Cheap Fumes: Boys Have Their Reasons To Use Body Sprays
A little over a year ago, Trent Hanson, a basketball coach in Hastings, Minn., got a whiff of something new.
Around the same time, Rayna Pomper, a mother of three in South Orange, N.J., who has 10?- and 12-year-old sons, detected it, too. "I thought, 'What is this smell?' " she says.
It was Axe, a deodorant body spray from Unilever aimed at young men and popular with boys as young as 10. It's one of a growing number of new aerosol deodorants whose pungent scents are wafting through high-school locker rooms, after-school dances and crowded minivans across the country.
Unlike traditional, underarm deodorants, the new sprays are meant to be applied all over the body, and kids tend to apply it liberally, often several times a day.
The sprays' popularity with boys is a sign of what analysts call "age compression," young kids wanting products typically aimed at older kids and adults. Although these products are sold in the deodorant aisle, battling body odors isn't really the point. The strong scents are the newest way to emulate older siblings and prepare for forays into the world of the opposite sex. Jim Stergar, a high-school basketball coach in Billings, Mont., where Axe is popular, says body sprays are a cheap alternative to cologne, but it's the edgy advertising that has made them cool. "Image is everything to these kids," he says.
The sprays also reflect the fact that teen fashion has veered away from grunge and hip-hop looks and toward preppy, clean-cut attire that lends itself to more fastidious grooming.
Ross Lovern, a 14-year-old spray user in New York City, says he and his friends decided to go to the drugstore and buy Axe after watching a commercial on MTV featuring a woman crawling all over a mannequin that had just been sprayed with the product. The ad, says Ross, made him think, "This is the perfect deodorant for me." Ross used Axe at co-ed sleep-away camp last summer and now puts it on every day.
Ben Fischer, a 12-year-old in Morganville, N.J., has been applying body spray every day for the past year. He wears it because "it smells good and it attracts people to you." Girls, in particular, he says, enjoy the scent. "They say, 'Ben, you smell really good,' stuff like that," says the seventh-grader.
Gillette Co.'s Right Guard has introduced "Xtreme Cool Spray," an antiperspirant and deodorant sold in a bullet-shaped bottle with a spray lever on its side, similar to a fire extinguisher. In August, Old Spice, made by Procter & Gamble Co., launched its own deodorant body spray under the "Red Zone" brand. All of this spraying is turning traditional deodorant sales patterns upside down. Before the new body sprays began to appear in the U.S. in 2002, women's deodorant outsold men's. Now, it's the reverse, according to data from ACNielsen.
Sales of men's deodorant and antiperspirant have surged 13% in the past three years, while sales of women's deodorant and antiperspirant have declined nearly 12%.
Scents have fascinated adolescent boys for many years. In the 1960s, young men experimented with colognes and after-shaves that were marketed to their fathers -- products including Canoe, Brut and Hai Karate. Brut ads featured a bevy of beautiful women fawning over New York Jets quarterback Joe Namath. But there was never any attempt to sell Brut to teenagers.
In the '70s and '80s, men's fragrances took on a more sophisticated tone, first with Ralph Lauren's Polo and then Calvin Klein's Obsession. But designer fragrances were squarely aimed at grown-ups. It took Mr. Klein's cKone, launched in 1994, to break the age barrier. Its light citrus scent was directed at teenagers and young adults, with utilitarian flask packaging and androgynous-looking young models.
Today's body sprays go a step further: Their deodorant properties appeal to adolescents who want to seem older. And unlike fancy designer fragrances, which can cost $50 or more, deodorant body sprays are affordable on teenage budgets, averaging between $4 and $5 for a four-ounce can.
Many boys say the main reason they started using the stuff was the edgy advertising promising that girls will swoon over the scents. Indeed, body-spray ads look more like beer advertising than they do traditional deodorant commercials. And they don't just suggest sex, as Calvin Klein did in pioneering advertising 20 years ago -- they shout it out.
A Red Zone "body wash" ad features a fluffy baby chick attached to the side of the bottle. A "chick magnet," get it? The August issue of Cargo, a new shopping magazine for young men, ran an Axe ad featuring a sultry woman in a low-cut cocktail dress snuggling up seductively to a surreal armpit that has two little Hobbit-like feet attached to it.
New ads for Xtreme Cool Spray feature a guy pushed from an airplane who is surrounded by cheerleaders when he hits the ground.
The new body sprays come in multiple versions or, as teenagers call them, "flavors." So even boys on tight budgets are buying more than one scent, which they apply at different times to suit the occasion.
