Rad Ad Hall of Fame: Old Spice Ads
One of the only things I remember about my grandpa is that he was an Old Spice man. Right there in his bathroom cabinet was always that small white bottle with the iconic sailboat on the side. As such, I’ve always associated the product with the grizzled behavior and no-nonsense attitude that can only come from being an old man. And this grizzled attitude was how Old Spice always sold their products: “Little boys, move along; this here’s a man’s product.”
However, in the past decade or so with the rise of the meterosexual, Old Spice lost a boatload of money after products like Axe Body Spray attacked their market share. Luckily for us, this pushed Old Spice to forgo their “old man and the sea” line of boring ads and instead focus on a younger market, continuing their message of “Old Spice Makes You A Man” but taking it to extreme and absurd levels. As a result, we’re left with an incredible collection of advertisements, which today, are being inducted into our Rad Ad Hall of Fame. To celebrate, I’ve chosen five of our favorites.
Well done, Old Spice. Keep up the good work!
[NOTE: We’re not getting any Old Spice swag to promote this. But if you do work for Old Spice or the ad agency that produced the ads and want to give us plenty of free shit, go right ahead.]
About Rick Mosely Rick is the editor for TSB magazine.