Mitchum Man Ads: The New Axe

[ccharles000]

What is up with the plethora of disturbing sexist advertising for men's deodorant? Are they that scared of the simple joy of smelling nice?

Mitchum Man ads may just be your worst nightmare. And they're everywhere - on trains, on bar coasters, bus stops. Not only do they epitomize the worst of American masculinity, but promotes nonconsensual sexual behavior (see below). Change Happens covered this in August; our apologies for being super late on it.

Their website proudly displays a number of gems, like:

"If you're the only one who knows which remote controls what, you're a Mitchum man."
"A Mitchum Man's shirt is clean. His mind, not so much."

"If G is your favorite kind of string, you're a Mitchum Man"

"If your best man is holding onto your bachelor party pictures, you're a Mitchum Man."


And it goes on and on...

http://www.feministing.com/archives/011406.html

[slampoet]

1. That's too bad. I buy that because it's one of the only I'm not allergic to.

The numbskulls didn't even consider that campaign.

[Faygo Kid]

2. "If you were into the Beatles and Stones in the 60s, and Viagra in 2008, you're a Mitchum man."

Why do I think I will not see that ad?

[Rage for Order]

3. The posts at Feministing.com are way worse than the Mitchum ads

Talk about some shrill, uptight women.

"Wow, that's disgusting. Popular portrayals of masculinity for men are about as unhealthy as those of femininity are for women. Of course, they also teach an objectification of women which is dangerous so they end up harming both genders as well as any anyone who doesn't fit neatly into a gender box. What is next, I wonder? Maybe something along the lines of "If you can slip GHB into her drink without her noticing...then you're a Mitchum man." I'm going to make sure none of my close friends or family use this product and if they I'm going to make sure they stop."

or

"If you have to deceive people to get laid, you're a Mitchum Man."

Really? I thought if you had to deceive people to get laid you were most likely a woman. You know, by doing things like wearing makeup so one looks more attractive than one actually is, or wearing a push-up bra to make one's breasts appear to be bigger and/or perkier than they actually are. I'm guessing this person spells "womyn" with a 'y' instead of an 'a' or 'e' to ensure that "man" or "men" is no part of the word "woman" :eyes:

[Missy Vixen]

6. I don't spell "womyn" with a y, but I found the following offensive

>I thought if you had to deceive people to get laid you were most likely a woman. You know, by doing things like wearing makeup so one looks more attractive than one actually is, or wearing a push-up bra to make one's breasts appear to be bigger and/or perkier than they actually are.<

Let's see here. First of all, we're damned if we do, and damned if we don't, aren't we? If we're not beautiful, we don't matter. If we're not perfect without cosmetic enhancement, we don't deserve to exist. I don't wear a push-up bra, but the facts of life are these: Breasts droop after 40. I suppose that means those of us who have this dreaded malady had best forget about any kind of sex life. After all, we're untouchable.

There's no guy in America who's had cosmetic surgery, colors his hair, straightens or bleaches his teeth, gets his back or unibrow waxed, is there?

Julie

[Rage for Order]

7. Sorry, didn't mean to offend

I was aggravated by that feministing.com poster's attitude. Nearly everyone deceives people in one way or another when they're trying to get laid. Putting your best foot forward and all that. We all would like to improve ourselves, some of us naturally and others unnaturally. My beef was that she tried to make it sound as though it was the exclusive domain of men, specifically those who use a certain brand of deodorant. For the record, I'm a Speed Stick guy ;)

[AlCzervik]

13. that web site told us we should be offended by sexist tampon ads, that was enough for me.

guess what, a tampon box could be wrapped in barbed wire and you have to through an obstacle course to get to them but we would still buy them, their a necessity and not a luxury.

that blog, no thanks.

[Missy Vixen]

17. Rage for Order, don't worry about it

You're right. We all do something to look more attractive to the opposite sex. I'm not into the whole "all men are bad boys" thing, either. Obviously, there's some guys any woman should watch out for, as there are lots of women guys might want to think twice about spending any time with.

It is interesting to me that it's now more socially acceptable for guys to do stuff like surgery, getting a perm, waxing, etcetera to make themselves more attractive to women.

My husband uses that Old Spice super-duper deodorant. ;-)

Julie

[madrchsod]

4. a shitty 1970`s colonge?

what about sterling silver or english leather?

to bad they did`t do a little research on mitchum man ads. that stuff stinks

[NYCGirl]

5. It's a deodorant, not a cologne. And they make women's deodorant, too.

It's actually very effective.

[Hannah Bell]

8. The worst is the good old boys sitting around singing "Viva Viagra,"

& chuckling together.

Laughable, pitiful, creepy - all at the same time.

[Rage for Order]

9. That commercial makes me laugh

But I try to withhold judgment because I hope to get old someday too. Let he who hath not failed to engorge cast the first...something :)

[Hannah Bell]

10. The men in the ad aren't "old," they're middle aged. There's just

something so creepy about a bunch of middle-aged guys singing & chuckling about their inability to maintain erections...& winking about their viagra-soma.

Ewww - everything about it creeps me out.

[Rage for Order]

11. Yeah, but I think they're supposed to be old

It's part of the marketing. Let people envision themselves looking like those guys when they're 65, when in actuality the guys representing 65 year olds in the ad are 50. Similar to women's dress designers making a size 2 dress larger each year - it makes a woman want to buy it because she can fit into her size 2 dress. Forget the fact that this year's size 2 was actually a size 6 five years ago.

[Hannah Bell]

14. i agree with that. it's another part of the creepy factor. so phony &

appealing to the worst & most pitiful in people on every level.

blech.

[mduffy31]

16. And really what guy is going to sing about the fact that he needs a pill to get it up?

[dorkulon]

12. These are my favorites:

[ccharles000]

15. LOL

[Luna_C_06]

18. What the hell is going on in second pic?!

God bless the internets, for without them I would never know people actually did stuff like.....that.

[ccharles000]

19. I believe he is having sex with peanut butter.