The Best Men Can Be:Gillette Enters the #MeToo Movement

THE BEST MEN CAN BE

Gillette Enters the #MeToo Movement

ABSTRACT

On January 13, 2019, the Procter & Gamble razor brand Gillette launched a corporate social responsibility advertising campaign, kicking it off with a two-minute short film that became the center of controversy and social media debate. The video, titled We Believe: The Best Men Can Be, was first published on Youtube and shared across the company’s social media profiles.[1] The release of the video sparked garnering media attention for the backlash it kickstarted on social media and the question it raised about corporations taking stances in social justice movements.

INTRODUCTION

At the time of the campaign’s initial release, Tarana Burke’s #MeToo movement had entered the international stage after high-profile celebrities like Alyssa Milano and Jennifer Lawrence took to social media, virally spreading the movement as a hashtag in the wake of the 2017 Harvey Weinstein sexual-abuse allegations.[2] By 2019, the #MeToo movement had woven itself into American culture and social media life, making it almost impossible for the Gillette The Best a Man Can Get campaign to not gain immediate national attention. National attention for the campaign was readily given, and Gillette’s intrusion into the #MeToo movement’s virtual space became an instant subject of controversy.

The ad, featuring boys and men of different ages, races, and ethnicities engaging in different types of misbehavior ranging from bullying, fighting, sexual harassment, discrimination, and more[3] challenged viewers to “confront issues like toxic masculinity” and abandon excuses like ‘Boys will be boys.’” [4] Gillette’s bold assertion of new corporate and social values generated a mixed response from social media users and national attention from major news outlets like CNN and Fox News, drawing comparisons to Nike’s Believe In Something campaign[5] and once again bringing up the issue of corporate social responsibility and the use of social justice issues by corporations as a way to show support for a cause and potentially widen their consumer base.

TESTING THE WATERS

The Social Climate of the #MeToo Movement

The purpose of the MeToo movement was to break the barrier of silence women and other victims of sexual abuse face, providing a platform that would empower voices and build solidarity in numbers.[6] A main part of the MeToo movement’s platform was upholding accountability on the part of perpetrators,[7] which, when pushed to the forefront of global social media communication and media attention, created an environment of criticism, backlash, and outspokenness.

The National Climate Surrounding Social Justice and CSR

The galvanization of the #MeToo movement also pushed along the normalization of corporations speaking out and publicly taking sides on social media and other media platforms in the name of social justice and corporate social responsibility; the most prominent example of this is the Colin Kaepernick and Nike collaboration. The rise of social justice grassroots movements and the demand for major companies to actively practice corporate social responsibility was further exacerbated by the entry of Millennials and Generation Z into the workforce. California Management Review reported that “with a new generation of consumers that grew up with access to mass media, companies are under pressure to move beyond traditional marketing.”[8] In order to establish a loyal consumer base with these generations, corporations needed to start prioritizing CSR as a major pillar of an organization’s corporate mission.

CORPORATE SNAPSHOT

Who is Gillette?

Gillette is an American safety razor brand founded by King Camp Gillette in 1901as a cheap, safer alternative to professional grooming for men.[9] The company has expanded into a multi-national corporation with a brand value of $14.5 billion USD.[10] The razor brand became the official razor of the United States and until recently, was the “King” of the razor and men’s grooming industry.[11]

In 2005, the Gillette brand came under ownership of Procter & Gamble, a multinational consumer goods corporation with sixty-four of other home goods brands under its belt.[12] According to Euromonitor, Gillette razors are used by 750 million men in more than 200 million countries, with the brand also establishing an online subscription program to remain competitive with brands like The Dollar Shave Club.[13] Gillette prides itself on delivering “the world’s best quality blades”[14] without sacrificing comfort or affordability. Procter & Gamble has had a significant history in ethical business practices,[15] with the company streamlining its brand ownership and rebranding itself to fit the changing consumer markets and its expectations.

