Smells Like an Old Spice Musical About Body Odor

Old Spice found a broad way to hype its Swagger line for men in new spots from Wieden+Kennedy Portland. This stuff is silly. Even kind of stupid. It’s what the P&G brand does best, and what we’ve all come to savor. Or dread. Either way, the style’s distinctive and never dull.

The tuneful :15 below doesn’t reek of pop-culture pomposity like last year’s Deepfake Dolf Lungdren. But it still packs plenty of absurdity into a short run time. There’s some skinny dude who smells bad, a singing construction worker and giant Old Spice products prancing around the set:

Speaking of prancing, we can picture those equine-costumed actors channeling Isaiah Mustafa and snarking, “We’re in a horse!” while the crew groaned and rolled their eyes.

Directed by Iconoclast’s Anna Himma, the commercial breaks this week across TV, YouTube, Vevo, TikTok and Reddit. The brand plans to release another musical number in the spring.

But wait, it gets stupider.

Swaggy, a high-steppin’ roll-on from the commercials, will hang out at events this week around State Farm Stadium in Glendale, Ariz., site of Super Bowl LVII on Sunday.

“Mascots have to do it all—dance, dunk and make us laugh—all while under the spotlight of thousands of fans,” the brand explains. “What people don’t realize is mascots can sweat up to 10 pounds per game, making them the stinkiest things in the stadium. What better way to pressure-test Old Spice Swagger’s 24/7 long-lasting freshness than in a mascot costume in Phoenix?”