Monday, May 26, 2008

a deodorant by any other name will smell

unilever wants to make more money, pots more money, so the company has decided to try and make 3 billion asians feel self-conscious about the way they smell. omg. this story in the times has got me spitting (unlisterined spit i should mention) spitting mad.

"Russell Taylor, global vice-president for Axe, the Unilever-made deodorant marketed as Lynx in Britain, said that no one had yet found a way of making Asians self-conscious about body odour. “Asia is a market we have never really cracked. They don’t think they smell, but people everywhere smell,” he said. He said that the region was a billion-pound opportunity – “the last empty space on the map”. He estimated that only 7 per cent of Asians used a deodorant, with consumption in India virtually nil, and his team is dreaming up advertisements that will induce shame about sweat stains and odour across the region."

and the shareholders looooooove russell taylor. i suppose in a capitalist world these guys are free to have a shot, and we consumers are free to say no. yeah, right. the article refers to the russian market:

"“Attracting a man is fundamental to Russian women so we told them, ‘If you don’t use a deodorant, you won’t look beautiful’,” Mr Taylor said. Unilever also tapped into the competitive spirit of Russian women in PR campaigns, which pointed out how little deodorant Russians used compared with their neighbours in Eastern Europe. “They took even more offence when they were told they used less than British women.”"

excuse me please, i need to go find a bucket ...

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