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About That Ad, and That Toxic Masculinity
I decided to watch the Gillette ad this morning. I wasn’t going to, because I really don’t care, in either direction. But I watched it since many of you are writing and commenting about it. Having watched it I say “meh.” I am not outraged by it, though I do understand what might cause folks to be irritated or even mildly angry. If you are outraged by it, you may be a little over-sensitive. But I don’t think any of you are. This is another red cups moment, where our cultural opponents project their own behaviors on to us.
Leaving aside the fact that a razor company ought to just shut up about cultural values and sell razors, I think there are some points worth considering.
First, the ad shows bullying. I don’t know if bullying is a bigger deal now than it was before, but it is a problem. And the problem with bullying is bullies. We do need to teach our young men to be men, and that picking on and intimidating other kids who are weaker than them has no place in manhood.
Second, the ad shows young men on the streets about to throw down. There is a problem here, but it isn’t masculinity. It is lack of masculinity in fathers who leave their sons to be raised by their mothers. Those young men are angry and bitter, and long to fit in, so they turn to gang-banging, crime, and violence. Again, we need to teach our young men to be men. Making babies and leaving them to be raised by a single mom has no place in manhood.
My third point is that the problems the ad tries to point are not strictly male problems. Women bully each other, too. Oh, it is much subtler, but it goes on. We all know that. We also know that men are the victims of sexual discrimination and other forms of sexual bullying, both by women and men. Again, it isn’t the same, and it may not be as prevalent. But it is there.
The thing is, treating each other like crap is part of the human condition. It’s a people thing. Not a man thing, not a woman thing, not a black thing. It is what we do lacking any influence to do something different. If Gillette wants to combat cultural decay, they’d be better off focusing on all of us loving each other and caring for each other, rather than using pop culture to further divide us.
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That, too. 😜
I bought a Schick razor today. Any idea where to mail my old Gillette razor to?
I finally watched the [expletive] thing. It seemed to me the main point of the ad — which should be the point of something other than an ad to sell us things — is that men should be better people. Secondarily, the ad called on men to do this not just to be better themselves but also to train the next generation of men. There’s nothing offensive or emasculating in that message. I’d expect to hear such a thing preached from a pulpit on Sunday. I’d go so far as to say “don’t be a giant douchey asshat” is a rather conservative message. I don’t think Gillette has the chops or moral standing to proclaim such a message, and I don’t know what on earth that has to do with shaving or razors, but at least someone, somewhere within the culture is saying such a thing.
Yes, I know that it starts with a flawed premise, but at least it reaches an unarguably decent conclusion. At least that’s what I got from it. Others may have had their offense radar turned to high power.
Good summary, Spin.
I have to think that the main reason approaches like this get bad reception from conservatives is the complete failure on the part of many who deliver these types of messages to recognize that the many structures and mechanisms for instilling decent behavior formulated and preserved over the eons of our existence are being systematically dismantled by the progressives.
When you put it like that (and I agree) I think the ad makes good sense. But there did seem to be a condescension or condemnation of manly activities such as GRILLING… CUT-UP… MEAT… and BURNING it over a FIRE or for that matter even getting carried away with a good looking woman passing by (obviously the guy’s physical posturing was exaggerated for the camera, but men do stare and nod and smile and make comments back and forth, and some women do like it, and others do seek it out. So on balance I’d say it’s pretty much balanced to be on the accusing side, with Gillette knowing that the people most offended by the ad are generally the least accusing and least offended and least vindictive.
Add to that that Gillette spokesmen let everyone know that the purpose of the ad was to cause sensation, notoriety, and name recognition.
This ad ( not on TV) starkly contrasts with Gillette’s Shaquem Griffin Ad which I find very powerful and positive AND showing a strong father figure(s).
That’s the main problem, I think, for folks who are reacting to this.
I am all for stopping bullying, and not harassing women. But there is an underlying meme that should be addressed, the denegration of the saying “Boys will be boys.”
That is the heart of the issue. Are men and boys biologically different from women and girls. The hyper feminist left argues that it is solely the function of socialization that leads to males and females being different. That is bunk, however the hyper feminists seek to impose their ideology upon us.
Fundamentally, testosterone based mammals are different from estrogen based mammals. Period. And I am so done with trying to justify myself as a testosterone based mammal.
I bought a new Schick razor last night. I will be mailing my Gillette razor back to them.
Boys throwing down over a game of baseball and insult is certainly a “boys will be boys” thing. Boys finding a poor, nerdy little dude who doesn’t quite fit in and punishing him with constant criticism, threats of (even actual) violence, calling him a fag, or a nerd, making fun of his clothes, his family, his hair, his glasses, that’s not boys will be boys. That’s cruelty. And were I to learn of my sons doing it, I’d knock their d*** in the dirt. Why? Because I was that little kid. And nobody came to my rescue. I didn’t have a big brother to protect me, my dad didn’t care, or didn’t know what to do.
Boys “throwing down (whatever ‘throwing down’ means) over a game of baseball and insult” is a tiny fraction of how boys will be boys. Heck, it’s a miniscule fraction of the countless games of baseball that are played every day. Where’s the Gillette ad celebrating all the fun that boys have playing baseball?
I now understand why your reaction to this ad is so inconsistent with the actual images presented by this ad. I hope you are able someday to overcome emotional damage caused by the cruelty that was inflicted on you during your youth, and I also hope you will learn to focus on the joys that you surely experienced in your youth, and emphasize the joy over the cruelty that you survived.
But this ad is fakery. This ad’s premise is that all men are all bad all the time, starting from the first time that any boy will be a boy.
I think what my really lasting impression was was a line of men standing in a still smokey haze, all grilling, with vacant distant looks of vague concern or unhappiness on their faces — and I didn’t see any women depicted as present — while some uncomplimentary voice-over or music was playing and the boys are fighting and finally … one man out of them all comes forward and stops the fight, as if the other 95% were simply didn’t care or too out-of-it to notice. (This wouldn’t have been a great beer commercial either.)
We don’t know if he was the father but even if he was, where was the other father. What was everyone else doing? Oh, staring vacantly over their grills into the haze. The quality and thought that went into this was not slap-dash or cursory. Every angle and cut was precise. We got the exact images and sounds that that company wanted us to see. And we got the message they wanted to call up. It was in that sense (especially since it didn’t have anything to do with their shaving product) purely propaganda.
What was the message? Men don’t care. So care! The more I think about it, the more I think it was slimy.
I saw boys rough-housing, wrasslin’ on the grass the way all the boys in my neighborhood did all the time. We did it because it was fun.
Oprah nation looks at that scene and sees boys fighting.
The ad is fakery, it is not real, it does not reflect reality. The ad is a product of some woman’s imagination. I’m concerned that there aren’t any men at Gillette(‘s ad agency) man enough to point out that the ad is fakery.
That’s it! Slimy helps that blade slide easily, giving you a good close shave.
Gillette: the slimiest a man can get.
That’s the equation!
You may be the first in the nation to realize Gillette was advertising their new meat-flavored Shaving Slime shaving cream and facial lubricant for the fight or flight-of-fancy of your life. “When you’re in that fight, when it’s a close shave, you want the blows and the razor to slide right off!”
“Slime me bro, it’s going to be a rough day at he office.”
Later that night: “Oh, Jimmy. What a close shave. And you taste just like meat.”