Procter and Gamble makes and sells Gillette razors.
They have a new ad... Gillette is taking aim at "toxic masculinity" that is the overly aggressive, bullying, "boys will be boys" mentality.
Gillette says they want to encourage men to be their best. Whichever way you take it, this is quite a marketing switch. Question: is this a smart move?
Gillette has jumped right into the conversation started by the #MeToo movement. Gillette is weighing into culture and politics and is taking a position. Injecting controversy into marketing has not always worked out well: remember Starbucks tried to get customers to enter the conversation on race?
Here's my opinion: Yes, some forms of masculinity are just plain boorish and just plain obnoxious: loud-mouthed, aggressive bullies leave me, and everyone else I know, cold! But I think this ad lumps all men together. It's as if all men exhibit bad male behavior constantly. As if boorish behavior is the standard by which all men are known. And I feel that men are being looked down on, marginalized.
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It's a negative characterization.
Personally, I don't want to see that in an ad, especially an ad for a product I use every day.....
Adapted from Stuart Varney's My Take monologue on Fox Nation.
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