"The Best Men Can Be" is an awareness campaign launched by safety razor and personal care brand Gillette in January 2019. Playing upon the brand's long-time slogan, the campaign acknowledges recent social movements by promoting a perspective on masculinity based on positive values.
The campaign has faced mixed reception, with Gillette receiving praise for its acknowledgement of the #MeToo movement and its stance against toxic masculinity, but having faced wide criticism, mainly from conservatives,[1] for constituting virtue signalling and being accusatory towards its customers.[2][3]
Synopsis
The introductory short film for the campaign, "We Believe", directed by Kim Gehrig, begins by invoking the brand's slogan since 1989, "The Best a Man Can Get", by asking "is this the best a man can get?" The question is justified by scenes demonstrating negative behavior among males (beginning with a scene showing someone being chased by bullies through a projection screen playing the Gillette commercial which introduced the slogan), including bullying, sexism, sexual misconduct, and toxic masculinity, acknowledgement of social movements such as #MeToo, and footage of actor Terry Crews stating during Congress testimony that men "need to hold other men accountable". The ad continues on to explain that "we believe in the best in men: To say the right thing, to act the right way", since "the boys watching today will be the men of tomorrow." As a result, the original slogan is re-imagined to reinforce this message, becoming "The Best Men Can Be".[2][1]
This campaign includes a companion website, and a pledge by Gillette to donate $1 million per-year over the next three years to organizations, such as Boys & Girls Clubs of America, that "[help men] achieve their personal best". In the aforementioned website, Gillette justifies the campaign by explaining that "as a company that encourages men to be their best, we have a responsibility to make sure we are promoting positive, attainable, inclusive and healthy versions of what it means to be a man."[4]
Reception
Upon its introduction, the campaign faced mixed reception from the public on social media. Gillette was applauded by some for addressing current social issues and promoting positive values among men; Bernice King, daughter of Martin Luther King Jr., described the "We Believe" film as being "pro-humanity" and demonstrating "that character can step up to change conditions".[5] The campaign has faced criticism and threats of boycotts, particularly from conservatives,[1] for constituting "left-wing propaganda", virtue signalling,[2] and promoting contempt against Gillette's customer base.[6][7][8][9][10][5] British journalist and television personality Piers Morgan described the campaign as "a direct consequence of radical feminists" who are "driving a war against masculinity."[3]
In regards to their embrace of "woke culture" and corporate responsibility, Josh Barro of New York magazine compared the ad unfavorably to a recent Nike campaign featuring Colin Kaepernick, arguing that Nike's ad was successful since it was "uplifting rather than accusatory", and consistent with Nike's values as representing "bold action — on and off the field", but that in regards to Gillette's ad, "the viewer is likely to ask: Who is Gillette to tell me this? I just came here for razors. And razors barely even feature in Gillette's new campaign." However, Barro noted that the market for razors was different from that of sporting goods, and that consumers "may be less likely to abandon a product because they feel accused by the brand when their emotional relationship to the brand wasn’t the point to begin with."[11]
Writing for the National Review, Mona Charen noted that despite the majority of criticism to the advertisement coming from other conservatives, and "undercurrents" of "feminist influence" (such as the term "toxic masculinity"), she found that its imagery "didn't strike me as a reproof of masculinity per se but rather as a critique of bullying, boorishness, and sexual misconduct", and pointed out that "by reflexively rushing to defend men in this context, some conservatives have run smack into an irony. Imagining themselves to be men's champions, they are actually defending behavior, like sexual harassment and bullying, that a generation or two ago conservatives were the ones condemning."[1] Andrew P. Street expressed a similar argument, considering the negative responses to the ad to be "a living document of how desperately society needs things like the [ad]", and that "if your masculinity is THAT threatened by an ad that says we should be nicer then you're doing masculinity wrong."[2]
Anne Kingston of Maclean's felt that Gillette's parent company Procter & Gamble should have instead focused on addressing gender equality within its board, and gender-based price discrimination, concluding by hoping that "by the time both the boys and girls of today grow up, we'll have exposed and shaved away the pernicious inequities in full display on drugstore shelves. Gillette missed its opportunity. Someone smarter won't."[12]
References
- ^ a b c d Charen, Mona (2019-01-17). "Gillette Is Not Wrong". National Review. Retrieved 2019-01-17.
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(help) - ^ a b c d Topping, Alexandra; Lyons, Kate; Weaver, Matthew (2019-01-15). "Gillette #MeToo ad on 'toxic masculinity' gets praise – and abuse". The Guardian. ISSN 0261-3077. Retrieved 2019-01-17.
- ^ a b Hsu, Tiffany (2019-01-15). "Gillette Ad With a #MeToo Edge Attracts Support and Outrage". The New York Times. ISSN 0362-4331. Retrieved 2019-01-17.
- ^ "Gillette's New Ad Campaign Is Getting Lots of Buzz. The Reason Has Nothing to Do With Razors". Inc.com. 2019-01-14. Retrieved 2019-01-15.
- ^ a b "Gillette Makes Waves With Ad Highlighting 'Toxic Masculinity'". Time. Retrieved 2019-01-17.
- ^ "Gillette faces talks of boycott over ad campaign railing against toxic masculinity". ABC News. 2019-01-16. Retrieved 2019-01-16.
- ^ Green, Dennis (2019-01-14). "Gillette chastises men in a new commercial highlighting the #MeToo movement — and some are furious". Business Insider. Retrieved 2019-01-14.
- ^ "Gillette released an ad asking men to 'act the right way.' Then came the backlash". Boston.com. 2019-01-14. Retrieved 2019-01-15.
- ^ "Gillette Asks How We Define Masculinity in the #MeToo Era as 'The Best a Man Can Get' Turns 30". Adweek. Retrieved 2019-01-15.
- ^ "Gillette's new take on 'Best a Man Can Get' in commercial that invokes #MeToo". Advertising Age. Retrieved 2019-01-15.
- ^ Barro, Josh (2019-01-15). "Why Nike's Woke Ad Campaign Works and Gillette's Doesn't". Intelligencer. Retrieved 2019-01-16.
- ^ "If Gillette wants to fix gender inequity, it should start with its razors". Macleans. Retrieved 2019-01-16.