IS THIS THE WORST AN AD CAN GET?

Gillette #MeToo advert portrays men as leering oafs — but critics say it’s sexist and patronising

Women love nothing better than a closely shaven face. That’s been the message for decades in adverts where attractive women kissed and drooled over square-jawed, smooth-faced men.

But now Gillette, the world’s biggest razor brand and creator of the 30-year-old catchline ‘The Best A man Can Get’, has brought out a new commercial that consigns to the grubby bin of history those provocatively sensual adverts.

The new, subtly different slogan is ‘The Best men Can Be’, and the message is that a man can have the grooming habits of a Yeti just so long as he stands up to sexists, confronts bullies and takes a stand against the ‘toxic masculinity’ of his age.

Hailed as the first major advertising campaign to respond to the #meToo era, the advert — entitled We Believe — is more party political broadcast than commercial. And for that reason it yesterday sparked a firestorm of outrage, and not all of it from men.

While the firm — whose products are estimated to be used by 750 million men in 200 countries — boasts that its lubricated razors are ‘designed to stop irritation’, the same cannot be said of its preachy new ad.

Critics rounded on it as smug and obnoxious ‘virtue signalling’ from a company exploiting the #meToo movement purely for business purposes. others called it an assault on masculinity that portrays men as inherently bad, without acknowledging that women can also be guilty of bullying and aggression.

So what has caused such a row? In an image-crowded one minute and 48 seconds, the advert starts with a gang of jeering boys smashing through a large paper screen showing an old, presumably sexist, shaving advert as they pursue another youngster. A mother clutches her son to her, trying to protect him from a wave of homophobic online taunting.

There follows a stream of images showing stereotypical male chauvinism, before the voiceover says: ‘Something finally changed.’

A montage of newsreaders announces the birth of the #meToo anti-harassment movement that was spawned by accusations of sexual misconduct against Hollywood producer Harvey Weinstein and other powerful men.

‘Then there will be no going back — because we, we believe in the best in men,’ continues the narrator. ‘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.’

The advert ends with the pious message: ‘It is only by challenging ourselves to do more that we can get closer to our best.’

It flashes up a link to the Gillette website, which provides a statement from Gillette insisting it has a ‘responsibility to make sure we are promoting positive, attainable, inclusive and healthy versions of what it means to be a man’.

The commercial was made by UK company Somesuch and directed by an Australian-born Londoner, Kim Gehrig. Known for her feminist approach, she directed a 2015 campaign for Sport england called This Girl Can that encouraged women to exercise.

Her advert for a Swedish feminine hygiene brand using the slogan ‘Viva La Vulva’ was attacked as ‘dripping in misandry and sexism’.

Gillette is run by a similarly ‘onmessage’ British executive, Gary Coombe, who has tellingly called gender equality ‘an economic opportunity’, as well as ‘a moral imperative’. He adds: ‘Businesses have a responsibility to stand up and be counted on this.’

Procter & Gamble, Gillette’s parent company, has been trying hard to give its adverts a more socially aware edge.

In September, it won an emmy award for an anti-racism commercial, The Talk, in which black parents tell their children about prejudice. However, the company was suspended from Facebook two months earlier on the grounds that an advert promoting gay rights was ‘political’.

With Gillette, however, the desperation of a huge corporation to appear deeply worthy may have backfired badly.

many critics said they will boycott Gillette products, including the conservative film star James Woods. ‘So nice to see Gillette jumping on the “men are horrible” campaign permeating mainstream media and Hollywood entertainment,’ he said on Twitter. ‘I

for one will never use your product again.’

The comedian Ricky Gervais sneered: ‘I used to love beating up kids at barbecues. Now I realise that is wrong.’

Bernice King, daughter of Martin Luther King, defended the ad, which she insisted was not ‘anti-male’ but ‘pro-humanity’, adding: ‘It demonstrates that character can step up to change conditions.’

But on YouTube, where the ad has racked up more than 4.6 million views, there were seven times as many negative responses as positive ones. ‘In less than two minutes you managed to alienate your biggest sales group for your products. Well done,’ wrote one viewer.

‘Gillette has made it clear they do not want the business of masculine men. I will grant their wish,’ said another.

Some advertising experts believe the advert goes too far, possibly appealing to millennials, but alienating long-time customers who — as one put it — ‘don’t want to be told they’re a naughty boy’. Gillette says it has no plans to pull the commercial, and won’t say whether it will run on UK TV.

‘We recognised it’s sparking a lot of passionate dialogue — at the same time it’s getting people to stop and think about what it means to be our best selves, which is the point,’ said one executive.

Customers may smash their razors and even grow beards in protest, but the advertising world seems intent on projecting a new, somewhat puritanical sense of virtue. Last month, the UK advertising watchdog banned what it called ‘harmful’ gender stereotypes from TV commercials. They include the view of the housewife as the domestic workhorse, women unable to park cars and men putting their feet up at home.

As the Gillette backlash proves, plenty of people feel portraying men as complacent, predatory chauvinists could be regarded as a fairly ‘harmful’ stereotype, too.

‘Bro, not cool. Not cool . . .’ The right-on message continues as a leering man outside a cafe prepares to move in on a woman passer-by, presumably to sexually harass her. His friend restrains him, as the voiceover says: ‘Men need to hold other men accountable.’ Oddly, given that it’s a Gillette ad, neither of them has shaved.

‘We can’t laugh it off . . .’ That’s how a sombre voiceover (American, like everyone else in the advert) intones the #MeToo message, as three youths watch a fictionalised Sixtiesstyle U.S. sitcom, where a man makes a groping gesture towards the family maid.

‘What I actually think she’s trying to say . . .’ A female executive sits in silent humiliation while the alpha male boss of the board — with his hand resting

‘Smile, sweetie . . .’ A poolside party is disrupted by lecherous louts, one holding a camcorder, who hassle two girls in bikinis. Enter stage right a ‘woke’ male, who admonishes them by saying: ‘Come on!’ The voiceover rams home the message about masculine frightfulness: ‘The boys watching today will be the men of tomorrow.’

‘Boys will be boys . . .’ The air is thick with charcoal smoke, the smell of burgers and testosterone as a line of men watch two boys scrap. But later, when the mood of the ad changes, an enlightened male breaks up the fight, saying: ‘This is not how we treat each other.’

patronisingly on her shoulder — ‘explains’ her idea for his male colleagues. ‘It’s been going on for far too long,’ tuts the sonorous voiceover.