smell like he's me." This is what actor, Isaiah Mustafa, said in Old Spice's quite comical 30 second, “Smell like a man, man” commercial. Viewers can acknowledge that Isaiah Mustafa is a good looking man(he was a pro football player after all). Instantly, viewers associate good looking men with Old Spice. Many viewers have the desire to be good looking. The advertisement leads you to believe that buying Old Spice body wash is an easy way to accomplish this. The commercial was a big hit, and Old Spice product sales were up 106% from the prior-year period. In Borchard's article, “Between a Hard Rock and Postmodernism”, he talks about the selling of an image or lifestyle as big business; something that is evident throughout western culture, particularly in the United States. Old Spice sells the image that only good looking men use their products. If you were to use anything else you, base of this logic, you would not be a “good looking man”. Old Spice becomes the Commodification of Desire .Commodification is defined as the transformation of a non-commodity(desire in this example) to a commodity, or to give a dollar value to an idea, identity or something that previously had no value attached to it. The commercial preys on man's guilt, insecurities and fears. No man wants to be in the category of someone who uses “lady scented body washes”. Old Spice may only be a body wash for “real men”, the commercial makes it very apparent that you, a normal guy, can use it too and become a real man. It is not just something only attractive men with a six-pack and a deep voice can buy, making it in arm reach. Women are affected by this commodification of desire just as men as they

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