Watch: Barbasol Once Showed Gillette How To Make a Commercial for Real Men
It took nary a week for Gillette to make the phrase “toxic masculinity” toxic. That, at least, deserves some modicum of praise. Other than that, I fail to see what it’s accomplished other than spark a pitched cultural debate.
Cultural debate may be fine, but does it sell razors? While the ad used a lot of politically correct phraseology as touchstones, it seemed primarily aimed at men. Plenty of women buy shaving equipment, and perhaps they were enticed by the spectacle of their husbands being scolded by a Proctor & Gamble brand — but I kind of doubt it.
As for men, based on the limited sample size of my circle of friends, reactions seemed to range from annoyance to wonderment.
I fell into the latter category. I understand this was an exercise in pure branding, but what exactly did it say about the brand? That Gillette had just discovered, in the wake of #MeToo, that sexual harassment, bullying and objectification of women were wrong? And that now, having suddenly discovered timeless virtues, they were going to share them with the unenlightened masses in the most ham-handed way possible?
Branding and ideas of masculinity, it probably won’t surprise you, isn’t a new concept in marketing shaving products. A few years back, Barbasol took a different approach, and I think it’s worth looking at both of the advertisements and seeing what they say about the consumers they’re pitching their product to.
Here’s the Barbasol ad from 2013:
Obviously, this is a more lighthearted pitch than what Gillette proffered. However, both spots deal with concepts of masculinity. Here, we see what’s supposed to be your great-grandfather fighting World War II. He’s cool under fire, he’s optimistic and he’s funny.
There are two lines of thinking here. First, this version of masculinity holds itself out as a role model, giving advice to the younger generation. We also see this in the Gillette ad, although their idea of being a role model is considerably different. Second, he also addresses the idea of timeless virtue — in this case, fighting for freedom while enduring privation. Meanwhile, he questions the masculine virtues of the “freedom to hurl insults at celebrities on Twitter.”
As for the brand, it connects it to a far sunnier view of masculinity — one that’s won two World Wars, served in the military, engaged in dangerous occupations, led families and served as a good example for their children. It also connects the brand to its history, given that Barbasol has been around since time immemorial.
In short, it doesn’t have contempt for its target audience while still making an important point about social media trolling. It also takes a stand against bullying, albeit in a much subtler way. It didn’t spark a cultural debate, nor was it designed to. In short, it does its job.
Just for comparison, let’s take a look at the Gillette ad again:
In case it needed to be hammered home, Gillette’s view of its potential customers isn’t exactly a cheerful one. If they’re not bullies or lechers, they’re the type that stands by while bullies and lechers go about their bullying and lechery unimpeded. A line of men barbecuing unanimously declare that this type of behavior is just “boys being boys.”
“Is this the best a man can get? Is it?” a narrator intones. “We can’t hide from it. It has been going on far too long. We can’t laugh it off, making the same old excuses.”
But now that we’ve looked in the mirror, tremulous, and heard echoes of “#MeToo” and “toxic masculinity,” we’re ready to stop gangs of roving teenage thugs from terrorizing outcasts. Buy a razor.
Barbasol celebrated men at their best. Gillette took the worst men and used them as a synecdoche for the entire gender.
What amazes me is that this has never been the best a man can get, unless Gillette has had utter contempt for its customers for quite some time now. The kind of person who would countenance this is an aberration, not the rule. Hashtag activism and trendy academic phraseology didn’t just suddenly equal a reckoning for men, and consumers shouldn’t reward companies who believe that it did.
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