I was watching television recently and saw the advertisements for new Lynx Lower Body Spray. For those who do not know, Lynx is a brand of men’s deodorant in the UK. Whatever one may think of the scent, it lingers.
Lower Body Spray is the company’s newest product. It is an aerosol one can spray over clothes and smell like either Coconut and Sandalwood or Pear and Cedarwood. This shpritz offers physical refreshment or, at the very least, an acceptable social presence. I couldn’t help thinking the appropriate scent should have been Daisy Fresh. On reflection, however, that option might have been masculine enough for the consumers the company was targeting.
But what really bothered me about Lynx Lower Body Spray was its advertising campaign. There were two commercials. The first showed a basketball player spraying his shorts. Then that player was shown jumping up into a lay-up to score a basket. The player was shown returning to game floor, only this time a defender’s head was face first in the player’s midriff and enjoying a good whiff with a look of contentment.
The companion advert showed a recently-sprayed man making his way down a row in a crowded cinema. However, one of women he passes is aroused by the smell he exudes. She then follows this stranger with a look of hunger, her face down toward his backside.
Is the media suggesting people are no different from dogs, getting to know one another by sniffing each other’s nether parts. I am left wondering if this is to what modern perfumery coming. I am also thinking about the lack of personal boundaries.
In 2000 the Baha Men asked, “Who let the dogs out?” Apparently, it was Lynx Lower Body Spray or their advertising agency.