Target Audience and Appeal

This Old Spice shampoo advertisement is intended to be used by men, but it is targeting women to buy for their partners. It does this by using pathos, specifically appealing to the need of guidance. What clearly indicates this to the viewers is the use of the statement “Make sure your man smells like a man”. The diction of “make sure” implies to the female viewer that they have a responsibility or a duty to make sure their man is smelling like a man. Additionally it portrays “smells like a man” through the image of a fit man with soap bubbles resembling that of a cowboy, which is a very masculine character in pop culture adding to the image of the product adding masculinity to the men who use it. As such women are appealed to guide their man in the more successful direction by buying them a product that will make them more masculine.