'The Lynx Effect' has always been a brilliant advertising slogan. Its simplicity has stuck with the brand for years and has helped the deodorants to become the highest selling male grooming product in the world. But the latest ploy by Lynx owners Unilever, is causing even more of a stir!
Today there has been 100 Lynx Effect girls parading around London, if you were out shopping around Oxford Street, as I was, you might have seen them.
Lynx have cleverly tapped into the ancient Mayan prediction that the world will end on December 21st 2012. It's morbid stuff but something about the apocalypse fascinates us humans and it might just be Lynx's most clever advertising ploy to date.
Check out this master crafts man making his boat and everything inside it, (including its own gym and sound system) out of wood. The women come flocking, two by two of every hairtype and colour, enticed by his Lynxy odour, and will presumably all use him for the continuation of the human race!
Along with the TV commercials there has also been a heavy Twitter presence (#endoftheworld is trending as we speak) and a Facebook page where people can post their last requests for songs, food, liaisons, etc etc. They are also encouraging people to book the day off work now, top of the list of priorities of course, is how you smell when the big day comes.
It's a genius idea, and an amusing one. But for Unilever, it had to be a success as the last Lynx campaign was banned by the watchdogs following hundreds of complaints.
This particular advert featuring TV and reality star Lucy Pinder was banned last month!
She was also pictured washing a car, jogging and playing with a light sabre!
The Lynx campaigns often come under scrutiny for objectifying women, there was another instance, this time with Lynx's poster campaign, for shower gel, featuring a woman standing underneath an outdoor shower on a beach wearing bikini bottoms while clasping an undone top against her boobs. The poster ran with the strapline "The cleaner you are the dirtier you get". This was banned for it's blatant sexual connotations and was accused of promoting casual sex. Unilever said that the target market for Lynx young men had "come to expect, and were comfortable with the typical narrative, tone and content seen in advertising for the brand".
And surely this is all intrinsic to the success of Lynx. Whilst some woman and prudish older men might be offended by the adverts, millions of red-bloodied males are not and it becomes the no-brainer choice whilst shopping for toiletries. Despite its adolescent connotations, (one whiff sends me straight back to the way the 'boot room' smelt during P.E class), Lynx does actually smell pretty good and for an affordable brand, it's a great choice for the last day in earth.
Jessica Hazel
Writer, blogger and vintage trader.
http://creativepool.co.uk/jessicahazel
