Cartoon courtesy of Madison Leinweber.
Gillette made a bold move early this year releasing a commercial taking a bold stance on toxic masculinity. It was a huge move for the company, and the right stance to take.
The razor company released a commercial that dared to say toxic masculinity exists and it’s time for the “boys will be boys” attitude to fade out, and the “boys will respect everyone as their equals” attitude to take its place.
The response to Gillette’s commercial has been varied. Some people took the messaging behind the commercial to mean that every single man on Earth is terrible. Others took it the way it was intended and were in support of such a large company making such a direct stand.
“We expected debate. Actually, a discussion is necessary. If we don’t discuss and don’t talk about it, I don’t think real change will happen,” Pankaj Bhalla, Gillette’s North America brand director, told CNN Business.
Much like with the ad Nike released late in 2018, there’s been talk of boycotting the razor brand spreading through social media like wildfire. There’s also been talk of the brand picking up new customers because of their bold stance on the topic.
Was this a marketing scheme for the razor company? Absolutely. Does that matter? Absolutely not. There’s no official word yet on how the bold commercial has impacted sales.
The commercial is very well produced, showing men of all ages in all situations that could be considered ‘toxic masculinity’. A young man cries on someone’s shoulder while messages pour into his phone calling him weak. A man steps in to speak for his female co-worker saying, “what I think she meant is,” a phrase almost any woman has heard some version of in the workplace. An entire line of men behind barbecues chants “boys will be boys” as two young children wrestle on the ground.
In the beginning of the commercial, reporters can be heard talking about the #MeToo movement, bullying and sexual harassment. As it continues, the narrator speaks about time for change, showing clips of a man supporting his young daughter and telling her she is strong, as well as a clip of Terry Crews who famously came out and openly speaks about his own sexual assault speaking about how men need to hold other men accountable.
Of course some people believe that asking boys not to catcall women on the street, or to keep kids from fighting on the playground is a completely unreasonable request.
The commercial really focuses on the fact that the men of today are raising the men of tomorrow. Young men are going to echo what they see while they are growing up. If you’re a man who’s already raising his son to be a good man, to respect others as equals no matter what they look like, this commercial isn’t aimed at you.
If you’re a man getting angry about the message of “men are not superior” being spread through this commercial, news flash, this commercial is probably aimed at you.
In spite of what some men choose to see in this commercial, it does not speak of emasculation, it does not declare all men evil. The commercial simply picks up on the tragic trends that are woven through society today and set Gillette apart, declaring they are here for the people.
At the end of the day, the people complaining about this commercial are just as sensitive as the people they tend to dislike so much.