Last weekend the popular mens deodorant company, Axe, released a new commercial during Super Bowl 50. The company has been known to feature men who have the "ideal body" in their campaigns - now, the company in spearheading a new advertisement concept called the "find your magic campaign." Essentially, Axe is encouraging men to embrace their individuality.
Many groups of men are represented in the commercial - a handicap man, a man who cross-dresses, a man with a large nose, and an African American man, to name a few. Though this is an improvement from previous ads, it does not successfully deal with the varying intersectionalities in our country. The ad placed the men into their stereotyped societal groups. For example, the man with a big nose fell into the white male nerd category while the African American man fell into the athlete category.
It is dangerous when the media, an advertisement in this case, walks this line of inclusivity. On the one hand, it is good that they are attempting feature a variety of types of people in their campaign, but on the other hand, it's disheartening because they (the media) has yet again placed people into their stereotyped groups. Good try Axe, better luck next time.
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