Modern Man Marketing: A Multimodal Analysis of Axe and Old Spice Campaigns

Branding fragrance for the
modern man: a
multimodal analysis of persuasive strategies
in Axe and Old-spice marketing campaigns

Tomas Jankauskis, 402872
Supervisor: Carmen Daniela Maier
Department of Language and Business Communication
Aarhus School of Business
3
rd
of May 2012

Tomas Jankauskis, 402872 MMC 2012 Bachelor Thesis
Abstract
The growth of the male grooming market formulates an interest of what persuasive strategies
make the actual sale. Old-spice and Axe are responsible for the biggest share of the market. Many
argue that this is mainly due to their marketing campaigns, even though at first glance, their
general approach of using gender stereotypes does not differentiate from others. The thesis
therefore provides a multimodal analysis of several print and video commercials, aiming to
identify the persuasive strategies used across semiotic modes by both companies. This will be
followed by a look into how these persuasive strategies contribute to strengthening the brand.
The multimodal analysis, using the metafunctional theory by M.A.K. Halliday and its
adaptations by Kress & Van Leeuwen (2004) for still images and Iedema (2001) for moving
images, provides several findings. The thesis identifies, that Old-spice and Axe approach
persuasion differently: Old-spice use the central route to persuasion and explicit messages, while
Axe use the opposite – peripheral route to persuasion and implicit messages. The companies
catch and keep audience’s attention by employing humor, sex and guilt appeals, while also using
conflict, familiarity and curiosity as factors of interest. The thesis then finds how the marketing
campaigns impact branding. Thomas Gad (2003) stated that there are four dimensions of
branding: functional, social, mental and spiritual. The thesis argues that both companies fulfill
the mental dimensions, while Old-spice also covers the social dimensions by interacting with
their viewers. Overall conclusion is that both companies sell not only a product, but also a set of
values and stories associated with the brands, to which their customers aspire to relate.
The originality of the thesis is based on its timing. Currently, the market of male grooming
products is experiencing massive growth. Men are more concerned with their physical image,
thus the gates are open for the new companies to put their foot in. However, the market leaders
are aware of this and continue introducing marketing campaigns that attract the audience. The
thesis unveils the promotional tools that work, thus serving as a framework for the new
companies that strive for success in what is evolving to be a competitive market of male
grooming products.
Character count: 1,988
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Table of Contents
Abstract 2
1. Introduction 5
1.1. Problem statement 5
1.2. Method 6
1.3. Motivation 6
1.4. Delimitation 6
1.5. Structure 7
2. Background information 7
2.1. Axe 7
2.2. Old-spice7
3. Theoretical background 8
3.1. Social semiotics 8
3.1.1. Kress and Van Leeuwen 9
3.1.2. Iedema 10
3.2. Persuasion 10
3.2.1. Petty and Cacioppo 11
3.2.2. Halmari and Virtanen 12
3.2.3. Benoit & Benoit 12
3.2.4. Gass & Seiter 13
3.3. Branding 15
3.3.1. Thomas Gad 15
3.3.2. Fog et al 16
4. Methodology 16
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5. Multimodal analysis 18
5.1. Print advertisements 18
5.1.1. Old-spice “Lumberjack” print ad (appendix 1) 18
5.1.2. Old-spice “Smell better than yourself” print ad (appendix 2) 19
5.1.3. Axe “The Axe effect” print ad (appendix 3) 20
5.1.4. Axe “The Axe effect” print ad (appendix 4) 21
5.2. Video commercials 22
5.2.1. Old-spice “The man you could smell like” commercial (appendix 5) 22
5.2.2. Old-spice “Motorcycle” commercial (appendix 6) 23
5.2.3. Axe “Even angels will fall” commercial (appendix 7) 23
5.2.4. Axe “Courtroom” commercial (appendix 8) 24
6. Persuasion and Branding 25
6.1. Persuasive strategies 25
6.2. Branding 26
7. Conclusion 27
References 29
Appendices 31
Characters (no spaces): 46,861
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1. Introduction
After decades of shaping the ideal female body image, media eventually have found a way to the
hearts of men. Buying patterns give reason to concluding that generation x and generation y
males have accepted the ‘good looks’ model presented by the mass media. However, men today
see appearance not only as a tool of attracting women, good grooming is now also being related
to a more professional image that leads to increased compliance in the business environments as
well as higher employment prospects. Due to the robust growth of male interest in improving
body image, new light started shining on the grooming product market. A 21.7 billion dollar
industry and growing – it is becoming a target for many cosmetic companies, yet only a few have
the advertising figured out to claim most of the market share.
1
Gender stereotypes over time have become a traditional discourse in advertising.
2
Be it clothing,
sweets or beverages – the universal adaptation of men as symbols of confidence, strength and
courage, while a woman as symbols of sexuality, fragility and vulnerability is overwhelming.
3
Old-spice and Axe are no different in their choice of the general themes of advertising. However,
despite preferring the rather tedious approach to marketing, they are generating the highest sales
in the male grooming product segment.
While most of the current day advertising is following the environment friendly tendencies, Axe
and Old-spice have chosen to continuously introduce campaigns that ignore the problems of the
world, focusing on the problems of a typical guy who aspires to attract women. The
advertisements allegedly claim that using their products, or the fragrance that they sell, would
improve their customer’s sexual life, boost their confidence and in other ways make them better
men.
1.1. Problem statement
Given this background the thesis finds it interesting to explore the field of marketing male
grooming products. It will aim to identify the communicative strategies used by the market
leaders – Old-spice and Axe – which will be achieved by analyzing four print ads and four video
commercials two of each from both companies. Its purpose is to answer the following:
1
http://sbinformation.about.com/od/startingabusiness/a/bizopgrooming.htm2
http://www.bestthinking.com/trendingtopics/business_and_finance/sales_and_marketing/advertising/gender-
stereotyping-in-ads
3
http://www.bestthinking.com/trendingtopic/relateditem/1965
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What are the persuasive strategies used across semiotic modes by “Axe” and “Old-
spice” in their marketing campaigns?
How do these strategies contribute to strengthening the company’s brand?
1.2. Method
As the analysis of the material at hand - Axe and Old-Spice campaigns - requires mainly
interpretation, the scientific method applied will be hermeneutics. Hermeneutics is basically a
science that achieves understanding of things via interpretation. In order to interpret, the thesis
will be using a combination of social semiotics, persuasion and branding theories. Firstly, as the
main foundation, the social semiotics theories by Kress and Van Leeuwen will help identifying
the textual and visual strategies encoded in the marketing campaigns. Secondly, relative to the
textual and visual analysis, the persuasive aims will be pinpointed as to name the promotional
goals that the campaigns were striving to achieve. Finally, the conclusions will be correlated to
the modern branding theories as to formulate an overall perspective on how the companies brand
their products to make them desirable.
1.3. Motivation
Firstly, the idea of such analysis arose from personal interest of Axe and Old-spice campaigns
that tend to provide attention grabbing advertising, spiced with humor, entertainment and
innovation. Secondly, the thesis is important in its ability to provide an in depth analysis that
would show the hidden persuasive strategies. Lastly, it can contribute as a framework for
successful marketing for men.
1.4. Delimitation
Given the problem statement, the thesis will be based exclusively on Axe and Old-spice
deodorant and shower gel commercials directed at men. Other products the companies are
producing will be disregarded. Furthermore, due to the length restrictions, the thesis will be
delimitative to a certain number of video commercials and posters, because it intends to make an
in depth multimodal analysis. The thesis will be based solely on theories that will be introduced
in the following chapter.
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1.5. Structure
After the introduction, the paper will provide brief histories of Axe and Old-spice brands. The
third chapter will be devoted to an extensive presentation of the theoretical background which
will be the basis for the thesis. Following that, the fourth chapter will define how the theories
interlink and how they are used to analyze the thesis material, namely methodology. The
application of the theories will be described in chapter five. Finally, the sixth chapter will explain
the conclusions that can be made of this research.
2. Background information
2.1. Axe
Lynx, better known as Axe is a brand that produces grooming products for men. It was created in
1983 and currently is a part of Unilever group. It is the market leader, having 10-20 per cent of
market share, in most of the 60 countries where the product is available. At any given moment
the company produces six different fragrances and to keep up with the trends, every year it
renews the store shelves introducing one new scent, exchanging it with the least selling one. The
new scent is based on the top five trending fragrances of that certain moment in time, thus the
company may be argued to smell better than the average deodorant.
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However, the company’s success is based not only on keeping up with the fragrance trends, but
more due to their spicy marketing campaigns. The company came up with a claim, “Axe effect”,
which supposedly means that women will chase after men, who use any kind of Axe product.
Targeting 15 to 25 year old males, this kind of promotion was extremely aspirational to the target
group, as most never grow fond of the teenage dreams of being surrounded by desirable women.
The thesis will strive to define how this and possibly other reasons make Axe keep its leader
position in the grooming product market.
5
2.2. Old-spice
Old-spice, part of Procter & Gamble group, is a widely recognized brand of male grooming
products that was created over 70 years ago, in 1937. It is one of the classic men grooming
4
http://www.basenotes.net/company/102709
5
http://thisisnotadvertising.wordpress.com/2011/11/07/15-years-of-axe-
effect-the-worlds-most-sexist-advertising-campaign/
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brands; many even collect the old Old-spice shaving bottles as a memorabilia.
6
Given this
background, the brand seems to be appealing to a narrower target group – likely older people,
possibly loyal to the brand. This may have been the reason, why the company decided to
revitalize its marketing, by introducing a shocking new campaign in 2010.
“The man you could smell like” was an unexpected viral hit that brought back the light on a
company that seemed to have given up to such market leaders as Axe. The video of a man in a
towel, acted by Isaiah Mustafa, boasting about his physical and emotional attractiveness, hit 6
million views during the first 24 hours, making it one of the most successful online video
campaigns.
7
Noticing the success of “The Old-spice guy”, company continued using YouTube as
a platform for marketing, by introducing a new campaign that in a way resembles the prior. The
“Old-spice guy” will be one of the campaigns reviewed in the thesis, but before that, the paper
will look at the theories that will be used for the analysis.
3. Theoretical background
The theoretical background chapter will provide with an extensive description of the theories
used in the thesis. The data and the problem statement required the use of three different
frameworks: social semiotics, persuasion and branding.
