Asklemmy

It's not that new. As another user mentioned, there's been campaigns about smells going back to the radio and print only days. Summer's eve has made millions with their bullshit "freshness" mentality. The only thing that's really changed is the ability to directly talk about the product being applied to genitals/the crotch.

The entire deodorant industry trades on implying that any smell is a bad thing anywhere on the body. We can indeed produce some funky smells that are unpleasant, but it really isn't something that can't be handled without deodorant for most people. Deodorant is just a ton more convenient and longer lasting for the armpits. Even there, it can sometimes cause problems, though it's less common for it to be as problematic as at the groin.

I mean, I use antiperspirant on my armpits because washing them as often as needed to get rid of the chemicals the bacteria there produce that cause odor is a time sink if you're prone to a lot of sweating, or don't have the freedom to do it when it's ideal. But you can handle pit odor by cleaning rather than using deodorants.

The difference is that we all know that armpits produce unpleasant odor that isn't from an infection, so we've gotten used to the idea of covering it up, or preventing out by controlling sweating and reducing bacterial presence. But the various makers of the products have been advertising their stuff for ages in a very similar way.