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Gillette and the Bungled Message
I finally watched the video which has given rise to such agita, and in my opinion is that Gillette’s marketing department tried — and failed — to get across a very old message. Part of the problem is that when one is thinking about organizations possessing moral authority, marketing departments aren’t usually on the short list.
The early medieval period was pretty chaotic. The collapse of the security provided by the western Roman Empire left Europe with a power vacuum. Various strongmen vied with each other for territory, leading to almost continuous fighting. The Church was almost the only widely recognized authority in the region. It promulgated the Peace of God to get the warring parties to quit raiding churches, abbeys, and convents, and to stop robbing the unarmed clergy.
Shortly thereafter, the Truce of God was added. Days when combat would be forbidden were extended from Sunday only to Thursday through Sunday. In addition to the clergy, immunity to harassment was supposed to be extended to women and children, unarmed men working in the fields, and traveling merchants. Over time, a code for individual behavior evolved.
An expression of this code is summarized in The Song of Roland.
It is frequently pointed out that knights failed to live up to this ideal. This fails to consider that if ideals are easy to achieve, what one needs to do is raise one’s ideals.
Gillette would have been castigated if they had advanced anything like this, which is a pity because it gets closer to what I think they were shooting for. One treats women with respect because to do otherwise brings one into dishonor, not only in the eyes of others but in one’s own eyes as well. “It is how gentlemen behave,” my grandmother told me as she had me hold the door for her. I still hold doors. The last time a woman berated me for doing so, I told her “It’s not about who you are. It’s about who I am.”
So remember:
A very nice post, Percival!
Very well put. You can open the door for me any time.
Well, truly, and timely-said, Sir Percy: This is “The Best A Man Can Get”.
That list is hard!
Hear, hear!
Oh, Bravo!
I’ve heard a number of men (most recently the local talk-radio guy, who’s a dolt) expounding on the Gillette ad, signaling their own manly virtue, talking about how they bring up their sons to stand up for themselves, never to back away from a fight, blablabla, and I think, “OK, OK, OK . . .” and then they get to the end, and they say, “That’s what it’s about: survival of the fittest.”
No, nitwit. That’s what “nature, red in tooth and claw,” is about. Western Civilization depends upon survival of the weakest. That’s why you defend, and treat with respect, the women and the children.
It’s somewhat unfortunate for us ladies that we’ve reached a point in history where the vast majority of us, once we’re born, can live our lives without ever facing any real physical threat, or needing to be “saved” by someone physically stronger than ourselves. That the argument for men usually ends up twofold, the first fold being, um, the first fold, and the other fold being “if there’s no man in the house, then who’s going to open the pickle jars?” No wonder the guys feel at a loose end. Perhaps what we need to do is, as the OP suggests, raise the ideals and expectations, not only of others, but also of ourselves. And to find a way to bring that “Dark Ages” Code of Chivalry alive for the 21st century.
Excellent piece Sir Knight. I hope it gets promoted to the main feed soon so I can share it elsewhere.
It is, and they fell short sometimes, but they knew they had fallen short and resolved to do better next time.
What our culture needs is a message of being civilized and following the formula for success ( learn a trade, get married, then be a parent). I think that if Gillette had gone with that in an aspirational and inspirational way it would have been a home run. Instead, they went with the divisive “toxic” route to appease the people upset that charge more for pink razors than blue ones. This is another case of cultural elites punching down instead of lifting up.
A perfect response — along the lines of “turn the other cheek.”
Buncha harridans and ingrates. Do I get to say that, since I’m a woman?
I read somewhere – pretty sure Camille Paglia – something like this: men are not socialized into mistreating women. It’s a lack of socialization that results in men mistreating women.
My grandmother’s lessons were extensive. I was to walk between them and the road to protect them from being splashed by passing vehicles.
Perhaps it is this very aspect – the concept of honor – that is dying in our society?
I recall a wonderful quote from the 1995 version of “Rob Roy,” where MacGregor tells his two sons that, “Honor is a gift a man gives himself.”
https://m.youtube.com/watch?v=g28pOEo0OKE
I love this segment for so many reasons: a strong man committed to loving his wife and children, playing with them, teaching them, living honorably.
I can see that Grandma was raised right. And she wasn’t about to lower her standards. Good for her.
I learned that too! I always walk between my wife and the road to this day. Another rule I heard long ago: men should follow women up stairs but precede them down so that if the women stumble the men are in position to break their fall.
I need to get busy with my grandsons. Although they open car doors for me and my house door. They also give me their arm so I can walk without my trekkers.
Yep.
From the Peace of God, to the Truce of God, to the Code of Chivalry, men sought to place control rods in the seething heart of man’s “nature, red in tooth and claw.” We see similar violence on our city streets, where young men act out a destructive, egocentric code of personal honor. In response, we got the weak tea of PSAs pitching the Fatherhood Initiative. A nice start, but never very assertive about fatherhood, as distinguished from, and complimentary to, motherhood.
Thanks to @misthiocracy for posting this response from the CEO of a watch company:
It drops truth bombs all over the “toxic masculinity” big lie, in an unanswerable tone.
Says it all, doesn’t it, SgtMaj? Bet you’ve known many who exemplify this (chivalry,that is.)…S/F, by the way.
Curiously, it was taken as a given that training as a knight was best handled by someone other than the father. Fathers were thought to tend to be too tenderhearted when it came to discipline.
I told my dad that once. He laughed and sent me out to clean the garage.
Steven Hayward, at PowerLine Blog, offered extended coverage of grid girls with the Gillette brand.
Now that’s an advertising campaign I can get behind. 😎
That just might be the best a man can get.
What cracks me up is that feminists are secretly miffed if they walk past a construction site and don’t get any catcalls. And I finally found one who admits it (pay attention, now! If you engage in street harassment, you are wrong. If you don’t engage in street harassment, you are wrong):
This line in particular spoke to me. I love the entire post. I so miss the idea and practice of chivalry. Strangely enough, I find that young men seem to reach out more than the older men. But maybe that might be because I’m “mature”; they’re the ones who hold open a door for me or pick up something I’ve dropped. So sweet. And meaningful.
Understandably, men and women don’t enjoy asking themselves if and how they’re abusing the power and status of their femininity and masculinity. And, right now, women can avoid the unpleasantness of taking that moral inventory of themselves by focusing on real and imaginary failings of men.
We’re hearing endlessly about toxic masculinity because, for about the past fifty years, women have denied their femininity while abusing the power of it; and have made themselves miserable doing so. They’re not yet willing to acknowledge this.
They also haven’t considered that after fifty straight years of being more pissed off every year, that they’re reaching a point where they’re not all that pleasant to be around. The other stat that’s rising is the number of young men losing interest in pursuing girls at all.
Yes, this line really spoke to me as well!
Even after leaving the Regiment, I continue to read the Ranger Creed every single day and strive to live by it. I’ve sat down with my younger son and explained to him how each stanza still applies even when I’m not serving on active duty anymore. I also tell him often why I believe Rangers are modern day knights. The summarized list from The Song of Roland is great and I plan to add it to my chats with him.
Incidentally, I think it’s important to talk about honor and chivalry with my daughters, too. In what they should expect from boys/men as well as themselves. My older daughter is named after Poland’s Queen Jadwiga (crowned a “king” in her own right) which makes for a good conversation starter.