3.1. Social semiotics
The term semiotics derives from Greek word semeoitikos meaning “interpreter of signs”
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. As a
field of close relation to linguistics, it was first defined by Ferdinand de Saussure, who
researched signs in societal context. He claimed that signs are arbitrary, meaning that every sign
may have several meanings that depend on the receivers social constructions for that certain sign
(Selden on Saussure, 1988:353). He based his claim, on the assumptions that language is
something every individual assimilates. It is a system of signs one has stored in his mind in a
word-image form, and the most important one (Selden on Saussure, 1988:351).
The most notable person in the social semiotics field was Michael Alexander Kirkwood Halliday.
According to him, “Text represents a choice. A text is ‘what is meant,’ selected from
6
http://www.basenotes.net/ID26121214.html
7
http://mashable.com/2011/03/16/old-spice-imitators/
8
http://www.wisegeek.com/what-are-semiotics.htm
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the total set of options that constitute what can be meant.” (Stillar on Halliday, 1998:15). To
analyze how the social environment forms certain meanings, Halliday came up with a
metafunctional theory within the social semiotics field, which suggested that language has three
functions: ideational, interpersonal and textual. The ideational function constructs the
perspective of the world, the environmental context. The interpersonal function, deals with
social relationships, engaging people to act. The textual function is responsible for the method of
presentation. Several researchers have employed these metafunctions to other semiotic modes.
Among them, were Kress and Van Leeuwen and Iedema.
3.1.1. Kress and Van Leeuwen
Kress and Van Leeuwen followed the ideas of M.A.K. Halliday, but instead of text, they were
interested in ‘reading’ images. According to Kress and Van Leeuwen: “Like linguistic structures,
visual structures point to particular interpretations of experience and forms of social interaction.”
(Kress & Van Leeuwen, 2004:2). And just like the grammar of language has certain rules on the
structures of various textual elements, elements of an image can as well “combine in visual
statements of greater or lesser complexity.” (Kress & Van Leeuwen, 2004:2). To be able to
analyze an image, they have adjusted M.A.K. Halliday’s metafunctional theory. In its ‘new’ form
the ideational metafunction would tell about how different objects are interrelated, the
interpersonal metafunction would interpret the relationship between the sender and the receiver.
Finally, the textual part would deal with the cohesion of different modes applied (Kress & Van
Leeuwen, 2004:43).
During their further research, they noticed a decrease in interest of monomodal discourse.
Corporate, academic and political documentation as well as mass media have adapted to using
the multimodal approach of information sharing. Thus Kress and Van Leeuwen identified a need
of analyzing multimodal information as a whole, where all modes are interpreted as a
combination, not independent pieces, has formed (Kress & Van Leeuwen, 2001:1-2). Information
pieces, even though having rich individual value, often can create more value when joined
together. In other words, information provides its “true” value when it is interpreted according to
the contextual pieces of information available at that certain point (Van Leeuwen, 2005:219-
220).
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When linking a text with an image, it can either elaborate or extend the visual piece. The text
could elaborate the image by specifying or explaining what is depicted. The extension linkage
can be used in a form of similarity, contrast or complement (Van Leeuwen, 2005:229-230).
3.1.2. Iedema
Like Kress and Van Leeuwen, Rick Iedema followed the footsteps of M.A.K. Halliday, adjusting
the metafunction theory to moving images. Television and film analysis has various methods and
theories that provide frameworks for analyzing the structure, semiotic perspectives, themes and
similar. However, most of them focus on telling us what the tele-film is “really about”. As a
contrast, Iedema provides an approach that focuses on the sociopolitical intertextualities and how
they relate one frame to another (Iedema, 2001:186).
Going back to the metafunctions, the ideational was renamed to representation which deals with
the meaning of the world based on the visual, verbal and musical information provided. The
interpersonal metafunction was replaced by orientation, which analyzes how the meaning
positions the viewer, looking at angles of view, as well as the positioning of characters of the
video itself. Finally textual metafunction turned to organization which deals with sequencing the
meanings in terms of structure and rhythm (Iedema, 2001:191-192).
Social semiotics helps identifying the social commitments and other values that are being
persuaded in the film. It works as a provisional tool that allows interaction with the medium, as
in seeing the smallest details that help questioning the social reality that is being presented in
more depth (Iedema, 2001:187). Persuasion or promotion is the key of every marketing
campaign and ever since marketing has become an ‘art’, the phenomenon of compliance gaining
in business has grown to extreme extents. The following part of the chapter will be devoted to
defining the tools that actually make people buy or attach themselves to a certain product or
brand.
3.2. Persuasion
Every day people are surrounded with implicit and explicit influence attempts, which all can be
explained by the theory of persuasion (Gass & Seiter, 2011:2). Persuasion as a term is defined as
“communication intended to induce belief or action”
9
.Given that the forms of persuasion are
9
http://www.thefreedictionary.com/persuasion
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vast: from implicit communication in advertising billboards to explicit messages by politicians
and news media – there are many theories under this rather new topic in the field of business.
Firstly, it would be relevant to know the model that is the basis for analysis of persuasive
messages.
3.2.1. Petty and Cacioppo
The ELM or elaboration likelihood model by Richard Petty and John Cacioppo created in 1986
(Gass & Seiter on Petty & Cacioppo, 2011:34), is one of the most permanent models of
persuasion. It basically identifies two routes to persuasion: central and peripheral. The first route
is relevant for cases, where the receiver already has knowledge of the subject, thus bases his
response with regard to the content, ideas and information found in the message. Peripheral
route is predominant when the audience has no previous encounters with the subject and thus
bases their decisions on physical attractiveness, amount of arguments or ‘catchy’ advertising
message (Gass & Seiter on Petty & Cacioppo, 2011:35).
Besides the abovementioned, the two routes can also be distinguished by several other factors as
well. The central route is effective when the receiver has high: involvement, motivation, ability
to process information and need for cognition. Straightforwardly, the peripheral route is useful
when the receiver has low involvement, motivation, ability to process information and no need
for cognition. It is often the case when the audience is the general population, thus using both
central and peripheral routes is the most effective in these cases. This dual processing approach
is called the unimodel, researched by Arie Kruglanski and Erik Thompson in 1999 (Gass &
Seiter on Kruglanski & Thompson, 2011:37). Their claim is based on the idea that central and
peripheral processing do not exist as separate terms; what differs is actually the amount of
central processing required to obtain a certain persuasive message. However, research shows that
there are numerous cases where persuasive messages are reasoned by fundamentally different
approaches (Gass & Seiter, 2011:38).
Knowing the audience is the first step, choosing the type of persuasion is the second. The
following theories by Halmari and Virtanen will differentiate explicit persuasion from implicit,
giving reason for using one over the other.
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3.2.2. Halmari and Virtanen
Helena Halmari and Tuija Virtanen, who researched persuasion across different genres, note that
one of the most predominant characteristics that have been making its mark in all of the
discourse genres recently is promotion, or persuasion. This is reasoned by the new information
technology that it created a “massive information explosion”. The advertising methods have
changed radically, while also influencing other, usually non persuasive forms of discourse
(Halmari & Virtanen, 2005:213).
The researchers are fond of the idea that: “The very nature of persuasion requires its forms to be
kept implicit” (Halmari & Virtanen on Ostman, 2005:229). Halmari and Virtanen aim to prove,
that it is the implicit nature of the phenomenon that is responsible for the variation of its forms in
different genres. They further explain, that if a genre is known to be used for persuasion, its
persuasive power is affected, due to it becoming more explicit. This means the linguistic markers
have to differentiate, which would lead for the genre to change its original nature, thus become
something different (Halmari & Virtanen, 2005:230).
Less conscious people are of the persuasive messages, more persuaded they will be. Thus the
more a genre is associated with the usage of promotional communication, the more it is
ineffective or the more its authors have to be crafty in a way that they would encode the
persuasive message to an extent where it has to be a clear message as to make an effect, but not
too clear as not to chase away the audience (Halmari & Virtanen, 2005:230-231). All this may be
concluded, that there is a thin line, based on knowing the audience and being up to date, that
marketers have to walk on, in order to be successful.
3.2.3. Benoit & Benoit
After identifying the audience, it would be relevant to know how to gain and maintain their
interest, which can be achieved by using the factors of interest. The theory, introduced by
William L. Benoit and Pamela J. Benoit in their book on Persuasive messages, states that factors
of interest work as strategies that catch the audience’s attention and keep them throughout the
whole message (Benoit & Benoit, 2008:106). What is more, the factors tend to increase the
amount of involvement audience has for the topic; therefore they are more likely to be using
central processing. There are nine factors of interest: Reality, Conflict, Novelty, Curiosity,
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Proximity, Humor, Vital Factors, Familiarity and Activity or Movement. The following table will
briefly explain each of the factors.
Reality
Reality is a quality; real things attract people more
than
hypothetical or abstract ideas. Possible example of usage is
by
referring to real events or victims.
Conflict
A conflict tends to catch attention, as people are interested
in
hearing both sides, seeing who will win or lose,
hearing
argumentation for both approaches.
Novelty
Plainly, things that are “new” create interest, as people have
not
heard about them. Situated best in the introduction.
Curiosity
In general people are curious, thus arousing this interest is
an
excellent way to keep their attention.
Proximity
Things that happen near, regarding time or location, have
more
appeal, as they are physically closer to the people.
Humor
Almost everyone favors humor, thus it is a great tool to put
the
audience into receptive mood. On the other side, one must
make
sure what kind of humor audience finds funny and approves of.
Vital factors
Health, economic security, family safety - these are the factors
that
can affect person’s well-being. People are always willing to
listen
to matters that can affect them negatively.
Familiarity
People care more for things that they can familiarize more with.
It
increases audience’s care and involvement in the topic.
Activity or Movement
Activity and movement is a trait in people that makes them
stand
out from the crowd. Physical movement and gestures
when

