New Ad From Gillette Addresses Masculinity In The Age Of The #MeToo Movement

(screen capture via Gillette)

Gillette has debuted a new campaign, “The Best Men Can Be,” with a minute and a half video that’s getting props and criticism.

The new messaging is a riff on “The Best a Man Can Get” tagline which debuted 30 years ago in 1989 during Super Bowl XXIII.

The new 90 second spot, titled “We Believe,” asks the viewer, “Is this the best a man can get?” as we hear terms like “bullying,” “MeToo movement,” and “masculinity” in the background.

The text of the voiceover reads:

“Is this the best a man can get? Is it? We can’t hide from it. It’s been going on far too long. We can’t laugh it off making the same old excuses. But something finally changed and there will be no going back. Because we, we believe in the best in men. To say the right thing, to act the right way. Some already are - in ways big and small. Some is not enough because the boys watching today will be the men of tomorrow.”

Visually, we see a group of boys chasing other boys while slurs of “loser,” “sissy,” and “freak” are printed across the screen; fathers at a backyard cookout watching boys fight while saying, “Boys will be boys;” sitcom and movie situations where adult men pretend to grope women.

“Bullying. Harassment. Is this the best a man can get?,” reads the video description. “It's only by challenging ourselves to do more, that we can get closer to our best. To say the right thing, to act the right way.”

There’s also a link to a new brand site, TheBestMenCanBe.org, which offers more insight into the new company positions on healthy masculinity.

“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,” says Gillette at the new site.

In addition, Gillette pledges to donate $1 million per year for the next three years to non-profit organizations that set out to “inspire, educate and help men of all ages achieve their personal ‘best’ and become role models for the next generation.”

Sounds like a worthy message, yes?

But if you click over to the YouTube page where the video lives, the comments are over-the-top negative.

At this writing, the clip has garnered 14K ‘thumbs down’ votes versus less than 2K ‘thumbs up’ votes.

Joe Jervis at JoeMyGod notes that the far-right, conservative website InfoWars sent their flying monkeys to the video page to troll.

"I hope this anti-male propaganda film costed you a lot and that the outcome will cost you a lot more."

"Let's try cultural castration as our marketing strategy."

"Two kids play-fighting on the grass, which is probably one of the most fun things to do as a kid with your friends and they break it up. It just shows how detached these pig feminist demagogues are."

"Gillette getting Cucked"

"Never shaving with Gillette again. Take your propoganda elsewhere."

"My masculinity isn't toxic, your femininity is."

AdAge notes that Gillette’s new messaging joins other men’s personal care products, like Just For Men and Unilever’s Axe, that now aim for “an evolved outlook on masculinity.”

What do you think, readers? Is the new ad spot aspirational? Or insulting to men?

Are men stuck in a 'catch 22' in trying to be their best while attempting to fit into an ever-evolving definition of 'masculinity?"

(h/t AdAge)