A new ad from razor-maker Gillette asks the question: “Is this the best a man can be?” The ad is drawing praise AND criticism.
Critics of the new Gillette ad condemn the ad for a negative portrayal of men and for a sinister interpretation of the saying, “boys will be boys.”
The New American, a conservative magazine, criticized the ad because it reflects “many false suppositions” and further states - “Men are the wilder sex, which accounts for their dangerousness, but also their dynamism.”
The new ad from Gillette is an attack on “toxic masculinity” and is no doubt inspired by the #MeToo movement.
Immediately following the release of the new ad there was reaction from around the world. British journalist and host of “Good Morning Britain,” Piers Morgan sent out this tweet:
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 Andrew P Street, an Australian journalist tweeted this:
The comments under the @Gillette toxic masculinity ad is a living document of how desperately society needs things like the Gillette toxic masculinity ad.Seriously: if your masculinity is THAT threatened by an ad that says we should be nicer then you're doing masculinity wrong.
— Andrew P Street (@AndrewPStreet)
January 15, 2019 Behavioral scientist, Lebanese-Canadian Gad Saad had this criticism of the new Gillette ad:
I wonder how the "toxic men" who stormed the shores of Normandy to liberate the world from pure evil would feel about the moralizing of @Gillette / @ProcterGamble. The folks who do not understand why people are upset at the obnoxious virtue signalling are blind to the TOXIC
— Gad Saad (@GadSaad)
January 15, 2019 And openly conservative Hollywood actor, James Woods tweeted he would now boycott Gillette:
So nice to see @Gillette jumping on the “men are horrible” campaign permeating mainstream media and Hollywood entertainment. I for one will never use your product again. https://t.co/uZf7v4sFKm
— James Woods (@RealJamesWoods)
January 14, 2019 The ad also generated praise from many who applauded Gillette taking on the issues of bullying, sexual harassment and objectifying women. The ad opens with these words: “Is this the best a man can get?” Thirty years ago, Gillette adopted the tag line, “The best a man can get.”
Here is the essential content of the Gillette ad:
Is this the best a man can be?
We can’t hide from it - it’s been going on far too long.
Making the same old excuses - “boys will be boys.”
But something finally changed and there will be no going back because 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.
But some is not enough -
Because the boys watching today will be the men of tomorrow.
Many may argue that men are no longer allowed to me men, but that is not true. The recent exposure of widespread sexual harassment in America, particularly among mainstream media elites, is forcing us to define “masculinity” in terms that appropriately reflect modern society.
How do you define being a “man?” Is a real man defined by his sexual conquests, by the amount of hair on his chest and back, by his physique, by his hunting trophies? Is a real man defined by the man who understands that women are sex objects (unless there’s consent) or a man is not defined by his ability or position to bully someone? A man is not defined by wearing hunting attire to every social situation or by the display of testicles dangling from the bumper hitch of his pick-up truck.
The definition of a real man is a man who embraces his masculinity without feeling the need to manifest it in neanderthal fashion. A real man knows when and how to be strong - while reserving his ability to be sensitive and caring. A real man is a man whose masculinity is not threatened by his embrace of a feminine side or the feminine side of others.
A real man is a man who knows how to be a decent human being without the need to draw attention to his masculinity.
I applaud Gillette for their new ad and question whether critics are truly secure with their own masculinity.
