The Old Spice Man

Old Spice is notorious for having ridiculous commercials that initially don't make to much sense.  The marketers at Old Spice take the Gestalt route in order to capture the audience's attention.  Because of this odd approach on advertising, I almost enjoy watching these commercials since they come off more as entertainment.  The movement of the camera makes it seem like you are in the commercial with the Old Spice man and creates the illusion that he is talking to you.  Overall, this connects with the audience on a personal level so that it no longer seems like a product is being sold, but that a friend is suggesting a a product for you.

At first, it seems like the commercial targets only women who want their boyfriends /husbands /brothers/uncles/etc. to smell better, since he begins the commercial with, "Hello ladies," and continues on by saying, "Sadly, he isn’t me, but if he stopped using ladies scented body wash and switched to Old Spice, he could smell like he’s me."  However, when looking deeper into the second statement, we can see that the marketers are emasculating male viewers by saying that your man is using a "ladies scented body wash".  The marketer's intention is to prompt men to use this product in order to not smell like a lady.  So in essence, this is a male product marketed to women with men in their lives but in-between the lines also addressing those men.  This odd target market can also play to the Gestalt advertising technique.