Axe, Old Spice Ads Promote Personal Hygiene Among Young Teen And Tween Boys

Male hygiene brands Axe (Unilever) and Old Spice (Procter & Gamble) have launched marketing campaigns that may have accidentally promoted the importance of personal cleanliness among teen and tween boys aged 11-14 years. The ads use humor, hyperbole, and even some silliness to drive home their message to a target audience that is more concerned with issues related to their masculinity and does not consider hygiene a major priority. While the campaigns might have inadvertently met success – they were actually targeting college-age and twenty-something males – it illustrates the importance of the teens and tweens group whose members, according to marketing research firm YouthBeat, play the most important role when families purchase clothes, shoes, and deodorants.