presenting, makes the sender more credible and interesting.
Table 1 Factors of Interest (Benoit & Benoit, 2008:106)
3.2.4. Gass & Seiter
Having reached the audience’s attention, it would be the right time to impose the strategies that
would help gaining the outcome of purchase. Motivational appeals, compiled by Robert Gass
and John Seiter, can be defined as “attempts to jump start an individual’s drive to do something.”
(Gass & Seiter, 2011:271). They are external encouragement factors that aim to induce an action.
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There are many motivational appeals: anxiety, fear, guilt, health, honor, humor, patriotism, pity,
pride, and more. But before looking in depth, it is relevant to distinguish logical and emotional
appeals. Aristotle once defined logic (logos, - logic, reasoning) and emotion (pathos - passion,
emotion) as distinct methods of persuasion. Researchers have learned, that agreeing with a
certain message is often associated with logical reasoning, while disagreeing with it is more of
emotional nature (Gass & Seiter, 2011:271).
The first emotional appeal that the paper will briefly overlook is fear. It is said that USA has
become a culture based on fear. Even though at first it was thought to be vice versa, researchers
have confirmed that the higher the fear, the more persuasive value a message has (Gass & Seiter,
2001:272). The usage of fear can be reasoned by the Extended Parallel Process Model (EPPM),
introduced by Kim Witte. It states that when a message arouses fear in its receiver, he can either
engage danger control or fear control. The persuaders should be aiming to trigger danger
control, as it leads to the receiver be positive and constructive in resolving this issue. Fear
control, on the other hand, leads to panic and avoidance (Gass & Seiter, 2011:273).
Pity and guilt often are used as a combination. When pity itself is a motivational factor that
causes people to make unconscious decisions, researchers have come to conclusions, that
inducing feelings of guilt can cause compliance. Even though these appeals are mostly used for
charity fundraising campaigns, the innovative perspective of advertising that embraces shock
value, makes use of these emotions in many daily product ads as well (Gass & Seiter, 2011: 274).
The most common emotional appeal is humor as 21 to 48 percent of advertisements are humor
based (Gass & Seiter, 2011:277). In general, humor is commonplace in almost any context or
environment of communication. Humor increases attention and causes people to favor the brand.
It is also effective in its nature of distracting people. Even though humor increases
trustworthiness or credibility, it can cause the company portrayed in the ad loose competence or
expertise.
Researchers state that: “The usage of sex appeals has been a fixture of advertising for decades”.
(Gass & Seiter, 2011:281). The most common application is visual. One way is by expressing
that if the audience uses a certain product, they will be sexier. Another line is telling the audience
that usage of the certain product will cause other sexy people be more attracted to you. Like the
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appeals of emotion and guilt, the sex appeals are ever spreading from once being used only in
perfume ads, to having its hints in almost any type of product category marketing campaigns
(Gass & Seiter, 2011:281).
Having gone through the persuasion theories, the last part of the theoretical background will be
dedicated to branding, which from a basic perspective, is a field of persuasive nature itself.
3.3. Branding
Tim Kitchin argues that “a brand is something that is owned by buyers and other stakeholders.”
(Nicolas Ind on Tim Kitchin, 2003:3). Even though it represents a certain product or a group of
products, brand itself is immaterial. Its only place of existence is the customers mind, and it is
the customer who is the creator as well as the terminator of the relationship. Thus branding could
be defined as strategies that help creating a perceived value (Nicolas Ind, 2003:3-4). But this
term only covers one the functional dimension of the brand, the other three will be discussed in
the following paragraph.
3.3.1. Thomas Gad
The classical view of branding only identifies one dimension – functional, meaning that a brand
only serves as a tool for delivering benefits to the client, while earning money for the owner. But
according to Thomas Gad (2003:185), the transparent environment businesses are now living in
forces brands to have to operate in more than one dimension. The researcher identified four
dimensions of branding: functional, social, mental and spiritual.
The first of the new three dimensions, the social dimension is responsible for the brands
provision of an ability to create identification within a social group. According to Thomas Gad
(2003:186), many people satisfy their need for identification, by familiarizing with a strong
brand. Second new dimension is the mental dimension that is responsible for the brands ability to
inspire and change its consumers. Brands do become role models for many, where its loyal
customers see brand’s success as their own success. Finally, the third new dimension is the
spiritual dimension, which is contributing to making the world a better place. The responsibility
of becoming more environmentally friendly is often a complicated task, but many entrepreneurs
agree that it has always been important (Thomas Gad, 2003:186).
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Having distinguished what branding is, it would be relevant to look at how branding actually
works. The most innovative perspective on the subject comes from the theory of storytelling
which will be covered in the following paragraphs.
3.3.2. Fog et al
Storytelling is the new uprising trend that is being named the future of branding, although there
are not enough critical insights as to provide explicit reasoning for why would this theory be
effective. Many companies still view this concept as something that could be used for public
relations as a tool for internal communication and company culture building (Fog et al, 2011:17).
But the modern perspective suggests that the more emotional attachment a brand can create the
more sales it will make.
Guerilla marketing genius, Jay Conrad Levinson has said that after a long time of seeking for
quality as number one trait of a product, customers are looking for the feeling of confidence the
chosen brand can provide.
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The storytelling theories go beyond that, stating that people actually
seek for a story that provides with a set of characteristics, they can identify with (Fog et al.,
2011:18). Whether it would be confidence, perseverance, or wildness – people are looking for a
tale that would correlate with their own lifestyles or promote a lifestyle they aspire of having.
Besides being able to promote their brand through many advertising campaigns that provide with
a different story each, a company must have a core story, which would define the pillars of the
brand (Fog et al., 2011:62). The core story may even be the basis of all of the marketing
campaigns. One well known example of this is the Marlboro man
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, who depicts the brand as
courageous, confident and masculine. That very first cowboy in the company’s advertisements is
even being titled as “the most influential man who never lived”, starting a consistent marketing
theme for the company, who due to its confidence and trust in one approach has become number
one in its market.
4. Methodology
Knowing the theoretical background the following step would be to intertwine the theories from
the previous chapter, forming a certain methodology that would be the most effective analyzing
10
http://www.gmarketing.com/articles/6-memorize-these-12-words-then-live-by-them
11
http://iconicphotos.wordpress.com/2009/10/19/the-marlboro-man/
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the Axe and Old-spice marketing campaigns. Given that the nature of the research is
interpretation, hermeneutics seems to be the most relevant scientific approach. Hermeneutics
rooting back to ancient Greece is one of the oldest humanitarian traditions, which assumes that
an understanding of things should be reached by interpretation (Sherratt, 2005:17). Since
interpretation is a commonplace phenomenon, it is merely possible to portray an actual origin to
this tradition. In addition, every day conversations between two people may be argued to be
based on each other’s interpretation. Thus the term hermeneutics delimited itself to a tradition of
interpreting texts that have cultural or any other special value that would provide new knowledge
(Sherratt, 2005:17-18). Friedrich Schleimacher is known to be the creator of modern
hermeneutics, as he was interested in interpreting books. He wanted to know what the author
meant or what was intended to be understood (Sherratt, 2005:59). Thus modern hermeneutics
could be defined as forming a certain ‘lens’ which ‘translates’ a text based on a set of social and
contextual aspects that are relevant to the sender. The following paragraphs will provide the
‘lens’ for understanding the campaigns by Axe and Old-spice.

