AXE to grind

Curious little story by Diana Zlomislic on the site today: It's about preteen boys getting into fights that involve spraying each other with Axe deodorant body spray.

One of my favourite lines: "Axe bodyspray is to boys today as hairspray was to girls in the '80s."

I guess the marketing of these bodysprays — a television commercial with bikini-clad women storming a beach in search of the guy who uses Axe, for example — have caught on with the preteen crowd. This enthusiasm for smelling good, coupled with the typical preteen love of hijinks, has led to kids spraying each other with the stuff at school. (Tragically, one 12-year-old boy died in Britain last year after inhaling too much.)

So is this penchant for smelling good something new? (I seem to recall my brother overdoing it with Ralph Lauren "Polo" cologne in the late '80s: "But by the time I get down to the bus stop, I can't smell it!") And do we prefer this zest for sexy scents to a more laissez-faire approach to personal hygiene that has often accompanied this awkward stage between child and teen?

Also notable:

We've got a story on Madonna's African adoption, which puts it in a context of increased adoptions from that part of the world, where thousands of children are orphaned because of AIDS. Do you suspect Madonna jumped the queue?