Unilever is a multi-billion-dollar company that has been in
business since the early 1880s. Their vision is to help people look good, feel
good, and the get more out of life. Unilever sells over 400 different types of food and drink, personal care, and home care products combined, but
only about 33 different types of brands are sold in the united states. Among
those brands are Klondike, Lipton, Axe, Dove, and Persil. In 2016 Axe and Dove
were among 13 personal care brands that produced over 1 billion euros, which is
equivalent to just over 1.2 billion US dollars.
Axe was first introduced to the US in 2002 and in 2004 they
launched a commercial that is geared towards how women are going to act towards
you when using Axe body spray, this
video can be seen using the link below. The same year they launched this Dove
launched a "Real Beauty Campaign" that celebrated women’s natural
appearance. Very contradicting coming from the same company. Unilever received
some backlash, but that didn't stop them from the way they introduced their axe
detailer in 2010 with a commercial that aired on tv for a brief time. In this
commercial Monica Blake a tennis player played by Jamie Presley from My Name is
Earl talking about how people don't like to play with dirty equipment
"balls". There are several innuendo referring to the men's testicles. They continued
to receive backlash and in a 2012 case study conducted by Kellogg's school of
management people asked, "How can the same company that launched the Dove
campaign celebrating women’s natural appearance over media stereotypes be
behind the arguably degrading depiction of females in ads for Axe"? The
Dove's skin care Vice President response was "each Unilever's brand's
advertising efforts are tailored to reflect the unique interest and needs of
its audience". In laymen's terms women need to feel beautiful and men need
to feel wanted by women. An article reads "they're trying to undo what
they have done" referring to the 2017 launch of the #isitokayforguys
campaign which focuses on the "REAL" problems guys are facing.
I don't know if Unilever is going to continue with their
focuses towards men’s problems or if they will turn back to their
"sexist" ads. It will be interesting to see.
