Smell the Fear

Fear could possibly be the strongest motivational factor in our world. Perhaps love is stronger, but only on certain occasions. For the most part people are concerned with bettering their lives, and underlying that thought process is the fear that they might be doing it wrong. For every desire an individual has there is also the fear, at least on some level, that they will not attain that desire. It's a lot like Newton's Third Law of Motion: Each action has an opposite and equal reaction. Each desire has an equal level of fear that the desire will not be realized.

For the most part, a primary desire for men is to find a woman. Some men want women more than other men do. The more a man wants a woman, the greater his fear that he will either not find a woman or lose the one he presently has. (I suppose this is where I should supply some sort of source for this claim. I have none. In fact, I'm really just making this up as I go, but so far it all sounds pretty good). So, when Old Spice tries to sell men their new line of body wash they are wise to play on each man's fear of not having a woman. (To you ladies who are reading this, please don't think I have some chauvinist view of women when I say men want to "have" a woman. That is not what I intend to convey).

The funny thing about this commercial is that it is actually speaking to the women on the terms that women probably want their man to smell like this man in the commercial. I, however, perceive a deeper lever. After all, women are not the ones who will be buying this product (unless they too want to smell like the handsome man on a horse), men are. What I see here on Old Spice's part is an attempt to play on the fear of men. After all, there aren't many men in the world who can compete with the guy in the commercial. So now men everywhere know there is a handsome black man out there who might have the ability to steal their women from them. What are they going to do about this? The only thing they can do: smell like him in the hopes that the woman they are with or want to be with will be satisfied.

Scripture does not explicitly have a reply to this message. In fact, when scripture was written marriages were for the most part arranged. There wasn't the sense of competition there is today. Still, there is certainly scriptural truth to be applied here. I could tell you about Jeremiah 29:11 ("For I know the plans I have for you" declares The Lord...) but that would be a fine example of taking that particular passage out of context and an act of "eisegesis" (reading into scripture what I want it to say). Instead, I call you to consider 1 Peter 5:7- "Cast all your anxiety on him (God) because he cares for you." It's an incredible thought to consider that God, the creator of everything that is, ever was and ever will be, actually cares about you. It's true, though. So though you might have fear, let your faith in God counteract that fear so that you might have peace. Then, when you do go out and buy that bottle of Old Spice, you can do so out of appreciation of the product rather than out of fear of loss.