Gillette’s History of Involvement in Social Justice Movements

In 1989, Gillette launched its “The Best A Man Can Be” campaign during Superbowl XXIII featuring a short bunch of vignettes of male American life: “strong men playing sport, brave men hurtling into space, dashing men kissing beautiful women.”[16] Building up a fantasy of manhood, Gillette in an effort to sell products to consumers, it was the first of many campaigns implemented by Gillette that commercialized social life for profit.[17] Parent company Procter & Gamble released their own social justice campaign that also debuted at a Superbowl in 2014: the #LikeAGirl campaign, which has since been seen by many as a corporation commodifying feminism and gender equality movements in order to market feminine hygiene brands towards women by making them feel “empowered” through the use of their numerous products.[18]

Competitors to Gillette

Top competitors or alternatives to Gillette’s grooming products include similar men’s razor brands like Harry’s and Dollar Shave Club.[19] Competitiveness increased further with the introduction and popularization of online razor subscriptions and mail-to-order grooming packages that offered high quality products for a low monthly fee, with the added bonus of being delivered right to the front door. According to the Owler, Harry’s is Gillette’s biggest competitor, with the company only making $6.4 billion less in revenue; this gap has been decreasing since the pandemic picked up this past March.[20] While Gillette still remains the shaving standard brand for the majority of Americans, Harry’s has proven to be a strong competitor; according to Harry’s website, while both razor brands offer a similar razor, Harry’s are $2 or less per 5-blade cartridge; the brand was also the winner of 2017 GQ grooming award and offers customers the ability to customize handle colors, and is independently owned, a feature that attracts younger consumers who wish to support smaller businesses over larger corporations.[21] In sum, as smaller companies like Harry’s begin to offer an affordable direct-to-consumer service with appealing millennial-courting aesthetics,[22] Gillette’s reign over the razor industry has become shaky.

Competitor’s History of Involvement in Social Justice Movements

Harry’s

According to the company website, Harry’s has pledged to help 500,000 men with mental health issues by 2021through their company donations to charities.[23] Harry’s sets aside 1 percent of annual sales to donate each year. This was further emphasized by the launching an ad campaign titled Shave or Don’t in 2019, which was created in partnership with Fitzco and features men of diverse backgrounds, ethnicities, cultures and more[24]; the goal of the campaign was to offer men a choice on grooming, with Harry’s Global Creative Director Luke Crisell saying in an interview, “At Harry’s we don’t believe that it’s our job to tell people when, why, or how to shave. In fact, we don’t believe it’s our job to tell people to shave at all."[25] The ad campaign received positive support and feedback on social media and continued to do so in the weeks following.

Dollar Shave Club

Dollar Shave Club is also heavily involved with social justice as a corporate mission, the company launching their own ad campaign focused on increasing diversity and inclusion within the razor blade/grooming industry. Launched in 2018, the campaign featured a large cast of men and women from a wide variety of racial backgrounds and an unusual tone of seriousness.[26] Dollar Shave Club also partnered with the Colon Cancer Alliance in an effort to help "wipe out" colon cancer,[27] donating $10,000 to the organization and featuring CEO Michael Dubin having his own colonoscopy streamed live online.[28] Following the deaths of George Flyod and Breonna Taylor, Dollar Shave Club was also quick to produce a statement of commitment in support of the Black Lives Matter movement.[29]

SETTING THE SCENE

Implementing We Believe: The Best Men Can Be

On January 13, 2019, Gillette launched the beginning of its “The Best Men Can Be” social responsibility advertising campaign by releasing its short film. With the main goal of challenging viewers to confront the issue of toxic masculinity, the men in the video go from bullying, fighting, and engaging in discriminatory behavior to challenging catcallers, championing their daughters and breaking up brawls.[30] Within 48 hours, the video posted to Gillett’s social media and Youtube pages, was watched more than 2 million times and had more than 23,000 likes and 214,000 dislikes on YouTube,[31] these numbers increasing as time went on. Putting an new spin on the company’s tagline “The Best a Man Can Get,” Gillette followed up its short video with a statement uploaded to their website:

“Our tagline needs to continue to inspire us all to be better every day, and to help create a new standard for boys to admire and for men to achieve… Because the boys of today are the men of tomorrow. We’ve all got work to do. And it starts today.”

