No Comment: Axe Body Wash Will “Scrub Away the Skank”

When Ms. received this Axe ad in the mail, I was about to disregard it as a stupid but not overtly sexist piece of advertising–until I read the tagline for the last, pumpkin-orange body wash: “Scrub away the skank with Snake Peel.”

Really?

I noticed a website address scribbled on the body of the man in the third storyboard. So I visited www.thefixers.com and found The Fixer Show, a faux-talk show made by Axe and dedicated, apparently, to advice for men. Each of The Fixer’s five segments corresponds to a new Axe body wash. In the Snake Peel segment, I learned that “questionable hookups” whom you might wish to “scrub away” include: “the geriatric, the bedridden, the lazy eye, the girl that has way more muscles than you, which is sexy only until she has you pinned down and she’s asking you to call her Frank …” And more! For three minutes! Thanks, Axe. You sure know how to make a girl feel special.

Got something skanky to get off your chest? Email Axe or call 1-800-450-7580.

This ad appeared in the April 29, 2010 issue of Rolling Stone. Thanks to Isabella for sending it in.

Tagged:

About

Stephanie hails from Toronto, Canada. She is a Ms. writer, a master of journalism candidate and a hip hop dancer/instructor/choreographer. She got her start in feminist journalism at the age of 16 when she was a member of the first editorial collective at Shameless magazine—and she has never looked back.