11. Old Spice, Mom Song (2014)

Adolescences That Go Hard

We didn’t have Old Spice body spray when I was an adolescent boy (Australia, 90s). But we had our own mass market body sprays. And we had entrenched gender norms.

And, though I’m not an American mom, I still relate to the pain and nostalgia portrayed in this ad.

Because - whether it’s Old Spice, Lynx, Impulse or other - the chemical smell of adolescence looms large in our psyches.

It’s a single Benson & Hedges Extra Mild smuggled in a velcro wallet.

It’s Di Cohen’s Mum’s face when she arrived home early to find 70 drunk teens in her house.

It’s the day you stopped caring that you missed the wrestling.

It’s the metallic taste in your throat just before you throw up the warm Carlton Cold you sculled in the carpark behind the Eastern Road shops.

It’s a random Friday night, you’re sitting in the back seat of the car on the way to the Macquarie Centre Fuddruckers with your family - Goo Goo Dolls Slide is fading out, Meredith Brooks I’m A Bitch is fading in - and you’re still just, barely, young enough to know that it doesn’t get any better.

If you enjoyed this, feel free to tell one friend that you think might enjoy it. Verbally or via link is fine - up to you!