Hillary Gets The AXE In Chicago and New York
I was just about to go to bed when I got an email from a woman at Edelman, the PR firm that represents Unilever, maker of AXE body spray. She had read my post on the Frank Fairey DIY Obama poster (Barack Obama Has A Posse), and sent me a preview of 2 ads that will run in the major newspapers of Chicago and New York tomorrow, taking full advantage of the Super Tuesday media frenzy.
The ads aren’t great. They’re not overly clever or well art directed. But they’ll get some attention, and that’s really what AXE and Unilever want. I know that politicians are public domain when it comes to satire and comedy, but this is beyond controversial, using a politician-in-the-running to push a product. There will be many letters and emails for and against this (but mostly against), and of course confused voters who will believe Hillary Clinton is actually endorsing AXE (or Obama / McCain). I’ll be watching to see if any of the candidates mock Hillary for it. I’ll be even more interested to see if Hillary attacks Unilever for these ads. I’m not sure what good it will do for AXE, other than get people talking about the brand. But will the right people be talking, and will they buy the product? That remains to be seen.
What impresses me is that Edelman is digging a bit deeper to get this out there, and create an underlying buzz through the little bloggers, like me. Or maybe it just stroked my blogger’s ego to receive acknowledgment of readership. I feel so used, yet so happy! Let the controversy begin.
SIDEBAR: I talk a bit about Unilever’s split personality branding of both Dove and AXE in this Social Media Today podcast.
Popularity: 53% [?]
Tags: AXE, Chicago, Clinton, Edelman, Hillary, McCain, New York, Obama, PR, Super Tuesday, The Axe Effect, Unilever
February 5th, 2008 at 12:16 pm
This is interesting as an attention grabbing thing, but I agree with you on the questionable strategic value.
I can’t imagine anyone over voting age actually purchasing Axe…
February 5th, 2008 at 12:42 pm
Nice stunt. Obviously hoping for some viral magic to happen. But it’s a little too subtle for the Axe brand. I would love to see the concepts the ad agency had to leave on the drawing board…those would’ve connected with youth and really gotten good ol’ Unilever into trouble.
Note to Edelman: feel free to pretend to be shocked by the leak of those creative concepts…it’s what we all want to see.
February 5th, 2008 at 2:12 pm
[…] now Axe has a new ad out and this time it’s political. It shows two images of Hillary Clinton, one in which she […]
February 10th, 2008 at 11:08 pm
I am against the controversial use of Hillary’s image to push their product, especially because axe ads don’t portray women as leaders or independent thinkers in any way. This seems to be an obvious jab at the idea of a women being president.
February 11th, 2008 at 10:44 pm
[…] [via Feministing and 1/100.] […]
February 19th, 2008 at 10:31 am
she is so fat I love her with a passion. back off bill.