Props to the ad agency that came up with this, and props to Joe for sending me a link. And yes, Old Spice is great stuff.
It was the smell of him driving me to school
And when I used it for the first time, in my hotel room, I was almost knocked over by what I can only describe as a physical memory of my father. It was the smell of him driving me to school, and of him bending over to pull tight and tie the cord in the hood of my snow jacket, and of him fixing himself a drink in the pantry while he and my mother were waiting for dinner guests to arrive.
— David Owen writes about rediscovering his father's Old Spice in "The Dime Store Floor" (subtitled What did childhood smell like?) in this week's New Yorker. The article is not available online unless you're a subscriber, but you can access a short audio slideshow on their website (and Owen does discuss the Old Spice near the end). Many thanks to Jessica for the tip!
Old Spice Swaggerize Your Wallet contest
Old Spice "will line some lucky consumers' pockets with extra spending money" this summer with the Swaggerize Your Wallet contest, which asks competitors to bake a cake in the shape of the Old Spice Swagger Logo (win $500), throw a Swagger product like a fastball ($1500) or write a song that includes the lyric "Old Spice Swagger makes me sharper than a dagger” ($1000). The contest ends 8/13; find out more at the Old Spice website.
Update: video no longer available, sorry!
Old Spice & OS Signature ~ fragrance reviews
I’m a lucky person; I live with a man (“B”) who cannot be intimidated and who is hard to embarrass. I hope everyone reading this post has such a person in their lives — they come in handy! If I were living alone and developed a case of, say, jock itch (sorry if anyone finds this offensive but I need to make a strong point here), I would never in a million years go to the drugstore, even disguised in a wig, hat, faux moustache, scarf and sunglasses, and buy a remedy; I would order a treatment online and suffer till it arrived in the mail. Thankfully, if I ever do develop such a nasty malady, I have B and I’d say to him: “Would you mind buying me a box of Gobi Desert Jock Itch Powder?” B would go to the drugstore immediately. If he walked into that drugstore and saw that the only employee was an 18-year-old Adonis dressed in Prada from head to foot, B would smile and say to him: “Hi, where can I find the Gobi Desert Jock Itch Powder?”
Robin here at Now Smell This has been asking me to review Old Spice for over a year, and I’ve procrastinated because I was too embarrassed to buy a bottle of Old Spice; sad, but true…
L’Eau Bleue d’Issey Eau Fraiche, OS Signature & Brut Revolution ~ new fragrances
Issey Miyake has launched L'Eau Bleue d'Issey Eau Fraiche, a fragrance with bergamot, rosemary, mint, maté, rose de mai, pink pepper, white patchouli and musk. Atlhough it is a follow-up to L'Eau Bleue d'Issey Pour Homme, this one is to be part of the regular Issey Miyake line and not a limited edition. (via osmoz & absolufeminin)
In the mass market, Old Spice will launch OS Signature, a new fragrance for men…