Degree Clinical Protection: Because Your Emotions Stink

Ladies, you really stink. And do you know why? It’s because you’re so damn emotional. But never fear, loves, for Degree deodorant is here to let you know that it’s okay to “dare to feel.”

Degree deodorant has long positioned itself as a stress-activated product that responds to natural elevations in one’s body temperature. Yet a recent advertising campaign separates said stress reactions into a big ol’ pile of gender stereotypes.

Degree Clinical Protection for Men is touted as a deodorant “for men who take risks.” Because nothing should hold you back, men! So what if your body naturally gives off odors when you sweat? You take risks, men! You need tough protection for your tough self!

Yet the women’s version of the product has a decidedly different spin. The campaign, “Dare to Feel”, is based around the idea that it’s not necessarily the macho risk-taking of their male counterparts (or, you know, natural bodily functions) that causes women to sweat, but their emotions that turn them into big sweaty piles of stank. “Emotional sweat can cause body odor more than perspiration from physical activity,” the website states, “In fact, we can start sweating when we’re nervous, embarrassed, scared, and even when we’re excited. Sweat doesn’t happen only when we’re hot or working out. This means you need extra odor protection to kick in when you’re stressed or emotional.”

There’s no mention of emotional sweat on the men’s site, or the concept that emotional issues may add to the excessive sweating that both clinical protection products are designed to fight. Both products supply the same information regarding how the deodorants work; but the emotional spin is only applied to women, while men, apparently, don’t “feel,” but “take risks.”

I realize that I may be over-analyzing here, but when I recently saw the “Dare To Feel” commercials, I couldn’t help but roll my eyes so hard that my emotional stank levels set off the alarms.