The Man Your Man Could Smell Like

He's on a horse. Backwards.
"Anything is possible when your man smells like Old Spice and not a lady. I'm on a horse."
—Isaiah Mustafa, the Old Spice Man

Hello, tropers. Look at your trope, now back to my trope, now back at your trope, now back to my trope. Sadly, your trope isn't like my trope. But if you read this description, it could be described like it's my trope. Look down, back up, where are you? You're on All The Tropes, with the trope your trope could be described like.

The Man Your Man Could Smell Like is a 2010 ad campaign for Old Spice-brand male hygiene products starring ex-NFL player Isaiah Mustafa. It started with a single commercial in which Mustafa (a.k.a. Old Spice Man) describes everything that would be possible if the target audience's man stopped using lady-scented bodywash, and the video quickly went viral.

The success of the first commercial paved the way for a second, which proved to be just as popular. Two weeks later, Wieden+Kennedy boldly went where no advertising agency had gone before and filmed dozens of short, improvised scenes of Mustafa giving personal responses to everyone (from Ellen DeGeneres to Anonymous) who had commented on the new Old Spice ads via social network. Almost 200 video responses in total were uploaded to YouTube between July 12 and 14, 2010, all of which can be viewed on Old Spice's YouTube channel. For Superbowl 2011, Mustafa starred in another one. And another one. And another one.

A challenge was issued and accepted in July of 2011, when a long-haired European named Fabio declared himself the new Old Spice guy. Mustafa and Fabio responded to questions on Facebook and YouTube in shorts similar to the video response campaign the year before, with viewers invited to vote for who should be the real Old Spice Man. Mustafa won, but immediately announced that he will be taking a vacation. In the interim the "Old Spice guy" role has been filled by Terry Crews.

For the 2011 holiday season, he has returned with a promise to give gifts to all of Earth's 7 billion inhabitants.

In the commercials, Mustafa recites his monologue in Dramatic Deadpan during a single long take with lots of props and minimal CGI. While arbitrary costume changes and changes of scenery are the hallmarks of the televised commercials, the YouTube video responses were all simply Mustafa standing in a bathroom shirtless and in a white towel with several recycled props.

Old Spice's YouTube channel is both the #1 most subscribed and the #1 most viewed sponsor channel of all time, and the video responses gleaned a higher viewership in their first 24 hours than Barack Obama's victory speech. Sales of Old Spice Red Zone After Hours bodywash (the specific product the commercials advertise) have dropped 7% since it debuted; however, Old Spice product sales in general have shot up more than 170% since the debut of The Man Your Man Could Smell Like. Thus it's a highly unusual case of What Were They Selling Again? meeting Tropes Are Not Bad.

The popularity and acclaim of the commercials have even garnered Isaiah Mustafa an award for them.

These tropes are now diamonds!

"I'd be honored to honorably honor your honorable request."

"The Old Spice lawyers would like me to tell you not to try this, because you will most likely become dead."

"Anything is possible when your trope is described like The Man You Could Smell Like article, and not a member of the Permanent Red Link Club. I'm on a horse." <whistling>

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