Jordan Spear, a 14-year-old who lives in Marlboro, N.J., spends the $15 he earns mowing the lawn each week on CDs, DVDs, clothing -- and body spray. To school, he wears Axe's Phoenix, a blend of lavender, geranium and moss. After sports, he sprays on Voodoo, an oriental blend with notes of vanilla and amber. For special occasions, including dates with girls, the ninth-grader wears Touch, a mix of watermelon, musk and other spices. He likes the smell, he says, and so do girls.
Body sprays got their start in Europe in the late 1960s as cheap alternatives to cologne. Axe was introduced in France in 1983, then in the United Kingdom in 1985 under the brand name Lynx. Then, reflecting Britain's increasingly raunchy young men's magazines, Unilever hit upon a winning marketing formula: using bawdy humor to entertain its young male audience.
That advertising formula followed Axe to the U.S. two years ago. On the Axe Web site, which features games, movies and an Axe Wearer's Handbook -- "Coping With All the Ladies" -- a female announcer says: Axe "can help you get the girl of your dreams, whether she's blond, brunette or a convicted criminal." Women known as "Axe Angels" travel around the country performing what Unilever spokeswoman Allison Harmon calls "wet sampling." The angels perform "the sexy seven," Ms. Harmon says, offering to spray Axe directly -- in the shape of the number seven -- on the armpits, chest and down the torso of willing young men in nightclubs and at sporting events.
The sexual humor used to promote body sprays distresses some parents, who worry that kids are already growing up too fast. "Socialization, wanting a girl to take interest in you, is not a bad thing," says Michelle S. Barratt, a pediatrician at the University of Texas-Houston Health Science Center and a mother of five, including one teenage boy. The sprays, Dr. Barratt says, are also popular in Texas. She is offended, however, by some of the explicit sexual references on Axe's Web site. Ms. Harmon of Unilever responds that "all of Axe's marketing is targeted to 18- to 24-year-olds."
Some parents and coaches also object on hygienic grounds. They say many boys are using the deodorant-cologne hybrid to cover up the fact that they aren't showering, even after sports practice. "They use it like it's a clothes freshener," says Rockaway, N.J., soccer coach Paul O'Donnell.
While many girls say they do like the smell, they're not all impressed. Megan Mathews, a 12-year-old in South Orange, N.J., knows lots of boys her age who are spritzing themselves with body spray. But she scoffs at the idea that such spraying will be enough to make them popular with girls. "It's pathetic," she says. "Boys think they know everything."
