Battlefield 4 and AXE Body Spray: together at last. The video game and young male deodorant joined forces in a new television advertisement in order to teach us all a valuable lesson about the creeping influence of the military industrial complex. Or just to try and sell us some stuff. One or both of those things.
The ad depicts a "Siege of Shanghai" multiplayer match in Battlefield 4. Gunboats trade fire in the inlet. A helicopter strafes the heavy armor rumbling through the city streets. Two tanks meet each other face-on at a bridge.
Instead of shelling each other, the drivers hop out and meet between their vehicles. One driver pulls off their helmet to reveal a flowing head of hair - it's a hot-ish lady! Before you can say something like, "Wait, I thought there weren't any female soldiers in Battlefield 4," you're distracted by the two soldiers making bedroom eyes at each other. Yay, sex! Yay, AXE! Yay, Battlefield 4! Buy those last two things and get the first thing!
The scene raises more questions than it answers, frankly. What's the penalty for soldiers who ditch their tanks to get all makey-outy with the enemy? Did DICE include detailed love-making controls, or will these two avatars have to crouch and hop at each other until they collapse with exhausted smiles? Are the female and male soldier actually being played by a female and male gamer? Are they of comparable attractive and educational level in real life? Do they actually use AXE? We'll never know!
This wonderful convergence of body spray and video games is designed to promote a new Battlefield 4 giveaway. Specially marked products of AXE at Wal-Mart (what, you couldn't work them into the ad too?) have product codes that can be redeemed for BF4 in-game content like dog tags. One winner will get a free trip to Germany as well as $1,000 in spending money. Other winners will receive tablets, copies of Battlefield 4, or assorted pieces of BF4 merchandise.
If you're not fond of AXE's frat basement smell, you don't have to buy any of it to participate in the sweepstakes. You can also send a hand-written 3"x5" piece of paper with your name, address, date of birth, phone number and email address to "AXE BATTLEFIELD 4- ULTIMATE GAMER SWEEPSTAKES, PO BOX 7815, MELVILLE, NY 11775-7815." It's a question of what you hate less: buying AXE or sending snail mail.
The BF4-branded AXE products are in stores now. The promotion will run until January 31st of next year. You can find more details about the contest here.