Figure 1Methodology
Like the theoretical background, the framework will have three parts. Firstly, the social semiotics
theories will help analyzing the still and moving image materials from Axe and
Old-spice marketing campaigns. Textual and visual analyses will all be based on
M.A.K. Halliday’s 17

metafunctions, where the textual part will be analyzed according to the original theory, while the
visual part will be considered using the adaptations of the metafunctions. The still image
advertisements will be related to the Kress and Van Leeuwen theories, whereas the video ads will
be looked upon from Iedema’s perspective. Secondly, after the multimodal analysis, the thesis
will strive to identify the persuasive strategies employed by the companies. It will firstly draw
general conclusions of the persuasive approaches based on the theories of Petty & Cacioppo and
Halmari & Virtanen. Following that, the thesis will aim at identifying the factors of interest and
the emotional appeals used in the advertising campaigns. Finally, the thesis will relate the
findings to the modern branding theories, identifying the links and formulating the overall
strategies Axe and Old-spice have chosen to imply.
5. Multimodal analysis
The following chapter will provide a multimodal analysis. It will only stress out the findings and
interpretations based on the terminology of the field, while conclusions will be drawn in the
following chapter. It will be looking at 4 print ads and 4 video commercials, two of each both
from Axe and Old-spice. The print ad analysis will be based on M.A.K. Halliday’s (1998) and
Kress and Van Leeuven’s (2004) theories and terminology, while the video analysis will use
M.A.K. Halliday (1998) theory for the textual aspects and Iedema (2001) for the visual part.
5.1. Print advertisements
5.1.1. Old-spice “Lumberjack” print ad (appendix 1)
Ideational
Several processes can be identified in the ad. Firstly a non-transactional action, where the main
actor – an athletic male with a foam lumberjack costume, is promoting the Old-spice product.
The second narrative process is a transactional reaction by the second participant of the ad – the
woman model. Her posture and gaze represents admiration, affection and humbleness. Finally, a
conceptual process can be found as well. The shower gel bottle stands as the analytical carrier
of the ad, with its attributes depicted behind it – creating a ‘lumberjack’, out of any man, whom
every woman will look up to due to the associations with high masculinity.
Interpersonal
1

This is a demand picture, as the hero has eye-contact with the viewer, while also promoting the
Old-spice product in his right hand. The textual aspect strengthens the demand, by being an
imperative statement, commanding the viewer to use the product and smell like a man. In
addition, the reference of “man” not only defines its target audience, but also compliments the
younger segment of the prospect customers, who are tagged as “teenagers” in their
environments. Going back to the visual effects, the picture uses a fairly monochrome color range
- a lot of white colors as to form a discourse of cleanness as well as to stress out the participants.
Textual
The textual aspect is put into the picture using very low salience – no framing or borders on the
text – it is almost as if it belongs there, on the bathtub. The straightforward sentence is presented
as a rule, that every man should think about, when he enters his bathroom. Its overall
composition is triptych. The center element is the hero, as he is aimed to be the first noticeable
element of the picture. The viewer is then expected to see the other two elements: the bottle of
shower gel, and the girl, while also drawing the conclusions about what narrative and symbolic
structures are being represented.
5.1.2. Old-spice “Smell better than yourself” print ad (appendix 2)
Ideational
Both narrative and conceptual structures can be identified in the ad. The first notable aspect of
the picture is that it presents a non-transactive reaction. The reacter, whose eye-line vector is not
connected to anything, is an overweight, modest, nerdy looking male model that has an ecstatic
‘inner self’ hiding inside of him. He probably represents a student, as the circumstance of
location resembles a library. Another structure depicted, is the conceptual symbolic structure. It
envisions a symbolic carrier – a rock star, whose symbolic attributes are: massive popularity
among women, wild and irrational lifestyle, freedom and iconicity.
Interpersonal
Unlike the previous ad, this is an offer picture. The viewer is provided with a full body shot,
impersonal distance, only for observing and interpreting. The textual aspect is less aggressive
than the previous ad, with a general statement that states about a “real” man hiding in every guy.
1

On the other hand, it then follows the path of the first ad, and imperatively states that the viewer
should smell better than himself, meaning he should replaces his current product with Old-spice.
Textual
The textual element has aspects of both high and low salience. The choice of colors that
resembles the color palette of the whole ad makes it less visible, while its shape of a university
blazon, makes it stand out of the ad. This choice has been made as to appeal to university
students - a large segment of the audience. Its bottom center location stands a place of explaining
the above, which is a transformation from given which is a plain guy who blends into
university’s background to new – a rock star, whom many aspire to be like and live like.
5.1.3. Axe “The Axe effect” print ad (appendix 3)
Ideational
Looking at the Axe print ad, the first thing that catches the attention is a narrative process of a
conversation. Given that it is a dialogue between two women models, whose eye-line vectors are
interconnected it is a transactional action. The interactors are two young female models, one of
whose script is written above. The actor on the left side of the print ad, due to her hand gestures,
should be assumed to be the one who is talking while the second actor is showing facial
expressions of approval. The circumstance of location is either a café, or café corner at a gym.
These locations are associated with informal conversations and meeting new people, thus the
ideational aspects present a discourse of two young females sharing experiences with sexual
innuendos.
Interpersonal
Given that there is no eye contact, the picture is an offer picture. However, the social distance of
the shot, the postures and gestures that are associated with flirting and the leg vectors of the
interactors towards the viewer, aim to make the viewer feel as a part of this ‘triangle’ of
conversation. Several modality markers, such as brightness adjustments that increase the white
tones and darkening the dark tones, are done to make the participants look more tanned, which
means more attractive, thus the viewer would be more inclined to come closer to the print ad.
Textual
2

The text is inserted using a polarized method of ideal and real. The ideal in this case is the story
of how these traits that are generally not associated with attraction, cause the female model to
feel affection towards the mysterious guy. The new presents the reason for this unusual event –
the bottle of Axe. What should be noted, the textual element uses slang “to get hit on”, which
means approaching someone with sexual intentions. It creates is another mystery, as it does not
provide any detail to whether the approach happened at all and if it did, what had happened.
5.1.4. Axe “The Axe effect” print ad (appendix 4)
Ideational
The first notable structure in the last print ad is the conceptual structure of a symbolic carrier.
The carrier in this case is a female model. Her symbolic attributes are: young, wild, free,
spontaneous, as well as the “chosen one”, given the stress marks on her back. Furthermore, a
narrative structure of a non-transactive reaction emerges from the eye-line vector. The reacter
gazes downwards which is a pose of shame and guilt. In addition, the hand vector aimed towards
the reacter’s bikini as well as the text of “it can happen anywhere” forms a sexual innuendo,
providing reason for the discourse of guilt. Finally an analytical process can be identified as
well, where the deodorant bottle is the carrier and its attributes are the background that it causes.
Interpersonal
The final print ad does not form any contact with the viewer, thus is an offer picture. The
distance represented is close and social, with high pictorial detail aimed at pointing out the stress
marks. The textual element has a modality “can happen”. Thus overall even though the viewer is
not involved, he is persuaded that this could be his reality, if he would start making use of the
“longer lasting Axe effect”.
Textual
The textual element is located in a high visibility spot – on the body of the model, where the
hand vector points to, thus the viewer is will inevitably read the promotion text and see the
product. In addition, the textual and visual elements are interlinked as they both explain each
other, although they do not point out what exactly happened, the viewer has to come up with
what was meant by “it” himself.
2