The company also ended all of its advertisements and short films by asking viewers to go to TheBestMenCanBe.org, a site where Gillette explains its campaign message, goal, and promises towards social justice and acceptance.[32] Once at the site, Gillette goes on to pledge $1 million a year in donations to “non-profit organizations executing the most interesting and impactful programs designed to help men of all ages achieve their personal best… From today on, we pledge to actively challenge the stereotypes and expectations of what it means to be a man everywhere you see Gillette. In the ads we run, the images we publish to social media, the words we choose, and so much more.”[33]

Gillette followed this action up with a press release posted to TheBestMenCanBe.org on January 19, 2020, six days after the original short film was posted. In it, Gillette reaffirmed their new commitment towards “taking a fresh look at what it means to be ‘the best’ and how that can be portrayed in a modern way.”[34]

Immediate Reception from the Public

Upon releasing the short film Gillette went viral, drawing immediate scrutiny and praise across their social media platforms. Major claims from opponents of the ad claimed it emasculated men, and was a direct result of “woke culture” and “radical feminism.”[35] The ad’s YouTube comments section became a battleground of opinions on the culture war, with Forbes noting that “comments on its own Youtube channel [are] running negative by an astonishing ten to one margin,”[36] and the The New York Times reporting that “within a day, it [the ad] was the subject of a battle in which support for its message collided with calls for boycotts.”[37] The New York Times also reports that the ad has been liked more than 1,700 times, but it received more than 10,000 dislikes.[38]

Some immediate responses on social media include:

● Bernice King, daughter of Martin Luther King Jr.: “This commercial isn’t anti-male. It’s pro-humanity, and it demonstrates that character can step up to change conditions.”[39]

● Duncan Fisher, head of policy and innovation for the Family Initiative: “Obviously this is an advert created by an agency to sell razors, but it represents an attempt to change the dialogue.”[40]

● Piers Morgan of Good Morning Britain: “Let ME just be clear: you’re a man-hating imbecile and this pathetic Gillette ad is a direct consequence of radical feminists like you driving a war against masculinity.”[41]

THE CONTROVERSY

Those For

After nearly a century of championing what they call the “alpha male” stereotype (dominance, power, strength, obvious masculinity), many on social media praised Gillette for its ad, citing that it was starting a desperately needed conversation surrounding toxic masculinity. “Fantastic ad,” tweeted @AlisaHovha. “Thank you for recognizing the toxicity and moving towards a change. Bravo and keep moving forward!”[1] The ad was further defended and praised by actress Rosanna Arquette, comedian Pete Dominick, screenwriter and director Jeffrey Reddick, Arianna Huffington and others.

The word “toxic masculinity” has been around for decades, synonymous with words like “macho,” “red-blooded” or “machismo” and, according to The New York Times, is used to describe “the kind of hulking masculinity that men were, on some level, expected to aspire to.”[2] Gillette’s ad urges men to stop excusing misogynistic attitudes and behaviors as “boys will be boys” and instead, hold other men accountable for their actions.[3] The ad was also released only days after the American Psychological Association released new guidelines for psychologists to use when working with boys and men “who are socialized to conform to ‘traditional masculine ideologies,’”[4] and The Times wrote an article on a new generation of male rock stars who are protesting the old notions of manhood that dominated their music genre for generations.

With the rise of Millennials and Gen Z into the workforce and political sphere, older socialization of masculinity promoted and molded by older generations is fading,[5] coinciding with these generations’ acceptance of new cultural norms and promotion of active action on the part of corporations. Many of the younger generation and those open towards accepting new social and cultural norms spoke out in support of Gillette’s new stance towards social and corporate responsibility and active support of social justice movements.

Those Against

On the flip side, Gillette’s advertisement has received considerable negative attention and reactions from mostly male social media users, with many threatening to boycott both Gillette and Procter & Gamble.[6] “I will no longer support your company, said one Twitter user. “I will NEVER apologize for being a male because you want to appease the ‘political correctness movement.’ Sad day when the best a man could get is a company calling out males for being men. #gilletteboycott” Another man called it “a condescending ad from a company that relies on men buying their products.”

