It’s just an ad, guys

Jeremy Elwood

Of all the teacup-based storms that have taken over the internet in recent years, the backlash from certain quarters (a particular breed of men, sadly yet predictably) over Gillette’s new #MeToo-inspired advert is one of the most inane and incomprehensible.

It’s just an ad, guys. Chill out.

Which part is so offensive to you? All it’s saying is that men need to move on from habits like bullying, physical violence, catcalling, and objectifying women. Which of those do you enjoy so much that you’re happy to vehemently denounce anyone who tells you they aren’t true barometers of manliness? Are you really that insecure?

Did you ever enjoy being bullied, or bullying someone else? Did you get a kick out of getting into fights? Have you ever truly been comfortable when a mate wolf-whistled a woman, or felt more powerful if you did it yourself? If you’ve answered yes to any of those questions, then I understand why you hate that commercial so much: it’s aimed at you.

You might be cynical that it’s just jumping on a current bandwagon to try to sell more razors. Fair enough. But if you go to the website that the ad directs you to, you’ll see this is about a company taking ownership of its role in shaping certain ideas of masculinity. It’s been using the slogan ‘‘The Best A Man Can Get’’ for 30 years, and now it’s questioning what that actually means in 2019.

They’re also putting their money where their mouth is to the tune of a million dollars a year over the next three years to ‘‘non-profit organizations executing programs in the United States designed to inspire, educate and help men of all ages achieve their personal ‘best’ and become role models for the next generation’’.

If you’re still cynical, I can understand. Big corporations don’t develop a conscience overnight for entirely non-commercial reasons, I know. So don’t buy their products. It’s really that simple.

Personally, I’ve been using Gillette razors for decades, because I think they’re great. Not because I love the company, or think they’re any better than any other global brand, but because they do what they’re meant to do: shave well. I will continue to buy them for the same reason, but I will feel a little better about doing so, thanks to this latest ad.

Because at the end of the day, the fact that so many men are up in arms about being told that the way they behave is toxic proves the point more clearly than any commercial. We need to change. And anyone or any company that acknowledges that is just fine by me.

Michele A’Court

Ihad a little cry the first time I watched that Gillette advertisement. Possibly not wildly significant – my moved-to-tears threshold is low, even for the average lady-person, and I’ve heard we’re quite emotional. It was the one-two combo of men chanting ‘‘boys will be boys will be boys’’ (that meaningless phrase used to excuse and dismiss bad behaviour) followed hard by news footage of the #MeToo movement over the narrator stating calmly: ‘‘But something finally changed… and there will be no going back.’’

That’s exactly the thing many women have been talking about with each other – that we can’t un-tell our own stories, or un-hear the stories of so many (it seems like almost all) women we know.

And then that footage of Terry Crews (a manly-man by most societal standards, and a sexual abuse survivor) with a simple call to action: ‘‘Men need to hold other men accountable.’’

Women have been organising themselves to fight inequality for – well, forever, really. In the union movement, in the civil rights movement, for gay rights and for gender equality. Consciousness raising internally; activism externally.

But instances of men challenging themselves as men specifically to fight the gender equality corner have been few. You couldn’t have called it a movement. It is delightful – a relief, hence the tears – to think there might be one now.

Sure, it’s just an ad, selling a thing. But advertising reflects the zeitgeist. This is where we are now: acknowledging a social shift that is so significant it will sell a razor.

Feminist thinkers have long criticised the message advertising sends women – that we are too fat, too old, too thin, too stupid, insufficiently attractive or valued only for our bikini-clad ability to sell beer and cars. To which the popular rejoinder has been: ‘‘It’s just an ad, doll – don’t be so sensitive.’’

But crikey, if you want to see sensitive, try the men who responded vocally to a fairly benign message aimed at them – against bullying, sexual harassment and aggressive behaviour (hands up who thinks those things are aspirational?) – by wah-wah-ing all the way to the bathroom to toss their razors down the toilet, post the photo and publicly vow never to buy that brand again.

Good luck, buddies – not just because I doubt a razor is flushable. Consumer research indicates it’s often women who buy toiletry products for men in their house. Also, many women shave – and generally shave more acreage than the average man.

I’ll be joining some of my lady friends who have already switched to men’s razors because they’re not only sturdier and more efficient, but cheaper than the pink ones marketed to us.

I feel confident now that they are designed for the skin of very sensitive people.