5.2. Video commercials
5.2.1. Old-spice “The man you could smell like” commercial (appendix 5)
Representation
The first video of the multimodal analysis visualizes an athletic male, who stands as a symbolic
carrier. His confident tone and posture, athletic looks and strong eye contact, make him look
ideal. This claim is also complimented with relational processes of “he isn’t me” and “he could
smell like me”. What is more, as soon as the hero shows an Old-spice product, the background
instantly changes to what looks like a yacht. In other words, it turns into a dreamy location,
related to freedom, relaxation and romance. The other three objects in the ad: oyster, diamonds
and the horse add to the discourse of fantasy life which is vocally explained by the second to last
sentence: “Everything is possible when your man smells like Old-spice and not a lady.”
Orientation
When analyzing how the meanings position viewers, there are two aspects that need to be looked
upon. First of the two aspects, the camera angles and movements seem to be strategized to
involve the viewer as much as possible. Close, mainly frontal shots and eye-contact forms a
strong social bond with the commercial. Secondly, the speech of the hero further explores the
relationship with the viewer by showing various positions towards the audience: politeness
(“hello”), disrespect to men (“sadly, he isn’t me”; “using lady scented body wash”), disrespect to
women (picturing them as only interested in good looks and material gain), leadership (“look at
your man”, “look down”), entertainment (“what’s in your hand?”, “I’m on a horse”) and finally
superiority (“he could smell like he’s me”). The viewer is positioned to experience mixed
emotions, which would end up as a longer lasting memory of the advertisement.
Organization
The link between meanings is based on the problem-solution model. The hero introduces a false
problem, of men not looking like him, and quickly suggests a partial solution of using Old-spice.
The rhythm of the commercial is based on the hero’s further vocal and visual elaboration of the
problem-solution story. It also makes the hero more credible, as the nonstop speech does not
allow the viewer to take his time to think and neglect any of the claims.
2

5.2.2. Old-spice “Motorcycle” commercial (appendix 6)
Representation
The second commercial of the analysis starts off with a scene in a gym locker room. It presents a
modified reality, as usually the gym rooms are neither structured, nor as silent as the commercial
depicts it. The ironical choice of participants that are far from athletic, slow, emotionless and
deep in their thoughts creates a dissatisfaction discourse of being unhappy with the current
lifestyle and possibly searching for solutions of being a better man. After the hero smells the
“Old-spice” shower gel, he starts cracking and becoming a different man. From a man who
appeared to have given up on a satisfactory life, he becomes a symbolic carrier - masculine,
rough, wild and courageous male model on a motorcycle – a man whom women aspire of dating.
The gym locker room background becomes an idyllic view of an exotic location. Thus, overall, it
presents a contrast of old and new worlds, where the old world cracks down like glass making
way for the new fantasy world to emerge.
Orientation
Meanwhile, since there was no speech or text, the viewer was allowed to interpret the whole
situation himself, witnessing the narrative from mainly impersonal distance shots. On the other
hand, the few close shots allowed the viewer to see the contrasting worlds in details and decide,
whether it was the product that was actually transforming a man, or if it was just the dream of the
“hero” envisioned.
Organization
The rhythm of this commercial is based on the phenomenon of metamorphosis. It presents how a
gloomy, static and empty world can turn into a world of movement, pleasure and fulfillment. The
last frames of the commercial show the conductor of the unusual rhythm of life – Old-spice
products.
5.2.3. Axe “Even angels will fall” commercial (appendix 7)
Representation
The video commercial, similarly to the previous two, presents a collision of two different worlds.
The first world is a reality of a small Italian town with a highly religious culture given the
2

resident’s reaction to the fallen angels. Although it is a small town, it seems very dynamic. As a
contrast, the visitors from the second world enter and move throughout the premises carefully,
gracefully and gently. Around them, time seizes to exist. Finally, the hero appears in the last shot,
who even though he has common male features, having used the Axe product, he becomes the
god of the moment, turning everything upside down.
Orientation
Close camera shots of the angel, help expressing the female perfection, tenderness, purity and
innocence hidden behind the faces of the angels. In addition, the choice of the female models
was interracial, for the viewer to find the one he likes the most, as well as to make him see that
the scent, that is making all the angels fall down is universally agreed upon to be attractive.
Concerning the hero, he is shot in close social distance, as for the viewer to be able to familiarize
himself with the fact, that the model is not too athletic or hyped in any other way.
Organization
The video is built on a narrative, climax structure, which makes the viewer guess, think and
interpret more, eventually leading to a higher rate of recall. Its rhythm is formed with the help of
the video editing that put slow motion effect on the fallen angels as for them to be distinguished
from the environment. What is more, the biblical soundtrack connects the two worlds, as it is
relevant both for the background of an Italian city, as well as the God’s messengers.
5.2.4. Axe “Courtroom” commercial (appendix 8)
Representation
The final video of the analysis presents a courtroom, which associates with justice,
distinguishing what is moral and lawful from what is wrong and illegal: the gates to two
polarized worlds of either imprisonment or freedom. The offender in the trial is presented as
calm, silent and discrete - resembles a vicious, coldhearted criminal. On the other hand, the
speech presents a different story adding an unusual dimension of humor. The reality becomes
misleading, thus the viewer becomes interested in finding what the cause of this unnatural
behavior is. Finally, an answer comes up in white letters on a black background, resembling a
law or a rule, giving credibility to the statement.
2

Orientation
The viewer is offered a detached camera angle that allows him to see the full picture, thus he is
just the observant. The speech, intonation and the set-up are intended to resemble an actual
courtroom case from television shows, which, given to its unmusicality would gain the viewer’s
attention. In addition, the courtroom background represents conflict, which is one of several
factors of interest, that help gaining and maintaining the viewer.
Organization
Similar to the previous commercial, it is based on the narrative climax structure that keeps the
viewer interested throughout, as it does not provide many hints of what it actually is promoting.
Its rhythm is based on the monotonous speech of the judge that explains the reality presented.
6. Persuasion and Branding
6.1. Persuasive strategies
The multimodal analysis of print and video advertisements provided with several generic
conclusions that can be made on both Axe and Old-spice choices. The following paragraphs will
provide a brief comparison of the persuasive strategies identified in the ads.
Firstly, looking at the approach to their customer, Old-spice bases their persuasion mainly on the
central route by providing factual reasons to buy their product (“smell like a man”, “smell better
than yourself”, “not like a lady”). However, they do use attractive male models that represent
what the customer would become had he started using Old-spice which is a false claim and
appealing through peripheral route (Gass & Seiter on Petty & Cacioppo, 2011). On the other
hand, Axe expects their customers to use mainly peripheral processing when buying a deodorant,
thus all of their advertising is based on superficial claims about the popularity the products gains
for its user (“girls are turning naughty”, “even angels will fall”).
The polarized difference in persuasion strategies is further notable, when comparing the
companies in regard of implicitness and explicitness of their messages (Halmari & Virtanen,
2005). In the video commercials, Old-spice having chosen the central route to persuasion, are
promoting their product explicitly – from the very first moments, the audience is aware of what
2

