Men Started a Hashtag Boycotting The New Gilette Ad, Because We Can't Have Nice Things
Earlier this week, Gillette launched an instantly viral ad championing male allyship, respect for others and accountability. Nice, right? No.
Since then (because we live in a post-modern firescape), "The Best a Man Can Be" has garnered 710,000 dislikes on YouTube, plus countless comments, tweets and boycott requests from men who are very angry on the internet.
Dissenters claim the ad "blames men for everything," is "propagandizing leftist ideology," and is "hell bent on destroying males."
"Gillette, you just lost my business by playing your identity politics and moral posturing cards. How about you focus on the quality of your products instead of propagandizing leftist ideology?," one YouTube commenter wrote.
"This company is run by feminists," posited another.
"Never buying a product from your brand, ever again, for as long as I live. I sincerely hope your business financially burns to the ground," another chimed in.
You get the gist. Basically, a large group of commenters (read: people who hide behind Pokemon and confederate flags in the comments section) feel the ad is calling all men toxic, is shaming 'masculine' behaviors, and exaggerates the severity of bullying or sexual harassment. Who knew human decency was so controversial?
But others are making a strong point: this kind of backlash is exactly why we needed the ad. First, because it suggests that a lot of men still see respect as "feminine" or asking for people to be held accountable as "targeting men."
"My 16 y/o daughter: “Its not the feminization of men, its saying men don’t have to live up to their awful stereotypes. #nailedit," @Alean4 wrote.
"So hard to understand the neg. reactions. Why is being respectful and tolerant so offensive to some? Also, pls stop with the strawmanning. No-one is accusing all men categorically, calling men inherently rotten, or forcing you to cry if you don't feel the need. #GilletteAd," @niipeiti wrote.
But also because it's a nice, quick way to parse out the toxic members of our newsfeed, then swiftly unfollow them.
"If you're a man who's outraged over a Gillette ad that encourages men to not be horrible selfish pricks PLEASE let the rest of us know who you are," @JohnFugelsang wrote. His tweet was retweeted almost 8 thousand times.
"Any man who gets upset over this ad is showing their true colors. Full Stop," @cheesetreats wrote.
Why women love us:
- Daily articles on career topics
- Jobs at companies dedicated to hiring more women
- Advice and support from an authentic community
- Events that help you level up in your career
- Free membership, always