Also known as “The Not Christmas-like Follow Up to That Stetson Christmas Commercial I wrote about on Christmas Eve.”
That title would just be too long!
Stetson knew how to impress us with their cologne offerings, featuring all the trappings of what life could be like with a rugged, handsome man in tight jeans who rides horses in the wilds of a snowy Central Park. That commercial appealed to us with Enya-like music and visuals that made Harlequin Romance novels into product advertising.
On the opposite end of the “appeals to you” spectrum, we have another cologne from the Stetson family of “women will follow you everywhere!” scents. I admit, this particular scent was one of my favorites as a teenager, when I was in a relationship with a guy I had nothing in common with, yet really liked the smell of his cologne.
I’m not pathetic. I told my husband less than a year into our relationship that I loved the smell of his aftershave…because my grandfather wore the same one.
Man, I should have been dumped for that one.
Anyway…
Scent Commercials As Music Videos
The early 1990s cologne/perfume/scent commercial was modeled after music videos of the time (most likely because they always seemed to air on those channels), featuring upbeat dance music and fast-moving images. I’ve seen it done with Jovan (Related – #ThrowbackThursday – What Is Sexy?), and this one cologne from the 1990s is equally guilty!
The “Preferred” Stock of Man Uses…Preferred Stock Cologne
…and nothing else from House of Stetson, Giorgio, or any of those other brands. Nothing else!
Those other companies couldn’t possibly compete with advertising like this, can they?
I’m not sure how I’d feel about the scent today, but back then, I was all about it. The appeal of Preferred Stock was made all the more appealing by its commercials, which are about as early 1990s as they can possibly get. Preferred Stock gave off the early 1990s MTV vibe. In fact, in this commercial, I swore the MPeople were gonna be standing in the background singing about this cologne!
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And in this commercial, I’m expecting a wild Kenny Loggins to jump into frame and sing about what preferred men prefer!
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And this one just…looks like every other cologne commercial of its time.
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And this one, which actually is styled to look like a 90s music video.
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Hold on to it!
Sure, it’s bargain bin-tastic and sold in drug stores (I found Jovan in Target four years ago), but this one ranks up there in memorability with Exclamation, Sunflower, and anything advertised without the portion of the commercial that reminds you about the gift set you can get at Macy’s, Dillards, Nordstrom, Neiman Marcus, and Bloomingdales.
Introduced in 1990 by Coty (the same company that launched Stetson in 1981), Preferred Stock is described as having a top note scent of citrus, mixed with heart notes of spice, and base notes of Sandalwood, Musk, Patchouli (minty scent), and Vetiver (lemongrass/citronella-type scent). It was clean, it was masculine, and it left its presence known on your clothing. Seriously, my shirts smelled like this for hours after the guy I was seeing who wore it left my house.
I realize that makes me sound like a cougar on the prowl, but I really liked that scent!
These days, I prefer the smell of my husband’s aftershave and deodorant to heavy colognes, but these commercials really did make the scent as appealing as I thought the smell was. The nostalgia is as strong as the scent of perferred men, if there really is such a scent for preferred men.
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