the commercial is trying to sell. As an opposite, Axe keep their audience uncertain until the very
last moments, when they introduce their product. This pattern prevails in the print ads as well. An
easy way to see the implicitness is by removing the Axe deodorant bottle from the bottom corner
– the viewer could neither tell the company, nor the type of product that is being promoted.
Finally, it would be relevant to look at how the advertisements connect with the audience. The
only common aspect identified in both companies is a subtle usage of humor. Old-spice does this
by making fun of men, who do not use their products, while Axe make false claims that are
ironically opposite from the reality (appendix 3, appendix 8). Besides humor, Old-spice appeals
to their audience by creating the feelings of guilt, which is normally used in social marketing
campaigns (Gass & Seiter, 2011). In addition, they create what could be seen as a conflict
between two worlds: one where men do not use Old-spice and the other, superior world with
their shower gels and deodorants. On the other hand, Axe mainly uses sexual appeals. They do it
to such extents that they do not even visualize their prospect customer in their print ads; instead
they choose attractive female models that represent the alleged reality the customer would live in
if he would use the product. However, when they do show or describe him (appendix 3, appendix
7), he appears to be a typical male, thus the company appeals to the audience through
familiarization as well (Benoit & Benoit, 2008).
6.2. Branding
The second and last part of this chapter will briefly look at how the persuasive strategies help
strengthening the brand. It will refer to the brand dimensions theory by Thomas Gad (2003). The
functional dimensions will be overlooked as advertising’s direct relation with it – help
maximizing sales – is evident, while the spiritual dimension, as aforementioned in the
introduction, has been disregarded by both companies.
Filling the social dimension via advertising is a complicated task, especially if the promoted
product is something as personal as a deodorant bottle. Nonetheless, Old-spice have chosen to
use the new social media communicative opportunities of marketing outside the frame of the
advertisement. The company extended the “Old-spice man” campaign by offering people on
various social media platforms to ask their hero, Isaiah Mustafa, questions. They then posted 87
2
6

short videos, responding to posts by celebrities as well as the general audience.
12
In addition,
customers, motivated by the communication and response, responded themselves with various
parodies of the “Old-spice man”. On the other hand, Axe have chosen to remain within the frame.
The third, mental dimension seems to be fulfilled by both companies. Old-spice suggest that
everyone should find the inner alpha male hidden within him, which can be achieved by
improving their grooming habits. At the same moment, Axe by familiarizing with their audience,
implicitly encourage men to be less insecure when they are in front of desirable women. Both
companies present fragrance, something that is intangible, as a product that will bring tangible
changes to their customer’s personality and image.
Finally, the dimensional findings closely relate to the storytelling theory. In almost every
advertisement they produce, Axe are telling the persistent story of the “Axe effect”. This could be
referred to as the company’s core story, portraying Axe as an aspirational leader of men to a life
surrounded by desirable women. On the other hand, Old-spice do not promote a core story in
their ads. Instead, they use storytelling as a constant tool for presenting new products. They have
identified that storytelling brings more success due to its provision of an ability to create an
image of a man, to which the customer can or wants to relate (Fog, 2011).
7. Conclusion
The thesis provides an analysis of Old-spice and Axe marketing campaigns. Its aims to identify
the persuasive strategies used across semiotic modes, while also finding how these strategies
contribute to strengthening Old-spice and Axe brands. As a method of the analysis, the thesis
uses a complex interdisciplinary framework compiled of theories from three distinct fields:
discourse analysis, persuasion and branding. First off, the multimodal analysis reveals that even
though both companies use gender stereotypes as a general theme for their campaigns, their
promotional communication varies. Old-spice use the central route to persuasion, where they
explicitly state what they are selling. Since this would not differentiate them from other
companies, they have chosen to appeal through guilt which alongside humor appeal formulates
an unusual strategy, thus even though they are explicit and in other words, obvious in what they
are promoting, the textual and visual choices of the advertisements are unexpected, thus
12
http://www.readwriteweb.com/archives/how_old_spice_won_the_internet.php
2
7

memorable. On the other hand, Axe approach their viewers through the peripheral route, creating
climax structure advertisements, where the viewer has to guess, and interpret the visual
information, before the textual element provides him the answer at the very end. This is a
successful way to manipulate the general explicitness of the genre of advertising, which many
companies have also accomplished. Therefore, Axe in addition have chosen to appeal through
familiarity, choosing male models that resemble an average man. This also contributes to the
mental dimension of branding. Both companies encourage men to be different: more confident,
masculine, “better than themselves”. The companies tell stories, which define the their traits,
making the brand not only a title on the product package, but also a set of values, their customers
can relate with and a story, they would like to be a part of.
Having provided the answers to the problem statement, the further exploration of the field would
be using a similar methodological approach to analyze how companies promote fragrance to
women. The ability to compare the results to the ones found in this thesis would help identifying
generic patterns of promoting fragrance.
2

References
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edition. Routledge.
Stillar, G., F., 1998. Analysing everyday texts. Discourse, rhetoric and soial perspectives. Sage
publications, pp 14-57.
Kress, G. and Van Leeuwen, T., 2001. Multimodal discourse: the modes and media of
contemporary communication. Arnold, pp 1-27.
Van Leeuwen, T., 2005. Introducing Social Semiotics. Routledge, pp 219-247.
Idema, R. (2001). Analysing Film And Television: a Social Semiotic Account of Hospital:an
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Sage, pp 183-204.
Halmari, H., and Virtanen, T., 2005. Persuasion Across Genres. Amsterdam, John Benjamins. pp
213-243.
Benoit, L., W., and Benoit, J., P., 2008. Persuasive Messages. The Process of Influence.
Blackwell publishing.
Gass, R. & Seiter, J., 2011. Persuasion, Social Influence and Compliance Gaining, fourth edition,
Paerson Education, Inc.
Ind, N., 2003. Beyond Branding. How The New Values Of Transparency And Integrity Are
Changing The Wolrd Of Brands. Kogan Page.
Thomas Gad, 2003. Leadership Branding. In: Thomas Ind. Beyond Branding. How The New
Values Of Transparency And Integrity Are Changing The Wolrd Of Brands. Kogan Page,
pp 183-198.
Fog, K., Budtz, C., Munch, P., Blanchette, S. 2011. Storytelling, Branding in Practice.
Samfundslitteratur Press.
Sherratt, Y., 2005. Continental Philosophy of Social Science. Hermeneutics, Genealogy and
Critical Theory from Ancient Greece to the 21 century. Cambridge University Press.
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Palmer R., E., 1969. Hermeneutics. Interpretation Theory in Schleimacher, Dilthey, Heidegger
and Gradamer. Northwestern University Press, pp 84-97.
Web links
http://sbinformation.about.com/od/startingabusiness/a/bizopgrooming.htm
http://www.bestthinking.com/trendingtopics/business_and_finance/sales_and_marketing/advertis
ing/gender-stereotyping-in-ads
http://www.bestthinking.com/trendingtopic/relateditem/1965
http://www.basenotes.net/company/102709
http://thisisnotadvertising.wordpress.com/2011/11/07/15-years-of-axe-effect-the-worlds-most-
sexist-advertising-campaign/
http://www.basenotes.net/ID26121214.html http://mashable.com/2011/03/16/old-
spice-imitators/ http://www.wisegeek.com/what-are-semiotics.htm
http://www.thefreedictionary.com/persuasion
http://www.gmarketing.com/articles/6-memorize-these-12-words-then-live-by-them
http://iconicphotos.wordpress.com/2009/10/19/the-marlboro-man/
http://www.readwriteweb.com/archives/how_old_spice_won_the_internet.php
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Appendices
Appendix 1. Old-spice “lumberjack”.
Visual (Kress & Van Leeuwen) Textual (M.A.K. Halliday) Persuasive theories
Ideational: Ideational (Field): Humor appeal, fear appeal?,

Narrative processes: Resultative action – smell like a man. guilt appeal, curiosity.
A non-transactional process – the actor, No time reference.
athletic male, with “lumberjack” suit made
Concept taxonomy: smell like a man,
meaning
of foam, naked underneath – sex appeal, not like a woman.
masculine, promoting the Old-spice
product.
A transactional reaction - the female model
looking up to her man, admiration,
affection.
Circumstances: the deo an shower gel at
the
bottom of the page, only necessary to show
that the “lumberjack” fragrance is
available
both as a deo and a shower gel.
Background of the bathroom – intimate
location, usually occupied by single
person,
thus a male and female at the same
moment
leads to interpreting a relationship of
certain
kind
Foam duck flying over – totally random,
though an addition to the discourse of the
lumberjack, though likely to be used as a
‘random’ humor element.
Conceptual process – analytical carrier –
the
shower gel bottle and its attributes of
creating a lumberjack in any man.
Interpersonal: Interpersonal (Tenor):
Demand picture – The “main” actor, the Imperative statement. Commanding to use
used of “Old-spice” products staring at the their product, as the scent that it produces
viewer, demanding him to use the product makes the user smell like a man.
31

and “smell like a man, man”. Refers to the audience as man as to define its
target audience, as well as complement the
Long impersonal shot, full figure view – as teen-aged segment of the audience, who do
to see the “full” picture of what the not yet feel as men.
fragrance causes.
Objective angle – “this is how it works”.
Intentional white choices of bathroom
background – a. cleanness; b. stress out the
actors and the red bottle of “Old-spice”.
Textual: Textual (Mode):
Very low salience and high connection, Unmarked theme.
almost made as to be naturally written on
the bath tub. Makes it look and sound
more
like a rule, that every man should think
about when he enters the bathroom for a
shower.
32

