Axe Finally Uses a Daniel Johnston Song About Loneliness For a Sexist Commercial

Axe Finally Uses a Daniel Johnston Song About Loneliness For a Sexist Commercial

By Matthew Reveles Wed., Aug. 22 2012 at 8:00 AM

Axe commercials: Now with 100% more tortured, achingly beautiful songs.

See also: Daniel Johnston Is Coming to Phoenix

You know Axe, the company that makes body spray and hair care products for arch-douchers. And if you're reading this blog, you might even know Daniel Johnston, relatively obscure, indie cult hero, and tortured artist. Well, finally, the commercial makers at Axe realized that nothing says a "buy some hair goop" like an ode to eternal love from a mentally strained pop genius.

This 15-second ad, which highlights the age-old cliché that guys only see women as detached pairs of heaving, bountiful breasts, does so while treating you to "True Love Will Find You In The End". This track first appeared on Johnston's Retired Boxer (1984), but is probably better known by the featured version recorded for 1990.

Maybe I'm just missing something. Admittedly, I'm no advertising mogul, but I fail to see the correlation between a line of products with commercials historically catering to the "Maxim crowd", and the soothing sounds of a prolific songwriter whose tunes typically appeal to more to the bookish nerd at the back of the library and less to the "likely to score hordes of beautiful women and be pursued by scantily clad fallen angels" crowd. Demographically speaking, of course.

The face of AXE marketing.

Why does this bother me so much?

Tags:

Axe body wash/spray/hairstuff, breasts, Daniel Johnston, True Love Will Find You in the End

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othernathan

for those who say he is a sellout, you should punish yourself. I have talked and interviewed Daniel many times. He can be convinced of something in an instant, which is why HE DOES NOT have control over what happens with his music. Besides, he is such an innocent person, when he sees this he will just say something like "oh yeah, that's really neat" and move on. He doesn't care about the money. He lives beside his parents in a two room one story house. He jams with locals and smokes his menthols. Give the guy a break, and be mad at Axe for existing.

soundofcomingdown

this made me cry

a13131442

You're wrong. He is a sellout. Assuming he has the rights to his own music (some artists do not, sadly), Johnson should receive the brunt of your criticism. He is the one who allowed his music to be associated with such a sexist, blunt ad campaign. The geniuses in Axe's marketing department are going to throw a pair of tits with legs on the screen regardless of the backing track. Johnson cheapened the value and meaning of his own music by allowing it to be associated with this garbage.

okaytrees

@wschutsky you obviously don't know much at all about daniel johnston. he has a severe mental illness. what is sad is that he probably doesn't even know what has happened, and his music is being exploited by this big dumbass company. for his fans it's really disheartening to see him be taken advantage of and made a part of such an ignorant and superficial advertisement. i don't know who authorized this, but it's really sad.