the ad your ad could smell like

Hello, folks. If you haven't seen the Old Spice ad the subject line is referencing, take a look at the ad. Now back to me.

...sorry. couldn't resist. ANYWAY.

As I was perusing my flist the other day, I saw autographedcat's link, under the subject heading "Old Spice and Gender Politics in Advertising," to xiphias's interesting rumination on the commercial here. (Some of the comments to the original post are kind of fascinating too.) I quote, in part:

In the Axe Body Wash commercials, women have no agency. If you (and "you" means "a male" -- the commercials ignore the possibility that half their audience might be female; females don't exist as PEOPLE in those commercials) use Axe, women will flock to you without any free will of their own....

[The Old Spice commercial is] addressed to women, with the impression that WOMEN are people who can make choices. It's not terribly feminist, yes, but there IS a difference between the commercials for men's deodorant which treat women as props and these, which at least make a nod to the idea that women are people.

Hmmm.

So tell me, friends and acquaintances: what do you think?