Gillette’s New Ad Campaign – A Narrative Of Positive Masculinity That Indian Ads Too Need To Communicate
The video in a way hankers to the male-kind to hold each other to a higher standard and stand up for the wrongdoing against the opposite sex.
Shaving company Gillette revamped its 30-year-old iconic tagline ‘the best a man can get’ to ‘the bestmen can be’. The ad is directed by Kim Gehrig, who was selected via P&G’spartnership with ‘Free the Bid’ program, launched in 2016 with an aim to getmore female directors on ads. Gillette’s latest ad is hemmed in order to launcha new brand – TheBestMenCanBe.org, which aims to donate $1 million annually toorganizations designed to help men of all ages.
About The Ad
With the launch of its new ad,which the brand has released in response to the #MeToo campaign, the video in away hankers to the male-kind to hold each other to a higher standard and standup for the wrongdoing against the opposite sex. The ad features a series ofmini clips; from footages of sexist advertisements to video of little boysbeing bullied for being different. The video also shows how a real man doesn’tprovoke the behavior of other men’s misbehavior against women. Instead, theytry to bring an end to the misogynistic behavior of the men against women inthe most sagacious manner.
Our Take
The ad, despite its progressiveintention, is receiving backlash from everywhere with people claiming it to bea ‘feminist propaganda’ and anti-male. We, however, feel that thisadvertisement is not at all anti-male. In fact, we find it quite a reformer ina way that it plants the right and standardized behavior to follow againstfellow human beings, be it a woman or another man. The bombarding on theTwitter against the ad is itself a living example, how desperately the worldneeds ads like Gillette’s toxic masculinity one to be nicer and more composedbecause there is no denying that there is so much violence and misogyny filledagainst women.
We reached out to Advit Sahdev, Former Marketing Head, Infibeam to hear his opinion. “Mass Media has always objectified women and ‘allowed’ boys to be boys. Whether it is mainstream cinemas, or Advertisements, or public speeches, men have always been ‘taught’ to think that it is ok to eve tease a girl, or bully another boy, or make fun of an overweight kid. Since mass media propagates such a thought process, the common consciousness starts believing that these actions are okay,” he says. He further added, “When finally, a global brand like Gillette stands up against such a thought, it is bound to receive a backlash and outcry, but this is a step in the right direction and hopefully many other brands will follow it.”
Speaking on the ad campaign, Pawan Soni, VP and Head of Marketing, Nat Geo, opines, “If Gillette was looking for some attention, this ad definitely has done the job for them. People reacting to a sudden change of stance from an iconic brand is not new but what’s actually causing an uproar, in this case, is the brand’s call to comment on a socially relevant issue. There have been various other campaigns who have undertaken a similar stance on similar issues but what makes this one special is the fact that it has been done by such a strong and masculine brand.”
He further adds, “Like any other social issue one can find themselves on either side of the debate, but that does not undermine the argument of the other side. It is a welcome change in Gillette’s messaging but what would be interesting to see is what they do with it. Will they stop at an ad or take some concrete steps to actually move ahead on the new journey they have started.”
Besides, India too should try and learn from such revolutionizing ads because let’s be honest, the majorityof the countrymen think of women as some weaker shit. Also, the watchdogs havemade an absolute peace with the ill-treatment the women go through. Trulyspeaking, we will almost take a century more when creating these types of adswill threaten men’s image because right now, we need it the most. And, it hasnothing to do with the reputation of the male sex. It is all about treatingothers well even though you have the power and choice to suppress.