If you’re one of the guys who’s up in arms over Gillette’s new commercial that calls on men to be the best they can be, you’re exactly who the commercial was made for.
Tell me — what exactly is so infuriating about a man breaking up a raucous physical fight between two boys at a backyard barbecue?
What exactly is so infuriating about a man telling another man not to publicly ogle and creep up behind a pretty woman he doesn’t know as she walks down the street?
What exactly is so infuriating about a father stopping a group of bullying boys who are chasing and roughing up another boy?
These are the scenarios depicted in Gillette’s new ad, a modern take of its old “the best a man can get” motto that rolled out this week. The two-minute spot, produced by a woman and inspired by the #MeToo movement, has gotten under the skin of many men.
On Twitter, guys are threatening to boycott the razor-making behemoth, even tossing their Gillette razors in the toilet. One man “apoplectic about Gillette razors and how they’ve been telling us how men should be” posted a video of himself throwing his razor into his kitchen garbage disposal.
Doesn’t this commercial illustrate everything we should be teaching our sons? Don’t we want our sons to respect women? Don’t we want our sons to be kind and not bully one another? Don’t we, as the commercial says, want our sons to be the best a man can get?
I love what one father wrote on Twitter. “It kinda made me proud to be a man. I am that guy that does the right thing. I’ve raised my boys to be that man and they are. Respect women, don’t bully. Stand up for those who are oppressed. Who can argue with that?”
No one.
Don’t get me wrong, I’m sure the marketing wizards at Gillette are thrilled their new ad is generating so much buzz.
I don’t buy the far-reaching argument that all men are being lumped into the Harvey Weinsteins of the world.
That’s not what this commercial purports to do.
It’s a powerful message about raising boys to be decent and respectful men, and for men to do the right thing. And it’s a message that is needed more than ever today, one I’m teaching my own son as he grows up.
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