Many of those who protested Gillette’s ad argued against the company’s assumption that all men were inherently misogynistic or sexist or that all men inherit these bad behaviors based on their gender. Others claimed the ad and campaign were misrepresenting the male gender, assigning misplaced “collective guilt onto half of humanity known as men.”[7] Many also took issue with Gillette “telling [its] customers that they are the problem and need to change. That masculinity is bad, and that all men are responsible for the actions of a few.”[8] The majority of other comments fell under category words of “gender shaming,” “emasculation,” and “Let men be men!”[9]

As younger generations push for new social and cultural norms, older and more conservative, traditional members of society have pushed back against a change they see as offensive or insulting to their own ideal and definitions of masculinity. Many see the rise of demands for authenticity, social activism, and an embrace of politics from Millennials and Gen Z consumers and stakeholders as detrimental to the corporate market and broader American society. Others see this as a form of “political correctness” gone to the extreme, as seen through a comment from a Fox News commentator, "does Gillette want men to start shaving their legs, too?"[10]

GILLETTE’S RESPONSE

Promoting Dialogue & Discussion

Gillette knew it was going to receive negative attention and even lose some of its consumer base. “Taking a position on the idea of toxic masculinity, Gillette and Procter & Gamble could be dealing with a ‘hot potato,’” said Dean Crutchfield, the chief executive of the brand advisory firm Crutchfield & Partners in an interview with The New York Times. “If this is just a quick campaign to get some attention, not something they’re weaving into the fabric of their company going forward, it’s going to blow up in their face… this is a huge topic and it’s highly sensitive, and I don’t think P. & G. had done anything as explosive as this could be.”[11]

Gillette later commented that the mixed reaction its ad campaign received was exactly the reaction they wanted to generate. “It’s time we acknowledge that brands, like ours, play a role in influencing culture,” said a statement on Gillette’s website. “From today on, we pledge to actively challenge the stereotypes and expectations of what it means to be a man everywhere you see Gillette. In the ads we run, the images we publish to social media, the words we choose, and so much more.”[12]

The ultimate goal of this campaign for Gillette was to spark discussion and raise awareness on the issue of toxic masculinity in contemporary culture and society, so negative reviews and rapid social media chatter was exactly what Gillette was shooting for. "If we get people to pause, reflect and to challenge themselves and others to ensure that their actions reflect who they really are, then this campaign will be a success," a Gillette spokesperson told NPR in an email.[13] Pankaj Bhalla, Gillette’s North America brand director further explained in an interview with CNN that, “We expected debate. Actually, a discussion is necessary. If we don’t discuss and don’t talk about it, I don’t think real change will happen.”[14]

Effects of Controversy

A report from Reuters a couple months later shows that despite calls for boycotts, Procter & Gamble continued to generate strong sales from its consumer base.

“Procter & Gamble Co's PG.N quarterly revenue and adjusted profit beat Wall Street

expectations on Tuesday, sending shares to a record-high even as the world's No.1 personal goods company took an $8 billion charge on its Gillette shaving business,” Reuters’s reporter Richa Naidu wrote. “P&G reported a net loss of about $5.24 billion, or $2.12 per share, for the quarter ended June 30, due to an $8 billion non-cash write-down of Gillette. For the same period last year, P&G’s net income was $1.89 billion, or 72 cents per share.”[15]

A survey of 2,201 adults conducted in the days immediately following the campaign release (January 15 and 16) by Morning Consultant showed that the majority of those surveyed who watched the ad (61%) had a positive opinion of it; moreover, of the people who said they used products from Harry's or Dollar Shave Club (56%) said they would be more likely to buy from Gillette after watching the ad.[16] In addition to this, the survey found that:

(1) The ad successfully positioned Gillette as socially responsible and in-line with consumers’ values.

(2) Overall, the ad was well received by those who watched it.

