You may have already seen the latest Gillette commercial. It has provoked quite a reaction. I’m sure you have your own opinion of it. Reading through the hundreds of thousands of comments left on the YouTube video, the majority of the feedback is negative. People don’t like it. (Currently at 100K likes vs. 373K dislikes). And it’s not just men. It has unleashed sentiments ranging from general malaise to downright outrage in men, women, marketers, non-marketers…
Personally, I think they missed the mark. Badly. Here’s why:
When I watch the commercial, I can’t help but feel like it’s condescending. To both men and women. I’m cringing the whole way through the ad. As I watch, I know in the back of my mind what Gillette is trying to achieve with the message. But the imagery and narrative are jarring and disingenuous.
It feels like Gillette is smacking every grown man alive on the wrist and telling them “You should know better.”
And then, as it progresses to showing men behaving in a more virtuous manner:
- A man breaking up a fight between two young boys saying, “This is not how we treat each other”.
- A dude rebuking his buddy in the street for gawking at a passing female saying, “Bro, not cool, not cool”.
- A father holding his young daughter up in front of a mirror and having her repeat the words, “I am strong!”.
While these, by themselves, are all positive messages, in the context of the commercial and the product being sold, I’m afraid the nobility is lost.
I’m pretty sure the Gillette branding team’s goal was to strike a chord with men in general and create a spirit of solidarity, holding each other accountable and taking action. I’m sure they also planned to strike a chord with women (who also represent a large portion of their buyer profile) and give them a reason to view the brand in a positive and optimistic light. And the approach of telling their brand story in such a way as to bring people together and make them want to be part of something bigger than just being a Gillette Buyer is a sound one.
However, I don’t think this ad achieves that. It’s oddly farcical to me. Almost like a bad joke. I just can’t seem to take it seriously. And the more I remind myself that it was 100% produced and published as a serious piece of marketing, the more I hate it.
I think the key miss here is that they have failed to make the consumer feel good about themselves. They have a very large target audience – anyone who shaves – and they latched onto a very powerful and relevant movement of our current time – the #MeToo movement – because they thought this would resonate deeply with their broad target audience. But the way they went about it was all wrong. It has come off as exploitive and opportunistic. It has left a bad taste in the mouths of a large segment of the audience they were hoping to inspire.
Could it have been a calculated strategy? Perhaps Gillette’s branding team were aware that the reaction wasn’t all going to be good. Perhaps they anticipated some level of negativity but were willing to chalk it up as publicity nonetheless. Perhaps they felt some backlash was worth it in the grand scheme of things as many people would embrace their message and find it meaningful. Who knows?
They could be playing the Progressive Marketing Card in an attempt to mimic the results other brands have had by being controversial. The question is: Will this move put them in the Nike Camp (Colin Kaepernick) or the Pepsi Camp (Kendall Jenner) of Controversial Marketing?
Was Gillette’s true intention in releasing this ad to be authentic and drive more awareness and action for change in the current zeitgeist of “toxic masculinity”? Or was it to sell more razors? That is obviously a loaded question and difficult to prove one way or another.
What this campaign does for Gillette sales is unclear. I do know that some are vowing never to buy Gillette again and some are getting all goosebumpy about it. It sounds like a double-edged sword (or razor).
Your personal opinion of it is most likely governed by a combination of your own unique experiences, life situation, gender, profession, and many more nuances.
Being a female of Indian race and upbringing, raised in England, now living and working as a marketer in the US, I, like everyone else, have my own life events and biases that give me my unique perspective on things. Do I purchase Gillette products? Yes. Will I continue to buy them. Probably.
What is undeniable is that this move has provoked widespread conversations (both negative and positive) about the brand. Whether it results in smooth shaving or razor bumps in the road ahead for Gillette (sorry), remains to be seen.
