Seldom does an ad for mens’ cologne induce this marketer’s riotous laughter from start to finish—but not every cologne can be Proctor & Gamble’s Old Spice, which recently launched a new, youth-oriented campaign.
That’s right: I just stuck Old Spice and “youth-oriented campaign” in the same sentence and one didn’t go flying out the door away from the other, screaming in terror. Much like the odd combinations women crave during pregnancy, this ice-cream-and-pickles dream is probably due to a highly distorted perspective caused by an expert screw. Except this time, it wasn’t by a man: it was by an ad agency.
The big brouhaha is centered on a website calling all men to answer a question I never thought I’d ask, or even write: Are you an Old Spice “Man of Experience”? If you’re wondering what the hell that’s supposed to mean, well—so did I. I wondered enough to take a peek around; here are my findings.
It turns out the site is comprised of two cardinal sections, “Test” and “Train”. I first turned to “Test”, which is a Flash-driven fifty-question quiz determined to equate wearing Old Spice cologne with “experience”. Donning something called “European Manfume” is highly inexperienced, unnecessary and probably blasphemous, according to the site, which seems designed for maximum 13-to-18 male appeal.
Each question in the “Test” section presents two pictures as possible answers, posing a query in the “either/or” format. Despite the fact that this site is heavily advertised on MySpace and is supposed to catch the eye of “manly men” (or at least manly boys), the questions are challenging; sometimes even perplexing. Topics covered include the “unclean hand” in Arab culture, the proper wine to serve with a certain entrée, guitar chord progressions, the reading of flight controls and other James Bond-esque things that any true “man of the world” should implicitly know.
Except, these are men of gym class...not men of the world. This could explain why the “Train” section contains articles meant to improve one’s “performance”, but how many high school boys really care about this crap?
In phys ed locker rooms across the country, dudes aren’t comparing vintage grapes from France—they’re talking about girls, sports and sex. Male high school culture isn’t based on what you know; it’s all about who you know. Now, if Proctor & Gamble wanted to hook up a street team of fourteen year-old jocks with Old Spice so our future IT workers and other cultural laggards would observe and duplicate accordingly—well, that may have worked.
As it stands, however, this silly site isn’t going to change the mind of any guys worth changing. A teenage girl could do that, of course, but here’s what they had to say on Yahoo Answers when some poor, hapless guy queried about their opinion of Old Spice cologne:
• Love2figureskate said, “I don’t like it at all.”
• K.C. said, “no...it reminds me of my Grandpa...Curve is my favorite cologne for guys.”
• Bonlwick said, “I associate Old Spice with old men. If you like the scent of Old Spice, I would suggest you try Curve. The scents are both masculine without being overpowering, but Curve is more modern."
• Taniagz said, “I don’t like it, too cheapy.”
So, if the hot jock guys don’t like it; and the cute girls don’t like it—who actually likes it?
The ad agency, of course. Look at this awesome website they designed!

Spicing it Up: Old Spice's new, youth-oriented website.