You’ve probably seen the new Gillette ad on social media already. Its message against toxic masculinity, harassment and bullying may have resonated with you. Or not. The ad marked a significant shift in the messaging of the brand; from ‘the best a man can get’ to ‘the best men can be’. What many have hailed as a progressive and much needed shift, others have dismissed as virtue signaling and as generally offensive to men. On YouTube, when the video had about 3 million views in just a couple of days, with 38k up-votes and a staggering 257k down-votes! Later however, the views increased to 9 million and the up-votes climbed to 205k and the down votes went up to about 555k.
The ad shows instances of bullying, casual sexual harassment, commonly trotted out excuses such as ‘boys will be boys’; references to #MeToo. It speaks about men needing to hold men accountable, to say and do the right thing. According to the ad, some men are already doing this, but ‘some’ is not enough.
Here is a woman who is fuming at the ad because in her view it subscribes to the leftist, feminist, man-hating view. According to her, it goes against traditional family values that require men to be providers and protectors. In her rant against what she calls the 'political left' she also fits in some irrelevant drivel about abortion and religion which serves only to underline her conservative political stance; quite irrelevant to the topic at hand; namely the ad.
This was rather like the backlash against Nike’s ad featuring Colin Kaepernik. Here as well, people resolved to destroy all Procter & Gamble (Gillette's parent company) products they had; and never buy any more.
This tweet again blames “leftist ideologues” for the ad; which according to this Twitter user, will “burn to the ground” the long term value of the company. He feels that speaking out against toxic masculinity is an attempt to “further corrupt the culture”.
Yes this is a thing. It stands for ‘men going their own way’. This is a meninist movement that is dead against feminism and feminists. Sensitive or woke men sympathetic to women's issues are ridiculed as ‘snowflakes’ or ‘soyboys’. MGTOWs will urge men to take the ‘red pill’ (a belief system that women have it much better than men). These groups were predictably furious with Gillette, calling for its boycott in one voice.
British TV personality Piers Morgan (well known for describing the American Women's March as full of rabid feminists, the protests as vacuous) was dismissive of the ad as ‘absurd virtue-signalling PC guff’. He feels that the ad continues the global assault on men, boys and masculinity in general.
Many decided to watch the Gillette ad precisely because so many men (and some women) were so hot under the collar about it and found that they were pleasantly surprised.
Many social media commentators cannot understand what the brouhaha is all about. Why exactly are so many people offended? The message of the ad is pretty straightforward: don’t be a bully, don’t harass women, if you see this happening, intervene and stop it. How is this offensive to anyone? Why are people so upset with an ad that simply asks men not to be assholes?
There is of course a counter view to all the hate that the ad is attracting. Most women (and many men) feel that the ad is progressive and forward thinking. It simply challenges men to be better human beings; as such is welcome.
So, is the angry reaction just simple cussedness? Is it just about men defending their privilege; refusing to change?
Well, yes and no. In my view, much of what we were traditionally brought up to believe about gender and acceptable behavior is being rejected today; norms are altering radically. This bewilders a lot of perfectly wonderful men. While some men do understand the rage women feel at societal expectations and restrictions that the patriarchy imposes, other men feel as though they are under attack – their belief systems, actions all being questioned in spite of being decent, well-intentioned humans who consistently treat women with respect. I do get their angst – to this I say, welcome to the other side.
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