Cops, robbers, and a cool (sexy) million

Sweaty, panting, tense, masked, and handcuffed. No, this is not some weird fetish porno, nor is it what an apprehended criminal must be going through right after being arrested. Not entirely, that is. But combine both examples, play them down generously by removing the “banging,” crass nudity, crime, and malice, and you have a clearer picture of one of 2012’s most playfully sexy events.

Held recently at the Eastwood Mall was the launch of Axe’s latest his and hers scent, Anarchy, with the Axe Anarchy Raid — the year’s sexiest cops and robbers/patintero game, with 100 of the hottest women in the country ready and eager to pat down 100 lucky men. Cops and robbers and patintero are playground games, so you might wonder: what reason would a drop-dead gorgeous model/celebrity have to play this game, when things aren’t as innocent as they once were? A million pesos is answer enough.

Actually, it was P2 million: a million to each guy and girl to be the first to find their match in this crazy game of skin and sweat.

You know how Axe ads go. Guy sprays it on, girls go gaga and do crazy things to get with guy. You can now count playing cops and robbers as grown-ups as one of those crazy things. But with the new Anarchy variant for women, can we expect to see roles being reversed? Maybe. It’s all about fairness and equality, after all.

“Axe has always been about attraction. In the last 30 years, Axe has helped millions of guys get the girl with the Axe Effect,” says Axe brand manager Gem Laforteza. “Then we thought, ‘How crazy can things get when both guys and girls spray on Axe?’ That was the whole idea behind Anarchy.”

From a participant’s standpoint, things did get pretty crazy at the Anarchy Raid. Aside from the million-peso frenzy, fit and sexy marshals who ran after you ensured that trips to “jail” were frequent. It’s pretty hard to do spin moves and slides with your hands tied behind your back. Then again it’s not so bad being caught by one of these foxy ladies in uniform.

Then there’s the frisking part: hotties clawing at your shirt, lifting it up in hopes of locating the barcode on the underside that matches theirs. That was pretty cool, I have to admit. (Sam Pinto, Bianca King, Karel Marquez, and Andi Manzano — if you’re reading this, we had a moment. One each.) But I know the truth. They weren’t checking out my super-sexy one-pack; the truth is that, at this point in my life, a million pesos is sexier than I am. Which totally sucks. So I have to work on that.

But count on Pinoys to come up with an event like the Anarchy Raid. We really good at blurring the lines between sexually decent and not-so-sexually-decent, and are equally good at getting away with it. We’re the perfect environment for a brand like Axe. “Axe has always been known as a brand that pushes the limits in terms of communication. The sexy girls, the great stories — we always try to do something that people will eventually talk about,” says Rafael Hechanova, regional brand manager for Axe, Southeast Asia.

Throw in the freedom of the Internet, and you have an advertising and marketing strategy that can’t be beat. “With Anarchy we had a commercial that some people, and even some countries, found a bit too much. Everyone loves banned TV commercials, so Gem’s great idea was to drive people online to let people see what they were missing,” continues Rafael.

“We wanted to show people all over the world that this is how we do things in the Philippines,” adds Gem.

In the end the tandem of Eric Losloso and Ashley Rivera, a.k.a. Petra Mahalimuyak, came out as the evening’s instant millionaires. Eric is going to send his kids to the school he wants them to be in and Petra is thinking of buying a car. At least they had solid answers and didn’t flinch when asked. Had I won, I would have probably stalled then told the truth: that I would buy a whole lot of single malt scotch, maybe several bottles of Macallan 18 Years, and disappear for a month. The winners definitely had better answers.

Still, it felt pretty good to be part of the Anarchy Raid. It’s definitely one for the books. And, once again: Sam, Bianca, Karel, and Andi — we had a moment. One each.

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Visit the Axe Facebook page at http://www.facebook.com/axephilippines.