After about 1,000 students received “morning after kits” in Free Speech Alley yesterday, campus police shut down an Axe body spray marketing event.
The LSU Police Department stopped the body spray’s event because representatives of the company had not filled out a required permit.
LSUPD Maj. Ricky Adams said it is not unusual for officers to ask advertisers to leave when they haven’t filled out the proper paperwork.
“It’s traditional that if we see people handing out things to students without proper permission from the University, we make them leave,” Adams said. “It’s a pretty standard procedure.”
Casey McDonald, one of 15 Axe ambassadors in the United States and an agricultural business senior, and two other representatives gave about 1,000 “morning after kits” to students.
The kits are part of Axe’s marketing effort to show that men are more sexually attractive to women if they use the body spray.
The kits contain a t-shirt, flip-flops, a brush and a toothbrush — all to be used if a woman should find herself unkempt after spending the night with a man.
In addition to the kits, the Axe ambassadors handed out “privacy tents,” tents designed to surround a mattress while occupants inside have sex, and computer software.
The software — named “Naomi,” which McDonald said is “I Moan” spelled backwards — allows a user to have “playful coeds, flexible females and other hotties” organize their desktop.
The software’s package warned users that the “Content is of a mature nature. This software may be deemed unfit to some minors, spinsters, parents or happily married couples.”
McDonald said that although his marketing event on campus was brief, he received positive feedback from the students he talked to.
“Most of the people who took the kits today were girls,” McDonald said. “They wanted to give them to their boyfriends. They get the idea of what guys are really thinking about.”
Damien Rabin, a biological science freshman, said he was pleased to receive a kit from McDonald.
“I just wanted free stuff,” Rabin said.
But not everyone who saw the what the kits contained approved of them.
Rachel Haley, a fashion design junior, said while it is nice to receive something for free, she was hesitant to take an Axe kit, alluding to negative “morning after” stereotypes.
McDonald said those who complained about the kits had the wrong idea about them.
“The morning after kits show that guys respect the girls enough to make sure they don’t have to make a walk of shame,” McDonald said.
McDonald said Axe is designed to boost men’s confidence when meeting a woman for the first time.
“Axe makes the awkwardness of meeting a new girl easier,” McDonald said. “It makes guys more at ease if the opportunity to take a girl home does arise.”
Sean Delval, a two-year Axe user and a finance freshman, said he likes the body spray because it is convenient, not because of its sexy image.
“Axe’s advertising campaign tells guys that they will get laid easily if they use it,” Delval said. “I just like it because it’s easy to spray on when you’re on the go.”
Jennie Chaisson, a studio art freshman, said she thinks Axe’s depiction of women as being more sexually attracted to men who wear Axe is offensive.
“It’s degrading,” Chaisson said. “It goes against everything girls are told their entire life about morals and reputations.”
Chaisson said she is not as concerned with what scent men wear. She said she is attracted to a his personality more than anything.
“I don’t go up to a guy, smell him and say, ‘You’re cute because you smell like Axe,” Chaisson said.
Executives in Axe’s main office in Chicago could not be reached for comment.
News Editor Adam K. Causey and Office Assistant Kade Babin contributed to this story.