It’s Monday, January 14, 2019, and we still can’t have nice things.
Gillette ran an ad you have seen today that is very similar to The Talk in that it doesn’t do much in the way of directly advertising the P&G products in question but does make some general, non-partisan commentary on a larger issue or two affecting our society.
Here’s the extended Grey New York spot again in case you missed it.
In what may be the most predictable backlash to the backlash we have ever seen, someone on the mighty internet has proclaimed from on high that this campaign is offensive because it tells boys and men that they can no longer be (regular, normal?) boys and men.
The ad above is, in our opinions, pretty clearly saying that the following things are bad: bullying, fighting, being an open misogynist, and making your female co-workers feel like shit while ensuring that they don’t get full credit for the work they do.
Apparently not everyone agrees that these are bad things. Or at least they don’t think Gillette should be reminding us that they are.
Gillette Tells Men They’re Repulsive Creeps. Now Give Them Your Money, You Piece of Garbage https://t.co/ZSaKfKGjCh pic.twitter.com/SmoR0ePXwn
— PJ Media (@PJMedia_com) January 14, 2019
Did you watch the same ad? Where is Gillette implying that all men are like this?
I’ve used @Gillette razors my entire adult life but this absurd virtue-signalling PC guff may drive me away to a company less eager to fuel the current pathetic global assault on masculinity.
Let boys be damn boys.
Let men be damn men. https://t.co/Hm66OD5lA4— Piers Morgan (@piersmorgan) January 14, 2019
Again, this is the most disingenuous response possible, but one has to ask: are you saying that it’s cool for your kids to bully the crap out of their peers? And do you treat your female co-workers the way the Gordon Gekko archetype in this ad does?
Ridiculous. More attempts to shame masculine MEN. Sorry, but Namby Pamby soy boys just don’t cut it for most REAL women.
Gillette’s latest ad spot pegged to #MeToo asks ‘Is this the best a man can get?’ https://t.co/Koyvb3DSDe via @WSJ
— Lisa Mei Crowley (@LisaMei62) January 14, 2019
People must be intentionally missing the fact that this ad features several examples of male humans who look very much like “men” intervening to improve a given scenario … unless they think doing that is, in itself, somehow compromising one’s masculinity.
Was the spot a little heavy-handed? Yes. It’s an advertisement. Not sure what you guys were expecting.
Gillete: *showing a video about how men can and should be better*
Men: *actively proving them right*
— J. D. Wiser (@jd_wiser) January 14, 2019
LRT:
gillette: “what if we as men set a good example for our boys!!”
men in comments: “i can’t believe you made me think about empathy, i am throwing away all ur products IMMEDIATELY”— caro ramsey (@caroramsey) January 14, 2019
Finally, does the brand of razor you buy have anything at all to do with the way you define yourself as a man—and whether you are then a success or failure in your own personal endeavors, whatever they may be?
Everyone involved in this “conversation” knows the answer. Tomorrow it will be something else.