McCann Melbourne Saves the World from Hipsters, Facial Hair

As a pair of hipsters with facial hair to match, your AgencySpy writers are very, very offended by the latest work from McCann’s Australian outpost.

The basic idea behind the campaign promoting Bic’s new Flex 3 razor holds that dudes with beards and tattoos are no longer outsiders…they have fully integrated into the mainstream. The “epidemic” has reached proportions epic enough to demand action.

After teasing the campaign for a month on social media, McCann dropped the full video this week. It’s more than a little traumatic.

The corresponding Facebook page and unbranded website came to life in late June, introducing us to such classic characters as Hipster Dad and Sad Hipster Ronnie, who may or may not run digital strategy for an Omnicom agency.

The brand’s social media manager also got a bit cheeky with fans.

The site is worth checking out, especially for its “signs and symptoms of hipsterdom” ranging from beard smell, faux gluten intolerance and coffee snobbery to dudes who choose to wear glasses just because.

Yes, our beards are feeling slightly butthurt after viewing this campaign–but we do appreciate its attention to detail, particularly the passing reference to New York’s own “Roving Typist.”

McCann Melbourne ECD Pat Baron writes:

“I used to worry for Hipsters, now I feel sorry for them. Ironic beards have taken the face from a generation. BIC is saving a generation one shave at a time.”

We do wonder, though, whether anyone in the creative department at McCann shaved for this campaign. And we have to air one grievance: no way that guy destroyed his entire facial carpet armed only with a Bic, no matter how great its pivoting head and “aloe + vitamin E lubricating strip” may be. Also, ewww.

Finally, as if to further prove that one should ALWAYS read the comments, a YouTube non-fan writes:

“If I could get rid of either hipster beards or advertising, I would get rid of advertising.”

93 percent of the AgencySpy readers who participated in our completely fictional poll agree.