A Rhetorical Analysis Of Old Spice Commercials

Scalding steam bellows swiftly out from the smartly tiled shower; screeching echoes of the shower curtain escapes deafeningly as a moist, attractive African-American man begins to descend with a white, constricted towel across his waist. The man begins to shout at the audience that Old Spice’s products will transform them from a mediocre, poorly dressed man into a magnificently attractive, cool, and powerful fellow. At first glance, Old Spice commercials are innocently selling hygiene products to the average consumer, but the commercials have a subliminal message for the audience — they will become improved once they use Old Spice’s product.

Simply by watching an Old Spice commercial featuring Terry Crews, the audience would feel that using

an Old Spice product would make them more attractive than they already are. Countless people would argue that Terry Crews is an extremely attractive man, for he has a sculptured body that any man would dream to have. Terry Crews is shown shirtless with what seems to be beads of sweat dripping off of his tone, muscular chest. The alluring appearance that Terry Crews has makes the audience want to become fit, forcing them to purchase the products shown in the commercials. The small, red can in the commercials are used to contain the liquid and are also used to spray it on the person who is going to be using the product. The intoxicating products sold by Old Spice comes in several scents including: Wolfthorn, Swagger, After Hours, Timber Fresher, Hawkridge, Bearglove, Lionpride, Foxcrest, Champion, and many, many more amazingly delightful scents. In numerous commercial, Terry Crews is seen spraying body spray, one of the products sold by Old Spice, on his rock-hard body then flexing his bulging pectoral muscles, which conveys the message that this spray will enable the audience to be able to flex in such a way. Since the commercials made by Old Spice show off a handsome man, the consumers would feel that they must use the products to become as attractive as Terry Crews; however, the product is only used to block out the body odors released when someone sweats or does not bathe for extended periods of time.
Not only do Old Spice commercials make the consumer think they will become attractive after using the products, but it also makes the average person think they will be cooler after covering themselves with the chemicals in each of the containers.

In several commercials, the actor, Terry Crews is partaking in some sort of event that the normal civilian would not be able to do without the help from the spray sold by Old Spice, which persuades the audience in to buying body spray. After covering oneself with the musky wilderness smell given off by the mixture of chemicals, the consumer would feel that they are cooler than the person they were before using the body spray. Old Spice has many ways of making their products look cool, so the Old Spice team uses every possible idea they have. By providing the audience with action scenes, Old Spice gets into the mind of their audience, forcing them to go out and purchase the product that seems to give people special abilities to do spectacular actions. All the actions being promoted by Old Spice are very dangerous, and making a man believe that he will be able to do them after using the product is truly evil. The Old Spice brand constantly shows muscular men in their commercials, for the brand wants people to believe that they too can become muscular. By promoting such physique, Old Spice wants people to believe that the products being sold will make the consumer look like the man in the commercials; however, what they do not show,

is that the products sold are not actually a performance enhancer in any way, shape, or form, and will not make the consumer any cooler than they already are.
Since the commercials developed by Old Spice and their team makes it seem that anyone who uses the products will be cool and attractive, they make it seem like the person using the Old Spice products will become powerful also.

In each Old Spice commercial, Terry Crews is seen saying the Old Spice slogan – power. Being powerful is having great power or strength, which Terry Crews does have, especially after using the body spray in the commercials displayed by Old Spice. Terry Crews tells some of the other actors that using Old Spice will make them powerful, for he used it and could lift objects that even Superman would have a difficult time lifting. Terry Crews does all of this in almost every commercial, in turn, letting the customer believe that if they use the body spray, they will be incredibly strong and nearly invincible. The Old Spice commercials make the body spray seem like it coats the consumer with armor after use, but, in reality, it makes the consumer sticky. Every person wants to have a little power, so seeing this commercial makes them think that, by using the Old Spice products, they will be able to have more powerful, thus becoming more powerful than they already were. Because power is somewhat needed to strive, any person would want to become more powerful; however, the body spray sold by Old Spice does not actually make someone more powerful, it only makes them smell

better.
From deodorant to body spray, Old Spice sells it all; products to make a person smell better, feel better, and, per the commercials, be better. The Old Spice team makes a person feel that they can become more attractive, cool, and powerful after using the products, but they only make the consumer smell better and feel better about themselves. The marketing team that Old Spice has uses smartly place strategies in the commercials so the company can have all the sales possible. The company has sold several million products over the past ten years alone by using the commercials, but that does not change the evil ways that they used to get sales. Portraying false images of men to get people to purchase their product is wrong. The slogan for Old Spice is power, but what it should be is a lot stronger than power. What the slogan should be is evil.