Gillette: The Best Men Can Be

I was just scrolling through my Facebook feed, as you do, and this Gillette TVC had been shared by one of my friends with just one word, “Wow”. This advert is just brilliant; it strongly echoes what a lot of mental health charities, like CALM, have been promoting through 2018. It tells us that we should stop using these phases like “man up” and “boys will be boys” that men will hear often in their lives, believing it’s an excuse for any wrong actions. This ad isn’t just a big dig at how terrible men are because honestly, these actions are the actions of just a handful of men that have got a lot of attention from it. This advert is talking to men directly and telling them this shouldn’t be what they are stereotyped as. They are better than that.

Now that I’ve watched the Good Morning Britain segment about this short film looking at whether it is an attack on men, I can understand the perspective that these men, and some women, have that the advert is really showing the worst of men.  I strongly disagree with this viewpoint. The video portrays several bad male stereotypes, old and current, then shows how these aren’t the case for all men and men shouldn’t be stereotyped like that, they ARE better than that.

I feel like a lot of men aren’t looking at the bigger picture of what this ad is showing us. Yes, it starts very negatively looking at the worst of men, but it shows how this has evolved and we don’t see men making sexist remarks against women the same as we used to. Gillette show us how it is society’s view of men that needs to change – we need to stop thinking and showing these stereotypes to the younger generation and provide good role models for the men of tomorrow.

This ad might not have given Gillette the best press but I love it for how controversial it is. Like the Iceland ad I spoke about in my post a couple of weeks back, this controversy gave Gillette a lot of attention and really made people think. I have to say I do love a bit of controversy to stir things up, don’t you?

I hope you have enjoyed my very brief look into Gillette’s The Best Men Can be ad. As always, I would love to see your comments below and I’m always up for a discussion on any of my blog topics if you want to drop me a message via LinkedIn or Instagram.

Featured image courtesy of Insider Edition.