闻香识小伙儿
一年多前，美国明尼苏达州黑斯廷斯的篮球教练特伦特．汉森(Trent Hanson)闻到了一种以前从没闻到过的味道。
几乎就是在同一个时候，新泽西州南奥兰治的雷娜．庞珀(Rayna Pomper)也闻到了同样的味道，这位母亲有两个儿子，一个不到10岁半，一个12岁，“我当时就想，‘这是什么味道呀？’”她这样说道。
这种香味来自Axe，是联合利华(Unilever)推出的针对年轻男士的体香喷剂，它在10岁的小伙儿中也颇受欢迎。它是目前在高中男生更衣室、课余舞会以及拥挤小客车里弥漫的众多体香剂香味中的一种。
和传统涂抹在腋下的体香剂不同，这种新的体香喷剂要喷在全身各处，孩子们喜欢把它喷得全身都是，常常一天还要喷上好几次。
体香喷剂广受小伙儿们的欢迎，印证了专家们所说的“年龄压缩”现象，就是小孩子希望使用通常给大孩子或是成年人设计的东西。虽然体香喷剂是归在除臭剂一类出售的，但去除体臭并不是其核心所在。体香喷剂强烈的香味成了孩子们模仿哥哥姐姐、尝试接近异性的又一个新法宝。吉姆．施特格(Jim Stergar)是蒙大拿州比林斯一所高中的篮球教练，Axe在这个高中就很盛行，施特格说，体香喷剂是古龙香水的廉价替代品，但是Axe颇具特色的广告让这种体香喷剂显得很酷，孩子们就认这个。
体香喷剂的流行还反映了青少年流行时尚风格的转变，他们不再崇尚难看怪异的嘻哈(hip-hop)样貌，开始喜爱正式、整洁的装束。
纽约市的罗斯．洛文(Ross Lovern)今年14岁，也使用体香喷剂，他和他的朋友在看完Axe的广告后就决定去买Axe来用，广告上一位姑娘爬在一个喷洒了Axe的人体模特上，和它扭做一团。罗斯说，这个广告让他觉得“这是最适合他的体香剂”。罗丝去年夏天在有女生参加的野外露营中用上了Axe，现在每天都要用。
12岁的本．菲舍尔(Ben Fischer)去年每天都要用体香剂，因为“它的味道很好闻，可以吸引别人。”他说女孩子们特别喜欢这个味道，这位七年级的学生称，“她们会说，‘本，你真香。’之类的话。”
吉列公司(Gillette Co., G)的Right Guard品牌也推出了“Xtreme Cool Spray”除汗体香剂，它装在一个子弹形状的瓶子里，一侧还有一个喷射按钮，有点像灭火器。8月份，宝洁公司(Procter & Gamble Co., PG, 又名:宝硷公司)Old Spice推出了“Red Zone”品牌的体香喷剂。上述种种体香剂正彻底改变传统体香剂的销售格局。据AC尼尔森(ACNielsen)的数据，此类体香剂2002年在美国出现之前，女用体香剂的销售要超过男用体香剂，而现正好相反。
在过去3年，男用体香剂和除汗剂的销售猛增了13%，而女用体香剂和除汗剂的销售则下降了近12%。
许多小伙儿说，他们开始使用体香剂的主要原因是，广告声称体香剂的香味会把女孩子吸引到身边。实际上，和过去不同的是，如今的体香剂广告更像是啤酒广告。并且这些广告不再遮遮掩掩，而是大大方方地将性推到了台前。
在Red Zone的“洗澡广告”中，一只毛茸茸的小鸡贴在盛Red Zone的瓶子上。它能吸住小鸡，其含义不言自明。在男士购物刊物Cargo今年8月份的一期中有一则Axe的广告：一位穿著超短裙的火辣女郎依偎在一个被夸张了的卡通腋窝旁，腋窝甚至还有两条小短腿。
Xtreme Cool Spray新的一个广告说得是一个男士被从飞机上推下来，当他摔在地上的时候，身边围过来一大群拉拉队女郎。
这类新的体香剂有各种香型，小伙儿们称之为不同的“口味”。因此，即使腰包里没几个钱的小伙儿子也要买上一种以上的体香剂，以在不同的场合使用。
14岁的乔丹．斯皮尔(Jordan Spear)每周靠修剪草坪能赚到15美元，他把这些钱都花在了CD、DVD、衣服以及体香剂上。上学他喷Phoenix香型的Axe体香剂，它的香味混合了熏衣草、天竺葵和苔藓的味道；做完运动后，他会喷一喷带有东方神韵、融合了香子兰和琥珀芳香的Voodoo；并上特殊场合、包括和女孩子约会，他则选用混合了西瓜、麝香等味道的Touch。他说，他喜欢这种味道，姑娘们也喜欢。
体香剂最早是上世纪60年代首先出现在欧洲，当时是作为古龙香水的廉价替代品。1983年Axe在法国推出，之后以Lynx的品名推向英国。此后，随著英国面向年轻男士的成人色情刊物增多，联合利华找到了一条成功的市场开拓法则：利用带“色”的幽默吸引年轻男士。
这条法则在两年前跟随Axe被用到了美国市场上。在Axe的网站上，一位女士这样娓娓道来：Axe“能够帮助你得到你梦想中的女孩，无论她是金发女郎还是黑发美女，抑或是一名罪犯”。那些被称做是“Axe天使”的女郎们在美国全国进行产品宣传，开展被联合利华发言人阿莉森．哈蒙(Allison Harmon)称为“湿润试用”的促销活动，天使们在自愿参加活动的年轻男士们身上按照数字7的形状喷洒Axe，这被称为“性感7”。
此类促销手段让一些父母们感到担忧，他们担心孩子们变得早熟。德州大学健康科学中心的儿科医生米歇尔．巴勒特(Michelle S. Barratt)说：“想让女孩对你有兴趣这不是一件坏事”。她有5个孩子，其中一个儿子已经十几岁了。巴勒特说，体香剂在得克萨斯州也很流行。不过，Axe网站上一些过于成人化的广告让她感到反感。哈蒙对此的回应是，Axe所有的营销活动针对的都是18至24岁的人。
一些家长和教练也从卫生的角度提出了异议。他们说，许多小伙儿用体香剂和古龙香水的混合味道来遮掩他们因没洗澡发出的臭味。足球教练保罗．奥唐奈(Paul O'Donnell)说：“他们把体香剂当成了衣物清新剂。”
许多女孩称，虽然她们的确喜欢这种味道，但不会因此为一位男生所倾倒。12岁的梅甘．马修斯(Megan Mathews)知道许多她这个年纪的小伙儿都在使用体香剂，不过她对体香剂能够吸引女孩子的说法嗤之以鼻，“真是悲哀，”她说，“男生们总以为他们什么都知道。”
