Ad Analysis

Image an original Old Spice ad via The Historical Society Blog

Bring Out Your Inner Cowboy

   The human cortex, or voice of reason, is ultimately dominated by our instinctual, reptilian brain when it comes to making purchases. Subconscious, primal impulses prevail because they are so strongly imprinted in our minds. One example of this from the PBS video "The Science of Selling" is when a person correlates a particular memory- such as their mother- with coffee. No matter the rationale, the association will always be the principal defining factor when the decision to acquire coffee is made. In the case of the cowboy Old Spice ad, the primal need for attention is targeted. Old Spice gives the promise of making a man into a real man, which implies getting positive recognition. 

   This Old Spice ad draws from the depiction of true cowboys in the media- men who would win shoot outs and always had a woman practically fainting from their degree of manliness. Consistent with those movies, the featured man is depicted as extremely tall. He has taken a very strong, dominant position. And what man wouldn’t want the confidence of a cowboy? The man in the ad gives off such an air of confidence that the woman beside him seems to think that he is her breath of life- her manly man. As seen in the movies and magazines, a man such as that always gets the girl- it would be unheard of for them not to. So by using Old Spice, a man is buying into those sort of 100% of the time odds- as unrealistic as they may actually be. Not only does this ad assure that a man will get attention, it also appeals to the ever present need for sex.

Image from the film Born to the West (1937) via Wikipedia