(3) Despite the internet firestorm, few consumers reported having seen negative buzz.

(4) Brand-tracking data shows a negligible impact on purchasing consideration.

(5) Brand-tracking data shows a negligible impact on purchasing consideration.

However, in contrast to these results, Marketing Week reported that Gillette’s campaign had backfired, causing the company to take a hit in its sales metrics.[17]

In generating media buzz through the use of shock advertising, Gillette alienated some customers while attracting new ones. Gillette was smart to recognize that the future of its business is in the younger generations-- Millennials and Gen Z consumers. In an interview with Marketing Week, Coombe said that angering some consumers with its new ad campaign was a “price worth paying” if it meant the brand could increase its relevance among younger consumers.[18] Coombe recognized that the brand was failing to connect with younger audiences, and in light of newer competition that made itself more appealing to younger consumers, Gillette could “slip away for [this] generation.”[19]

Gillette remade itself into a relevant, contemporary product that could compete with sleek new competitors, attracting an essential younger Millennial/ Gen Z audience that might not yet have a preferred razor brand, allowing Gillette to convert them to loyal customers in the future.

THE FINAL ACT

The Current Situation

After making itself the center of national attention, Gillette followed up its original ad with a new video released to Facebook and Instagram in May of 2019 called #MyBestSelf. Featuring a transgender man learning how to shave from his father, the ad subverted the original Gillette slogan to be more inclusive and aware of gender identity, another hot topic at the time.[20] Unlike Gillette’s previous ad, this campaign evoked largely positive and appreciative responses from social media in its acknowledgement of the transgender community.[21]

With the outbreak of COVID-19, Gillette is taking a hit to their sales. This makes it difficult, beyond the 2019 reports on Gillette’s finances to judge whether these ads had a long-term impact on the company, either negative or positive. But Gillette is sticking with its marketing and staying consistent with its messaging on issues of social justice, and more recently, sustainability.

So, while it’s hard to find measurable data on how the #TheBestAManCanBe ad campaign affect Gillette’s corporate sales a year later, the pandemic has allowed Gillette to unify its consumer base behind its new platform of lower prices, online orders, sustainable practices, and dedication to social justice and equality; all of which appeal directly to both older generations and younger generations.

Page Principles Application

● Prove it With Action: A corporation needs to show that it is willing to back up its statements and claims with actions. This relates back to authenticity expectations that have risen among younger consumers. It is not enough for a company to say it stands or supports a social justice issue like decreasing toxic masculinity; it needs to back up its words with quantifiable action that can be seen and measured by consumers. This is exactly what Gillette did with the implementation of its ad campaign. Gillette showed customers that the company was willing to face public ire and backlash in order to stand by and promote change within its consumer market and society at large.

● Manage for Tomorrow: Public relations professionals want to anticipate public reaction and eliminate practices that create difficulties in order to generate future goodwill. Gillette was able to predict that its controversial ad would incite controversy, negative feedback, and national attention. Gillette saw that it was slipping away from younger generations and the values they consider important and non-negotiable when giving a corporation their customer loyalty. In order to counteract this, Gillette came out with public statements and declarations to do better and gave their consumer base a platform for discussion. Their ad was able to open the door towards change that these consumers wanted to see and allowed Gillette to establish itself as a brand they could support and rely on.

● Conduct Public Relations as if the Whole Enterprise Depends on It: Gillette knew that it was seen by younger consumers as a brand for older gentlemen. If the company was going to keep up with its sleek, more Millennial friendly competitors, it needed to rebrand itself and provide younger customers actionable evidence of these changes. This ad campaign allowed Gillette to begin the process of marketing itself to younger consumers and establishing itself as a company who is actively involved with issues of social justice, customer care, and sustainable practices.

Final Takeaways

This case study raises the question of how corporations need to learn to navigate the developing consumer market and its demand that companies take a definitive stance in trending issues that dominate contemporary conversation. As other companies like Gillette attempt to reconnect with younger consumers while maintaining customer loyalty, consumers expect more action from corporations, companies need to balance consumer and stakeholder expectations with feasibility.

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