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Good concept, weird execution. A little award-baity for me
Agree.
New take: Now that I’ve observed how much this ad is pissing off conservative vipers that I loathe, I have decided I love it. May not sell a lot of razors, but it’s fun to watch these guys lose their shit.
“Toxic masculinity makes men keep quiet about their emotions. Oh, and men, keep quiet about your emotions right now - we don’t care” 😂
Current wondering:
how many of the above respondents are men, and if anyone has considered that women make most purchasing decisions for the household, and perhaps maybe women love the approach and spot?
I am a man. I buy my own razors, despite being married. And I will continue to use my Gillette
Seeing a similar arc to Nike. Huge backlash at first now transitioning to positive coverage. It’s getting millions of people talking globally, for a fucking razor ad that’s a win. The most impactful work Gillette has ever done, regardless of how well / not well we feel it was executed
King C Gillet’s work in urban planning did help shape the modern city - but yr probably right. https://www.google.com/amp/s/io9.gizmodo.com/5570345/how-an-imaginary-city-changed-the-twentieth-century/amp
Love it. It's honestly the only way the brand could go if they want to stay relevant with the cultural shift happening right now.
OLD MAN YELLS AT CLOUD
Love this message and campaign but they still take part in the Pink Tax..... So it's hard for me to take this as a serious internal movement and actual revolution and more just a flashy topical ad built to drum up good feelings and social conversation.
It’s a good point to raise, but it’s not “paying more for perceived value” if the primary difference is gender as expressed through color and packaging; the marketing psychology/angle is then gender norms, not added perceived value. Totally agree with your recommendation to just buy men’s razors (which I personally do). But the fact that the company takes that approach to begin with (and upcharges the historically oppressed sex) is what bothers.
And thanks to those of you in this thread who are arguing good points and making me think.
A little over produced and felt like they’re trying too hard to be relevant. But good on them for trying, nice twist on their own line too.
Yes this
The problem with this ad is that the vast majority of men are decent people and treat women with respect. There are a few bad apples, who I’m happy are finally being dealt with. But to finger wag at an entire sex? It all comes off as fake woke BS. Tell my why your razor is better than Dollar Shave Club, don’t lecture me.
‘Vast majority of men are decent people and treat women with respect’ ... are you sure about that?
It doesn’t matter if we like or not, the free pr/impressions/awareness is what matters and in that respect they did a good job
Gillette have an awareness issue from younger buyers who consider subscription products like Harry’s or Dollar Shave over their Dad’s brand, but I’m not sure going full Pepsi Ad is going to help matters
There was a good strategy in here somewhere, but they fumbled the execution and totally blew it with the intended audience. Guessing it’s not gonna sell a lot of razors. Be careful with that brand purpose stuff, guys!
@FCB1 @SD1 Only thing as a woman is that Gillette charges more for “women’s”
Razors than men’s (it’s literally the same thing), otherwise known as the pink tax and it’s sexist as hell. Dig the new ad but their practices aren’t 100% there yet.
Its good
Awful. I worked on it early. Social justice nonsense written by beta males and dog moms. Boys will be boys. Long live patriarchy. ¡Adios gringos!
FWIW “dog moms” made me lol
@Copywriter 2, I don’t think it’s about which men are “decent” and which men aren’t. It’s about systemic, ingrained notions of masculinity that exist everywhere in our society. Stuff like interrupting women (especially WOCs), expecting women to do most of the housework and not holding men accountable are something even the ‘decent’ men do. I actually liked the ad because it sparks worthwhile conversation, which I think ads are supposed to do.
Their biggest challenge in years is direct brands based on price and value. It’s a good strategy to use the muscle they’ve earned for years and in a relevant way
Awful. A smarmy lecture with bad casting and terrible performances. The script sucks and the filmmaking looks like stock. You can certainly do something cool with that brief but they whiffed at every turn.
💁♀️
Meh...good concept executed like a pitch video. Too preachy. But good effort.
Put this back in the jar please. We don’t need another one.
Go outside the comfortable advertising bubble and this doesn’t work. We can’t keep making advertising that works for us and our clients. Maybe try understanding the mood of real people?
Maybe the 90% disapproval rating on YouTube?
Jeez. What a bunch of negative assholes. Post your latest if it made a statement as this intends to do. I say we congratulate a brand willing to say something beyond “new this or introducing that” because that’s the type of work we all say we strive for but then here we are shutting it down when it’s not perfect in our eyes
Simon Cowell isn't allowed to judge singers because he doesn't have a 7 octave range.
I hate it for the same reason I hate the Pizza Hut “lines” ad and the Kendall Jenner Pepsi ad: i think it’s pandering, manipulative, gross and deeply cynical to hitch your brand to an unrelated social cause just to sell stuff, especially a cause your product doesn’t help solve. When Nike did it, the cause directly related to their athletes, exemplified their “just do it” brand spirit and they supported Kap for two years before publicizing it. It was sincere and earned, not an empty gesture. This just says “toxic masculinity is bad”, which is the ad equivalent of a dude telling you he’s a feminist too to sleep with you, which is toxic. Nakedly using a social cause to sell stuff is as gross and manipulative as the incel edgelords this ad pissed off.
People are calling it “brave” because it backfired so wildly, but I guarantee Gillette wouldn’t have touched it if they knew this was possible. Nike knew Kap would be radioactive and still did it. There’s a difference.
Help me understand what movement Gillette supported that is equivalent to Dove supporting a "fat acceptance movement"