Appendix 2. Old-spice “There’s a man in there”

Ideational: Ideational (Field): Curiosity, humor, guilt appeal.
Narrative structure: Relational classification process – is a man.
A non-transactive reaction.
Resultative action – smell better than
yourself.
The reacter here is supposed to stand for a
stereotypical male, but being nerdy,
slightly
Time perspective – now, as is is present
tense.
overweight, plain simple, a person who has Urging to act now, because there hides a rock
given up on grooming was an
exaggeration, star that wants to be unleashed.
which was to create a higher contrast from
the right side of, which depicts what the Concept taxonomy: better that yourself
Old-spice scent “makes” its user look and meaning currently the audience smells bad.
feel like. When one hand holds an old-
spice,
other hand is rocking the guitar.
Circumstances are the secondary
participants which is Old-spice bottles,
which are unnecessary given that the brand
name is already in the textual part.
Conceptional structure:
Symbolic carrier - The rock star image,
associates with massive popularity among
women, braveness, freedom, doing what
he
wants, popularity, iconicity. Everybody
wants to be a rock star.
Offer picture, no gaze to the viewer,
viewer Direct statement, that there is a real manly
can fully observe the phenomenon of man hidden in every “regular” guy.
transformation. Full shot, impersonal.
Imperative sentence. Command, to smell
Low color differentiation, many shades of better than yourself. Obliging to replace the
brown, though rich detail. current product the viewer is using with Old-
33

spice.
Yourself direct reference to the viewer.
Aggressive claim, that he does not smell as
good as he could.
The textual element is centered, though Intentional repetition of “there”, making the
towards the bottom.
sentence grammatically incorrect. – aiming
to
be funny.
Low salience, similar color palette, though
formed as a blazon of a university. ‘Random’.
all sum up to the discourse of university
and
the main actor being a ‘geeky’ person.
Given – a typical nerd
New – a rock star
34

Appendix 3. Axe “The Axe Effect”

Ideational: Ideational (Field): Familiarity, humor appeal, sex
Narrative structure:
Relational process – the carrier (the Axe
deo), appeal.
Bitransactional action – eye-line vectors has his attributes seat pants, flip flops, fanny
interconnected – mouths open – dialogue pack depicted, which lead to him being
between two young attractive female attractive.
models, one of whose sentence is written Resultative action – he was just asking to get
above.
hit on . Unclear if he already got hit on, or
will
be in future.
Participants: young women, open clothing, Circumstance of cause related action.
attracting attention, open postures, leg
vectors towards the viewer as if he were in
No time references, but could be interpreted
as
the “triangle” of conversation. Also
posture
‘morning’ as the visually seems bright, as
well
and holding cylindrical objects –
considered as coffee makes in more believable to be
as flirting. The left one is telling the story, earlier in the day. Possibly, after he got hit on
while the right one shows facial
expressions either in the gym or the night before.
of approval.
Bottom text – company slogan.
Circumstances: background of either a
café,
or a café-corner at the gym, given how one
of the actors is dressed.
Conceptual structure:
Analytical – the deo bottle – with its
attributal aspects depicted as it being
linked
to women talking about the user.
Offer picture – absence of gaze, actors are Direct statement.
35

used as objects of contemplation.
Sentence structure – attitudinal, assesses a
Social distance – medium shot – close certainty of traits as in physical aspects that
distance. cause getting hit on.
Equal involving angle of shot.
Modality markers: Pastelic color range,
well
saturated. Also, brightness adjustments
made – dark colors darkened, while light
colors brightened – stress out the actors,
make them more tanned- more attractive.
Polarized: Marked structure – DO he, indirect objects
Ideal: text about the ‘hero’ of the sweat pants, flip flops, fanny pack. Adjusted
advertisement, that tells his attributes. unusual sentence structure, ellipsis of Dos
Real: the reason for the story – axe relation to IOs, as it can be assumed all for
deodorant. better humor effect.
High salience – text in white color that
Irony – IOs are in opposite considered as
traits
stands out, also large font with borders. that do not attract women – humor appeal.
No framing efforts, text input directly into Slang - get hit on - to be approached with
background, only marginal borders effect, sexual intentions
no drop shadow or any other possibilities.
36

Appendix 4. Axe “The Axe Effect”

Ideational: Ideational (Field): Curiosity, humor
Conceptual structures: Process type: appeal, sex appeal.
Symbolic participant - a young woman model in
can happen - resultative action , though the
action
bathing suit – a stereotypical female of stays undefined.
advertisements – aimed to catch male attention.
Circumstantial roles:
Attributive carrier – although turned her back – place – anywhere, again undefined, forms a
poses for the viewer showing stress marks from a discourse of ‘mystery’.
steering-wheel.
reason - longer lasting axe effect as a reason for
it
to happen.
Symbolic attributes: young, wild, free,
spontaneous, the stress mark – as she is the Time and perspective:
“chosen one”.
can happen – modal verb, expresses likelihood
of
the action to be true.
Focusing on the specific moment.
Also analytical process – the deo bottle the
carrier,
and the background as its “attribute” – what it
causes.
Narrative structure:
Non-transactional reaction – eye-line vector
downwards gaze – pose of ‘shame, guilt’. Also
hand -> underwear vector, draw attention –
sexual
appeal.
Circumstances – background is vague, water and
some shore – also a pillow, seems to be a yacht,
given the stress marks of the steering-wheel did
37

not resemble a car streering-wheel.
The stress marks on the back lead to interpret a
two phase narrative, when phase one has already
happened and the ad depict phase two - reaction.
Offer picture – no contact with the viewer. Declarative sentences –sender provides with
statements. Persuading that the longer lasting
Distance – social, medium shot effect will cause it to happen (hidden modality?).
Equal, involvement angle – viewer welcomed to Modality:
analyze the ad. can happen – indicates possibility.
High pictorial detail, increased brightness to add
angelic look.
All interpersonal elements aimed at stressing out
the stress marks.
Centered composition: triptych positioning of
text: Theme: unmarked ??
bottom right corner – standard.
Cohesion:
High salience of element – positioned on the leg Exophoric reference
of the model, near the hand vector, as to better it : to the image above the text. Explains what it
draw attention. is.
Absence of framing. Ellipsis of connection/relation between the two
sentences.
38

Appendix 5. The man you could smell like (video).
Scene Script Visual (Iedema) Textual (M.A.K.
Halliday)
0:01Hello ladies. Representation: Ideational:
0:02Look at your man. Scene depicts an athletic
Motion processes: look
at
0:02Now back to me. male, confident
your man and back to
me
0:03Now back at your posture/tone, attractive, (ellipsis).
man. “ideal”?.
Relational processes:
isn’t
0:04Now back to me. The audience is verbally me and could smell like
0:05Sadly, he isn't me. and visually being me.
0:07But if he stopped convinced to believe, that Circumstance of cause:
using lady scented
body he is the man, every man stop using lady scented
wash and switched should look/be like. body wash.
0:09to Old Spice, he Orientation: Time: now.
could smell like he's
me.
Close intimate frontal
came Formulates the world,
0:11Look down.
angle, moving closer,
strong where all males are
0:12Back up. eye contact, orders to the
claimed to be using
female
audience – constructing
the
scented body wash and
not
not so perfect reality of
the as attractive as the male
audience, not questioning
it model.
(like usual advert.). Strong Interpersonal:
involvement of viewer.
Speech function: mainly
to
Organization: command.
Non-stop sentences, fast Modality could expresses
confident rhythm, also possibility of solving the
dynamic – interacting with made
the audience both
textually up issue.
and visually. sadly – attitude of the
Introducing the problem
and
speaker, cont. to
discourse
providing the partial of pity to men who use
solution.
lady scented shower gel
as
well as females who have
to live with it.
Textual:
Marked theme:
DO – the prospect user
“he”, IOs – the actor in
the ad or “me”, “lady
scented body wash”,
“Old-
spice”.
Logical coherence: issue-
>
reasons-> solution.
Short sentences.
Repetition “me”.
0:13Where are you? Representation: Ideational:

