PO-PO-PO-PO-PO-PO-POWER

The recent series of Old Spice body wash commercials is a great example of an ad campaign that is effective in several ways. The commercials employ an offbeat humor that is equally arresting, hilarious, and memorable (simply for its weirdness), plus they star Terry Crews, a very recognizable, mainly comic actor. The repeated, bellowed catchphrases help too: anyone who has seen one or more of the commercials at least a few times will remember that "OLD SPICE BODYWASH HAS 16 HOURS OF ODOR BLOCKING POWWW EEERRRRRRRRRRRRR!!!!!!!"

The main appeal of the commercial is hyperbole, or exaggeration. Ads that use this tactic take the benefits or uses of the product and exaggerate them, sometimes slightly or subconsciously and sometimes so overtly that it becomes humorous (most of the time the humor is intentional), like the AXE commercials that depict AXE users becoming literal chick magnets, or the new McRib commercial that shows people eating the McRib and experiencing a pleasure so intense it borders on orgasmic. The unspoken message of this appeal is either "if you buy our product, you to can experience these awesome benefits!"or alternately "the capabilities of this product are so strong they're pretty much magical."

The Old Spice commercial employs the second of these two messages within the appeal of exaggeration. With claims like "Old Spice bodywash is so powerful it can block out the sun! But then it gets too cold, so it makes another sun!", that are obviously exaggerated in humorous way, the commercial appeals to the viewer's funny bone rather than their rational side. Yet then we may think, they make this point so aggressively that it probably has some basis in truth. Still, what we retain is the humor of the exaggeration, making the commercial and thus the product name firmly lodged into our minds as consumers.