Example of Hypocrisy or Good Marketing?

IMC CIA-1

Submitted to,

Prof. Uday

Submitted By:

Group2

Shilpa, Sunny, Sachin

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 "Doing business without advertising is like winking at a girl in the dark. You
know what you are doing, but nobody else does." -- Stuart Henderson Britt

But

Question is how much realistic should ones advertisement be?

Should there be any limits?

Hence whether an advertisement is mere Hypocrisy or Good one all depends on:-

 How key publics can interpret messages differently.

 What extent a company should make sure its corporate social responsibility (CSR)
messages permeate across all brands.

 What tactics do they attempt to hold your interest?

AIDA= Attention-> Interest-> Desire ->ACTION!!!

 It gets harder as you go…

THE EVER GREEN STRATEGY OF AXE TO GAIN THIS “AIDA”

• Tightly focused promotional efforts dramatizing benefits

• Creative ways

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 • Aimed at a younger, male crowd

• Relies on a guy’s hopes to be sexually needed.

• Leaning more towards unrealistic expectations of how the world works.

Strongly promotes the idea that

‘Boy gets desired Girl’ resulting from product usage.”

 AXE is famous for its Humorous marketing construct which it uses to taps into:-

“The fervent male hope that irresistible sexual magnetism can be purchased in a bottle”

 Advertising/marketing communications of Axe rely on the theme of

“Giving guys the edge in the mating game.”

 Asserts Axe products create the “Axe Effect - Internationally recognized name for the
increased attention Axe-wearing males receive from eager, and attractive, female
pursuers…Regardless of where you live, you can ‘get you some’ Axe effect by going to
a store near you.”

THE LATEST ADVERTISEMENT OF AXE

The “Bom Chicka Wah Wah” a pop-culture term for a “sexual encounter”. It features four girls
named Bom, Chicka, Wah and Wah, in a 1970s style rock band

CONTROVERSY

Analysis of consumer perception of AXE Deodorant Spray for Men Advertisements:

Are the advertisements of Axe Deodorant Body Spray for Men effective with respect to

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 its effect on consumer perception? We have focused on one commercial in which a
fairly attractive man sprays on Axe Body Spray while in an elevator.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=EL6ADmYGK2w

In the ad, the young businessman is shown with his shirt still unbuttoned and his jacket
hanging from his arm and is getting ready in the elevator. He sprays on a good amount
of AXE on himself and gets dressed and leaves the elevator. Then another sloppy
dressed not so attractive man in a suit and a beautiful woman gets on the elevator. The
woman quickly picks up on the scent from the Axe spray and pushes the emergency
stop button. In the next scene we see the woman stepping out of the elevator pulling
down her skirt and fixing her hair, the man also looking rough, implying the two
engaged in a quick make out session. - Message send out being “The Axe effect” in
action.

How far is this true? & Does the consumer accept this?

UNABLE TO ATTRACT EVEN A SINGLE GIRL, FRUSTRATED MAN SUES AXE:

The story of Vaibhav Bedi’s quixotic crusade against the “Axe Effect” shot.

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  A major marketing and legal embarrassment for Hindustan Unilever Limited (HUL), a
26-year-old man has filed a case against the FMCG company, which owns the Axe brand
of men grooming products, for ‘cheating’ and causing him ‘mental suffering’.

 Vaibhav claims that he had to do go a lot of mental suffering and public humiliation due
to the lack of Axe effect and wants HUL to compensate him for this agony.

 Cited his failure to attract any girl at all even though he’s been using Axe products for
over seven years now.

 Axe advertisements suggest that the products help men in instantly attracting women.

Vaibhav was pushed to take this step when his bai (maid) beat him with a broom when he tried
to impress her by appearing naked in front of her after applying all the Axe products. Despite
using it from his college to present, no girl ever agreed to even go out for a tea or coffee. HUL
has officially declined to comment on the case citing the subject to be sub judice.

ANOTHER CITATION OF CONSUMER DISSATISFACTION & CONFUSION

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WHAT COULD BE DONE?

AXE Ads may be able to overcome such issues if it can align its advertisements subjective to the levels of
attitude commitment it expects from its customer. Here though most ads focus on creating identification
between the product to the person or group or to tap the social acceptance nerve.

By creating such a perception though they might be successful in enticing the individuals to buy their
product but a long term commitment to this brand may not be achieved. These kinds of exaggerated ads
though tends to attain the AIDA factor yet ends up in creating confusion or even creating high levels of
dissatisfaction. Probably if AXE provides a disclaimer statement‘s like This shall enable it to avoid such
issues

For e.g.:-

DISCLAIMER

“All sequences featured in this ad are purely for advertising purpose. The company or product shall not
be held responsible for providing the similar outcomes as stated, under any circumstances. If any of these
sequences be attempted by anyone other.”