Key insights:

  • Mitchum’s “armpit crisis” led to a steep drop across all key brand health metrics, with Impression and Quality scores plunging over 13 points in just five weeks.
  • While scores have partially rebounded by November, they remain well below pre-crisis levels highlighting the lasting impact of consumer trust breaches.
  • Competitors like Dove, Sanex, and Sure stand to gain most from Mitchum’s fallout, as they attract the highest overlap of current Mitchum customers.

Mitchum has found itself under scrutiny after a wave of social media posts alleged that its deodorant caused painful underarm irritation. The “armpit crisis,” as it’s become known online, quickly gathered traction in early September after users shared photos and complaints about burning sensations linked to certain Mitchum roll-on deodorants. The brand later acknowledged that a manufacturing change had altered how one ingredient interacted with the skin, prompting recalls across several markets.

Brand perception impact

YouGov BrandIndex data shows a sharp decline in Mitchum’s brand health measures following the incident between September 1 and October 5:

  • Impression (how consumers view a brand): Fell from 19.1 to 4.8 (-14.3 points)
  • Quality (whether a consumer considers a brand to represent good or poor quality): Fell from 19.6 to 6.5 (-13.1 points)
  • Value for Money (whether a consumer would be proud or embarrassed to work for a brand): Fell from 8.9 to 1.8 (-7.1 points)
  • Reputation (whether a consumer would be proud or embarrassed to work for a brand): Fell from 8.9 to 1.5 (-7.4 points)
  • Satisfaction (whether consumers are currently satisfied or dissatisfied with a brand): Fell from 16.8 to 5.9 (-10.9 points)
  • Recommend (whether consumers would recommend a brand to friends and colleagues): Fell from 17.4 to 3.5 (-13.9 points)

All scores have since made some recovery by November 1. However, they remain well below pre-crisis levels.

Who stands to gain

BrandIndex data shows where Mitchum’s Current Customers are most likely to shop. Some 13.3% shop from Dove, followed closely by 13.2% of customers who shop from Sanex. Other brands include Sure (11.6%), Vaseline (11.0%), Nivea (10.6%), Gillette (9.1%), Lynx (6.9%), and Right Guard (5.8%).

As Mitchum works to restore confidence, these figures highlight which brands may see short-term gains from the fallout.

Methodology: YouGov BrandIndex collects data on thousands of brands every day. Refer to charts to see questions asked. Impression, Quality, Value, Reputation, Satisfaction, and Recommend scores are reported as net scores from –100 to +100 and Current Customer score is reported as percentages. Data is weighted using a propensity scoring methodology with targets from the American Community Survey (ACS) to ensure representation by age, gender, race, education, and region. Figures are shown as a 4-week moving average in chart 1 with sample size ranging from 607 to 677 between September 1 to November 1, 2025. Figures shown in chart 2 have a sample size ranging from 229 to 266 between November 1, 2024, to November 1, 2025.

Cover photo by PNW Production

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