But I like it too!

I was raised on Irish Spring TV commercials (among other things). The woman who snuck a deep long whiff of the green bar when her man wasn’t looking was really sexy, Irish but with long dark hair, if I remember right. Black Irish, as I came to learn later. But I never really understood. I think it was the "but" in "Manly, yes, but I like it too." Did she like it despite its manliness? Isn’t she supposed to like it for it’s manliness? And what about that part where they show a manly hand with a knive carving off a wedge of it? I bought a bar once. It wasn’t manly so much as stinky, and washing with it made me feel as if I was coated with a not-so-fine film of it no matter how long I rinsed. Irish Spring suggested that the best thing about being a man is smelling like a bar of filmy, carvable perfume. I stuck with Mom and Dad’s Ivory, stayed 99.75% pure, and left it to Speed Stick to give a hundred-and-ten percent of the scent I required. I’ve long since moved on from Ivory, but Speed Stick Original Scent is still my deoderant. I’ve always been surprised at how many women "like it too." The products that make us men (or emasculate us), yet another stop on the Man Ave. line.