Advertisement Analysis: Analysing The Old Spice Ad

Most people watch television everyday, and there are many ads that present themselves in between every program. If you do watch television, then you’ve most likely seen the iconic Old Spice commercials with the rapid talking actor Isaiah Mustafa. The commercial series first went on air in early 2010, and have quickly become some of the most popular commercials on television. The sought after question is, what makes these ads so interesting for the audience? To answer your question, this paper will focus on the Old Spice Lumberjack print ad. Even though this ad may not do much to really describe the product it is advertising, its intelligent way of using ethos, logos, and pathos has persuaded many males to switch to Old Spice.

The ad you are viewing here, depicts a physically fit Isasiah Mustafa wearing a lumberjack outfit and an axe made entirely out of bubbles. It also shows a toweled female looking up at Isiash mustafa with an intrigued look. To start things off, we will talk about ethos. Ethos is the credibility or reputation of the author of an ad. The characteristics of the author play a big factor in making them persuasive. To give an example of this, I’ll use a doctor with a PhD. A doctor writing about a health related issue such as alcohol, would be very persuasive considering their title. In turn, If I were a mechanic that drank excessively talking about this, then it would be a different story. I wouldn’t be as convinced not only because of the mechanics expertise, but their way of life as well. The goal of the ad I picked for old spice is to understand who is delivering it and the message. The ad above is clearly trying to sell me Old Spice body wash. The ad goes out of its way to prove its point, and claims that it will make me “Smell like a man, man.” The ad sets up its credibility to the male audience by bringing in a former football player and actor in Isaiah Mustafa. The ad leads men to believe that if they use Old Spice, then they will be thought of as manly and successful as Isaiah Mustafa. Old Spice has also been known to use other well known people as well. It has committed a lot to casting former football players. Ray Lewis, Greg Jennings and Wes Welker to name a few. These actors are usually used because of their credibility for playing football. Football is a mens sport, and considered to be one of the manliest of them. Issaish Mustafa is just one example of many famous role models to present Old Spice. I’m sure we will see many more in the future.

The ad then goes on to use pathos, which is an appeal to the audience based on emotion. Isaish Mustafa appears in the ad as a strong man wearing a lumberjack outfit holding an axe. The advertisement also shows a woman looking up to Isaish Mustafa, as if he is a man's emotional needs to smell like a real man to attract women. This is a great example of pathos because if I can look as good as Issaish Mustafa looks, then maybe women will want me as bad as him as well. It creates the impression that using Old Spice is the only way for you to truly be able to attract the opposite gender and uses pathos by playing on your fear of being left out. The most important aspect of pathos in this ad however, is the ridiculous picture it paints. They know it looks unusual, and they are hoping that the ad will be able to stick to them. Even if they never even purchase Old Spice body wash.

You can gather information of logos by first reading the slogan “Smell like a man, man.” This slogan is important because it’s basically telling us in order to smell like a man you need to use Old Spice. This may seem like an absurd way to sell a product, but Old Spice is telling us that there is no other way for us to smell like a man, and no other company that will enable us to. Old Spice then offers the simple solution of buying their body wash, so you can finally become manly. Old Spice then goes on to tell us that we are basically obligated to use their body wash to maintain our manliness, and that we cannot use any other type body wash. If we use another type of body wash, then we might risk our sense of manliness.

Logos is also used in the ad by using the women you see in it. Obviously men are attracted to women, and Old Spice uses that to their advantage. Old Spice uses women in there ads on purpose as a way to get men to buy the product. The ad uses reasoning because in order to attract women, you need to smell like a man. Purchasing the body wash will in turn make you attractive towards women, which is in most cases a man's sexual desire. Almost everyone knows that there is no company that will be able to offer you that, let alone old spice. Old Spice’s intentions are really just to grab your attention to their product.

So as we wrap things up, Old Spice does a great job overall of grabbing men's attention to their product. Old Spice uses great examples of ethos, pathos and logos in this lumberjack advertisement, and it’s a big reason why they have been so successful. The lumberjack ad does a great job of not only showing views from a mans perspective, but a woman's perspective as well. Old Spice may not be able to deliver on all of its promises, but there is no doubt that the tactics will persuade men to buy their products.