0:14You're on a boat Boat/yacht represents
More relational
processes,
with the man your man
freedom, relaxation,
dreams involving the viewer:
could smell like. – deity experience.
where are you? what is
in
0:16What's in your Orientation: your hand?
hand? More further shot, as to Interpersonal:
0:17Back at me. grasp the exotic view. Speech function: also to
Organization: interact, many references
Defining values, as the
actor to viewer: you, your. Also
and his scent is most questioning the audience.
39
Tomas Jankauskis, 402872
MMC 2012 Bachelor
Thesis
important here.
0:18I have it. Representation: Ideational:
0:19It's an oyster with Oyster and smth inside – Mental reactive process:
two tickets to that thing reference to mermaid thing you love.
you love. fairytale. Assuming audience –
“Tickets to the thing you
female – loves going out
to
love” – humor as in
concerts/theaters /
movies.
stereotypical male Gaining compliance?
disinterest in woman’s
interest in
theater/opera/movies,
buying gifts expecting
sexual favor in return.
Orientation:
Back to intimate angle,
resemblance of actual case
when male gifts a female.
Organization:
Providing arguments for
the
solution, false gains.
0:22The tickets are
now Representation:
diamonds.
Humor cont.:
exaggeration,
0:24Anything is
possible
unreal, given previous -
hint
when your man smells of disrespect to women, as
like Old they are only interested in
0:26Spice and not a
material gain and only
good
lady. looks in men.
Organization:
Rephrasing the problem,
as
to humiliate the males
again
and again instantly
providing a solution.
0:27I'm on a horse Representation: :
Aspect of randomness,
also
horse;

False reality claims:
everything achievable if
using Old-spice.
Persuasion: fear appeal, guilt appeal, sex appeal, humor, conflict, curiosity, movement.
T&V: Creating mixed emotions
40

Appendix 6. Motorcycle (video).
Halliday)
- Representation: -
The hero:” typical guy”, though overweight,
slow, emotionless /unhappy.
No speech, no background music – unusual
given the background of the gym.
All participants in a stance of thought,
possibly
dreaming of being a better man.
Constructing exaggerated reality, discourse of
dissatisfaction with life, looking for solutions
–
gym as one of them.
Also ironical choice of participants – no
athletic
males – humor appeal.
Orientation:
Long distance shot, allows the viewer to see
the
full picture, possibly identify himself with it.
Organization:
No speech, viewer left to interpret the
situation
himself.
- Representation: -
Just the smell of Old-spice led to a
transformation of hero to a new, extremely
masculine and athletic look.
Fantasy, unreal aimed to entertain.
- Representation: -
An athletic male on a motorcycle – every
girl’s
secret dream of dating a wild, courageous,
rough, macho type guy.
Motorcycle – a symbol of freedom,
adventures,
independence, risk.
A brown bear in the Jacuzzi – another symbol
of manliness, although unreal, another
exaggeration to create a humor effect.
Organization:
A sequence of scene where the hero was
thinking, dreaming about something to a scene
where he becomes a macho, makes reason to
believe, that it was his dream that turned to
reality
Persuasion: guilt appeal, humor, movement.

Appendix 7. Axe “Even angels will fall” (video)
Scene Script Visual (Iedema)
Textual
(M.A.K.
Halliday)
- Representation: -
First scenes depict what looks like southern
European city, musical background reminds of
one
from catholic church psalms, not everyday reality
to most.
Out of a sudden, something falls down – unreal.
Main goal to arouse interest.
Orientation:
Many different angles, close up shots, dynamic
video, with sounds that appeal to emotionally –
sad
melody.
Viewer has no idea what the advertisement
promotes.
- Representation: -
Fallen angel – represents …
Angel – associated with divine beauty, found
nowhere on Earth, innocence, virginity, female
perfection, unearthly powers, tenderness, purity.
Many angels start falling, interracial choice of
female models.
Orientation:
Lengthy close shots of the angel for the viewer to
obtain its beauty. Also models with different
colored skin appealing to people around the
world.
Also – worldwide agreement that this scent is
amazing.
00:22 Representation: Textual:
“Mamma Italian chatter confirms of a small Italian city Common Italian
Mia!” background, cradle of Christianity, people in the saying when
00:26
*Other video seem shocked and affected emotionally by surprised.
Italian the reality presented.
chatter* Organization:
Two types of scenes, either background of peoples
amazement, or close shots of angels. Action-
reaction process. Sound and minor speech
elements
complement or elaborate the visual information.
- Representation: -
Smell – one of five senses. Also the most mystical
in the context of using it as a method of attraction.
Reference to aphrodisiacs, in literature used by
magical creatures.
Since angels are falling down because of it, this
mystery scent is turning the world upside down.
Orientation:

Smell narrows down the products, that could be
advertised here, but viewer still clueless whether
42

this is an ad for perfume, washing powder, bakery
or whatever else that produces smell.
- Representation: -
the hero – typical everyday male.
Orientation:
Viewers can identify with the hero.
- Representation: -
Refusing to wear the aureole any more – sins,
chaos, loosing virginity, shift of control: now the
typical everyday guy is supposed to look after the
angels.
Orientation:
Close intimate shots of angel faces, flirty facial
expressions – sexual appeal.
00:56 New Representation: Ideational:
Axe Excite
The man, semi-naked, looks to be very typical,
not Motion process:
00:58 Even
hyped, not muscular – familiar with the audience
-- will fall.
angels will - back to reality. Appeal to familiarity. Also Time: future,
fall intimate location – bedroom, sexual hints, as
when the
prospect
usually its common to put on deo in the bathroom. customer will
Orientation: start using Axe.
The viewer is welcome to see for himself that he
is Interpersonal:
no different than the hero, and that he could be as Modality:
popular among women as advertised. will, expresses
Organization: trust in
Overall climax structure - making the viewer
think, effectiveness
guess, interpret, thus memorize more. Textual:
even
Persuasion: movement, curiosity, familiarity.

43
Tomas Jankauskis,
402872 MMC 2012 Bachelor Thesis
Appendix 8. Axe “Vice” (video)
Halliday)
00:02 On two Representation: Ideational:
misdemeanor counts Courtroom environment – justice, Motion processes:
of indecent
exposure,
defining/judging what is good
and exposure, riding.
how do you find? what is bad, no ambient noise – Professional language
00:05 Guilty. focus, not exaggerated sense of used to describe the
00:06 On two familiarity with people, real unusual violations.
misdemeanor
moving environment. But immediately Time: past. Woman
violations of riding a becomes false as the judge starts stands in court for
naked man like a naming the violations – humor misdemeanor instances.
pony? appeal. Interpersonal:
Orientation: Statements.
Viewer confronted with the view Authoritative
of the judge side, unacquainted
incriminating tone of
the
with the criminal – mystery. judge – professional,
Reminds of justice television even though the crimes
shows. Goal to catch attention. are humorous. Serious
Organization:
versus bizarre –
common
Natural order of a courtroom
case. humor theme.
Attitudinal lexis:
indecent, unlawful,
Textual:
Marked theme.
Cohesion through
assumed conjunctures
(ellipsis of and).
00:09 Guilty. Representation: Ideational:
00:10 Nudeness
The audience is presented with
the Attributive processes
including an entire criminal, given the vocal nudeness, exposure.
case of New Zealand information, it is clear that the Action processes
cumquats? woman character is the criminal, impersonating,
00:13 Impersonating
a while the man besides is her pothering.
registered nurse,
lawyer. Reality of facing the
justice Textual:
00:15 Unlawful system. The offender seems calm,
pothering of a man’s silent, discrete – vicious
wig, coldhearted criminal.
00:17 Assault with a Orientation:
Ping-Pong paddle, Again diagonal side angle – not
00:19 Assault with a involving the viewer, giving him
ball gag, the task of observation.
00:21 Exposure in a
giant chicken
costume, how do
you

find?
00:25 Guilty, your Representation: Ideational:
honor. Black and white: polarized colors, Relational attributive
text emphasized as a “fact”. process
Orientation: are turning naughty.
Silence, no disruption for the Time reference:
viewer to read the “punch-line” of currently.
the joke that this advertisement
has Interpersonal:
44

been formulated to look like. Direct statement
Attitudinal lexis
naughty.
Representation: Ideational:
Viewer confronted with “Axe”
Mental cognitive
process:
products as a reason to these find out why. Even
unnatural events in the reality though the viewer can
presented. come up with the
Orientation: conclusion, he is offered
Direct confrontation with the to read more about it.
viewer, full size centered picture
of Interpersonal:
the products. Command but in a sense
Organization: of offering.
Climax structure
Persuasion: humor, curiosity, familiarity.

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