Old Spice Stereotypes

Using a stereotype in order to convey a certain aspect of a product is used frequently throughout the advertisement world. Old Spice uses attractive men, often shirtless, with a bigger, more muscular build. The advertisement states that the male in the ad is “the man your man could be,” implying that using Old Spice shampoo, body wash, or deodorant will transform a person’s significant other into someone who resembles the individual in the commercial. Attractive women are often used to market beauty products; they show off their flawless complexion and perfectly blended eye shadow in order to persuade women (or men) that are viewing the ad that they can look just as beautiful—even though the individual’s makeup is professionally done. Models are no exception to this rule of thumb in advertising. The generalization that supermodels are unintelligent has been used to display the simplicity and foolproof design of a product for many years in the advertising business. The phone company LG displays a perfect example of the use of this technique when it introduced the new LG DB520 in an advertisement. The cellphone itself is shown in the upper left-hand corner of the page, slightly off to the side so that it can be focused on first. The off-white background allows for the phone to stand out, even
LG effectively promotes their new product by implying even the “dumbest” supermodels are capable of understanding it. Although there is not much to the overall promotion, the short and to the point slogan gets the message across adequately with a slight tone of playfulness (even if it may be interpreted as