Old Spice | The Man Your Man Could Smell Like - Analysis of 'Othering'

I would argue that this is an example of post-modern 'othering.'
It contrasts the modern ideal that we can be a perfect human by buying a certain product but still uses that as a selling point. The adverts shows an advertising stereotype of the 'ideal man,' (buff, deep voice, rides horses.. owns a boat..?) who is in fact bigotted and ignorant to the advertising stereotype of womens needs (material possessions, expensive romantic gestures etc. etc.) We think 'I dont want to be like him, but i appreciate that women would at least find him physically attractive.' He then suggests that we can smell like him and so the thought process continues.

A part of physical attractiveness is the way we smell, we know that pheromones play an important part in the chemistry of attraction. The man we are presented with in this advert is unoriginal, boring, a typical physically strong male specimen who is presented as a ladies man. This is where the postmodern 'othering' starts, we think 'yeah we don't want to be anything like him, but unfortunately basic attraction is fact of life. So maybe smelling like him wouldn't be a bad thing. Another element to this advert is that it is definitely funny, so in associating old spice with humour (a quality I'd argue is desirable) we can bring the advert as an idea (although not the man as we are laughing at him,) into the 'us' realm and adopt it as something good.

'Yeah. Old Spice is funny. I'll buy that. Maybe I'll get laid because it'll be funny, nothing like the guy in the advert who has no idea.'