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Men's grooming brand Dr. Squatch is returning to its marketing roots with its first major campaign for its deodorant product line. According to details obtained by Marketing Dive, the Unilever-owned brand, known for its humorous and slightly edgy marketing style, has partnered with actress Megan Fox for a series of ads that blend value propositions with slapstick comedy and sexual innuendo.

In the campaign, Fox, known for roles in "Transformers" and "Jennifer's Body," plays "Professor Fox," head of Dr. Squatch's fictional "Institute of Scent Excellence." Across six ads, Fox introduces the brand's two new antiperspirant products and calls herself "your crush since puberty." All ads feature the tagline "Let Your Stick Do The Talking."

"The reality is, when you're not a mega-brand with hundreds of millions of dollars in marketing budget, you have to take a bit of a risk to make content stand out, because you can't rely on massive spending to create repeated exposure and etch the message into consumers' minds," said John Ludeke, who was promoted to Chief Brand Officer at Dr. Squatch in February.

The ads, a mix of 30-secondand 60-second versions, will run across owned channels, including organic and paid social media. Fox is oftenseen holding a riding crop, placed in various school andlaboratorysettings, including locker rooms, and delivers lines like "Men can't help sending me photos of their deodorant sticks."

In several spots, the ads take aim at Procter & Gamble-owned competitor Old Spice, featuring a plain red-and-white deodorant stick and dialogue about "old and spicy deodorant spray," suggesting such products should be left behind after middle school. Axe, also a Unilever brand, has used a similar academic framework toexplore young men's grooming habits. These ads represent a different strategy for Dr. Squatch, which typically promotes more consumable products like bar soap and body wash.

"For many men, antiperspirant has higher stakes than bar soap. If it doesn't work, it leads to embarrassment, leaves sweat stains on shirts, and causes trouble," Ludeke said. "Men tend to be very loyal to their preferred scents because the fragrance of an antiperspirant stays with you all day."

Beyond positioning Dr. Squatch as a brand for modern men with more sophisticated skincare and fitness routines, the ads also contrast the natural ingredients of its antiperspirants with the synthetic components of competitors, including butane used in some aerosol products.

"We want to run bigger campaigns to help men understand the different products available now and the alternatives in the natural, healthier space," Ludeke said. "Hopefully, we can convert more users from traditional products to a healthier category."

The traditional playbook no longer works

Dr. Squatch's marketing often uses humor to educate men about health and wellness. Similarly, the brand has previously enlisted sex-symbol celebrities to deliver its message. In 2024, the brand memorablyfeatured Sydney Sweeneyin a "Soap Genie" ad, nearly a year before her controversial appearance in an American Eagle ad.

"We typically try to take cultural contracts and either polish them or subvert them to spark interest and engagement," Ludeke said. "Megan is an icon, but often, it's men who are looking at her, so we wanted to put her in a position of power."

It remains unclear whether consumers will pick up on the knowing nods to traditional gender dynamics in the ads or simply be drawn in by Fox's suggestive lines and wardrobe. But the campaign continues Dr. Squatch's successful formula of blending humor, education, and entertainment to break through culture. Likewise, the campaign's six-part creative reflects changes in consumer behavior toward advertising.

"The traditional playbook doesn't work as well anymore. People get creative fatigue quickly and get bored fast," Ludeke explained. "Brands optimize assuming consumers don't really want to watch their creative, so the usual rule is you have to show your logo or product within the first two seconds. But that's the time it takes for people to realize they're watching an ad, and after that, they stop caring."

Instead, Dr. Squatch aims to create diverse content that starts from different angles and messages, ultimately converging into an overall campaign theme. The campaign also includes assets for social media, out-of-home advertising, and e-commerce channels.

"The goal isn't to have a great opening and then have people get tired of it," Ludeke said. "The goal is to provide different touchpoints throughout the campaign so people always have something new, making it more like world-building rather than a standard advertising approach."