Almost 50% of the US and UK teens have never been out on a date because they are too nervous to ask
Gen Z is facing a confidence crisis when it comes to dating and understanding sex education. Because of the rise in dating apps and DM’s trend, dating in the digital age can come with a lot of pressure. AXE, the No. 1 men’s fragrance brand, worked with marketing research firm GfK within the US and UK markets to survey Gen Z males around the topics of dating, confidence, and sex. Surveyed around 1,200 individuals per market via an online questionnaire, the AXE Confidence Crisis research revealed:
- 47% of U.S. and 49% of U.K. teen guys (14-24) have admitted that they have fallen back while asking someone out on a date because they didn’t feel confident enough.
- Digging further into the study, AXE also uncovered that 42% of U.S. and 44% of U.K. guys aged 14-24 feel more comfortable while speaking to people they’re attracted to on social media rather than in real life.
- Teens are lacking the knowledge about love, sex and dating with little to no resources for guys to turn to.
Unawkward the awkward
Overall, the study unveiled that Gen Z is facing a very real barrier when it comes to getting up close and personal, so the brand AXE is working with Netflix’s Sex Education to help teens better navigate their anxiety-provoking situations. By inspiring open and honest sharing of knowledge around attraction and injecting some urgently needed humor, the brand is aiming to unawkward the awkward, to help release some of the pressure teens feel when it comes to dating and maintaining social harmony.
To address dating insecurities
To address the dating culture challenges, AXE teamed up with 94% fresh season of the hit teen drama, Sex Education, which is known for tackling the awkward and often too subjects that teens wrestle in high school. The brand feels proud to use Dr. Jean Milburn’s “Bringing Up Men” book and hope to make the ultimate modern guide for young guys for dating, sex, and masculinity. The book aims to inform and inspire teens to find their confidence by unawkwarding the awkward and encouraging connecting IRL, making even Otis, Maeve and Eric proud. The book’s chapters will live exclusively on Instagram, YouTube, Snapchat, and AXE.com and will be released throughout the year.
Bringing Up Men
Each chapter from the book ‘Bringing Up Men’ is focused on a number of real-life stories from actual teens and the cringe-worthy situations they’ve encountered while dating. The book assures that it’s honest and relatable stories will hopefully release the pressure teens feel by opening up the conversation to help instill confidence for those who have dealt with similar situations. The new dating book has various chapters that focus on a specific topic related to sex and dating. The topics will be introduced by one of the Sex Education characters and include real teen dating fails like overcommitting to a goodbye kiss when the date gives a hug to ruining a first kiss with an open-mouthed sneeze and even the dreaded autocorrect fail text.
“Sex, dating, and relationships are such a big part of our guys’ lives, it only made sense for us to work with the experts at Sex Education to create hilarious but educational stories to help teens break out of their dating funk and gain the confidence as they navigate this new world of dating” – Caroline Gregory, Global Brand Director, AXE
