Earlier this week, Gillette, the shaving company, released a very controversial pre-Super Bowl commercial. The two minute ad happens to ignore shaving altogether and instead focuses on men in the midst of the #metoo movement.
This video starts off with a voiceover compilation naming things in today's society such as bullying, harassment, and toxic masculinity. It is then followed by a singular voice posing the question: "Is this the best a man can get?" Throughout the commercial, clips are shown of a child being bullied by a group of boys and two boys fighting while an endless line of grilling dads repeatedly chant "boys will be boys." Then it directs the attention over to grown men in situations of ogling and harassing women, and mocking women in businesses.
Suddenly the mood changes as the voiceover announces that "something finally changed," and a compilation of the #metoo movement is played. They even feature a Terry Crews interview where he argues that "men need to hold other men accountable" in order to renounce the idea that boys will be boys That is when the previous clips are shown, but this time, people are doing something about the situations. A man stops the bullies from teasing the boy, a man steps in and tells another man that staring and harassing women isn't cool, and one of the dads leaving their grill to stop the young boys from fighting.
Finally the ad ends with the narrator who says "the boys watching today will be the men of tomorrow."
Gillette's surprising commercial went viral in less than a day and has received many mixed reviews, causing a large uproar on Twitter. One user claimed that they "would never buy [Gillette products] again" and called the company "a disgrace." Another user posted a photo on the social media site of them throwing away their unused Gillette products. Needless to say, all of the people who were against the ad, decided to start being loyal to other brands and companies, such as Dollar Shave Club, Bic, and Schick.
While many people were upset over the video, there were more who completely agreed with it, and even laughed at the men and women who felt attacked by it.
A girl by the name of Cass tweeted her own opinions of the reviews on Twitter, saying that looking at the men opposed of the ad claiming that Gillette lost their business because their gender was attacked, "is ironic because they watched the entire ad and them commenting that means they took literally nothing away, because their toxic masculinity was in the way." Another girl observed that "the only men who are complaining about the Gillette ad, are the ones who need to hear it."
Celebrities also joined in with thoughts provoked by the commercial. Actor and comedian, Andy Richter, praised it and called it a "good, necessary message," alongside actress, Jessica Chastain called the ad a "reminder of the beauty of men."
Gillette may have lost a large amount of consumers, but they did so standing up for something greater.
That is what it means to be the best a man can be.
