Gillette’s wonderfully woke new commercial

[UglyCasanova]

What in the world? I know we all look for moral guidance from giant corporations so this is always welcome. And this is somehing that is completely relevant to their product, shaving and sexual harassment go hand in hand so it only makes sense. It’s obviously a calculated move to capitalize on #metoo but do people legitimately buy this? Nike at least had a history of not just child labor but also the idea of pushing oneself/making sacrifices/all that kind of stuff so it wasn’t so far out of left field. Gillette?

The message is the message, I agree a lot of men still to this day don’t treat women as equals. Not all certainly, but enough that it’s still a very relevant issue in the world. But thanks Gillette for virtue signaling that to me? I’ll be sure to buy your overpriced products now. Moralizing and virtue signaling as a marketing tool on something irrelevant to the product you’re selling. #sobrave

https://twitter.com/x/status/1084850521196900352

 

[DrDoug]

Shouldn't the title end with "triggered me"? After all that's pretty much all you ever start threads about. You need an "Ugly Cassanova's been triggered again" thread to call all your own.

As far as the topic, I'll keep using Gillette.

 

[Moonbeam]

I think it's time to think more about being the best we can be and how we are as individuals affects the world. I think ads can reach people who live in environments in which there is very little in the way of ethical guidance. I think I welcome this. In a perfect world, maybe not.

 

[Moonbeam]

Shouldn't the title end with "triggered me"? After all that's pretty much all you ever start threads about. You need an "Ugly Cassanova's been triggered again" thread to call all your own.

Can you imagine an evolutionary reason a flock of birds will fly up when one of them gets triggered? Do you think there would be any reason for birds to fly like that if in the past there was never any reason for a bird to get triggered. Shouldn't the issue be not that somebody is triggered, but whether there might be some good reason for them to be. Rome was saved, they say, by the cackling of its faithful geese.

 

[brycejones]

Op needs to grow a pair and stop being triggered by the world.

Marketing has been ‘virtue signaling’ in the parlance of the perpetually afraid since marketing began.

 

[TheVrolok]

Ops needs to grow a pair and stop being triggered by the world.

Marketing has been ‘virtue signaling’ in the parlance of the perpetually afraid since marketing began.

Exactly this. lol, OP really needs a safe space. I can't imagine what it's like to have a commercial so easily affect my emotional state.

 

[DrDoug]

Birds triggered by something that could threaten them? Yup.

Birdbrains triggered by nothing that threatens them? Nope.

 

[ch33zw1z]

I'm very concerned.

 

[cytg111]

Its a net positive.. It means that a megacorp as analyzed current pop culture and determined this to be a selling point, thus furthering the idea and concept that we started rolling with #metoo.. Someone might even call it anti-Trumpism, its the pushback to the bigoted right wing agenda that Trump has been riding since his inception of birtherism. Gilette is acting as a catalyst here. Good. More. Lets take decency back.
Good.

 

[ch33zw1z]

Its a net positive.. It means that a megacorp as analyzed current pop culture and determined this to be a selling point, thus furthering the idea and concept that we started rolling with #metoo.. Someone might even call it anti-Trumpism, its the pushback to the bigoted right wing agenda that Trump has been riding since his inception of birtherism. Gilette is acting as a catalyst here. Good. More. Lets take decency back.
Good.

OH NOES!!!! SOUND THE ALARM!!!!

 

[cytg111]

OH NOES!!!! SOUND THE ALARM!!!!

Execute order 66.

 

[allisolm]

Goodness. If that one ad has so triggered the OP's concern, he must be paralyzed by consternation over the ones below. Oh No! It's everywhere!

"Apple concluded a recent ad with a call to “open your heart to everyone.” Starbucks capped its “Year of Good” TV spot—a commercial that quantifies all the social good the company did over the year 2016, from the hiring of 8,000 veterans to the funding of more than 300,000 ethically sourced farms—with an entreaty to “Be Good to Each Other.” Amazon touted the human-connective capabilities of its vast warehouse (and the religious pragmatism of kneepads) by featuring a priest and an imam playing out a wordless, piano-tracked version of a modern-day O. Henry story. Hyatt featured scenes of people initially divided, suspicious of each other, until, as the tempo of “What the World Needs Now Is Love” crescendos, they come together, joyously, as the tagline “For a World of Understanding” pops up onscreen.

It’s a sentiment shared by another recent ad, one whose voiceover insists to its viewers, “We can be one. And all it takes is the willingness to dare.” It was an ad for Cadillac.

But when InterContinental summons the InterPersonal to sell its hotel rooms (or when Cadillac summons the same to sell cars; or when Expedia airs ads celebrating the aiding of refugees; or when Honey Maid, maker of graham crackers, airs spots promoting cross-cultural understanding; or when Panera, the fast-casual purveyor of Bacon Turkey Bravo® Sandwiches, adopts as its tagline, “Food as It Should Be”), what is being invoked is not merely blithe aspiration, cultural ideals fit to be transformed into corporate profits. The ads are, instead, profoundly political. And they are explicitly moral. They are making claims not just about what we should buy, but about what we should be."

https://www.theatlantic.com/entertainment/archive/2017/03/selling-what-they-preach/519156/

 

[soulcougher73]

I thought it was a pretty good ad. Sorry that you cant achieve true wokeness.

Conservatives wont like it because it defies tradition "boys will be boys" for example, and shows progress (intervening to break it up). They love tradition no matter how bad it is. They are basically dumb people.

 

[realibrad]

This thread must be an example of triggerception. If the OP posting about this is an example of him being triggered because he thinks its stupid, then everyone posting about him being stupid is them being triggered. My post about their posts about his posts... oh my.

 

[pmv]

I think it is vaguely relevant, because Gillette's advertising has always strongly emphasized masculinity.

They've always seemed to be aimed at flattering the potential purchaser by implying that users of the product embody whatever happens to be the current idealised form of manliness. And that changes with the era (for a long time it seemed to mean 'buff American yuppy')

Being cynical I suppose one could conclude that being moderately feminist is now aspirational and a marker of being a successful and secure kind of guy.

But being less cynical maybe its just that whoever is in charge of their marketing genuinely thinks sexism is bad and wants to do a bit of good while also getting attention for the product? Just as Iceland's ad was probably motivated by a genuine desire to save the Oran-Utang.

 

[ch33zw1z]

This thread must be an example of triggerception. If the OP posting about this is an example of him being triggered because he thinks its stupid, then everyone posting about him being stupid is them being triggered. My post about their posts about his posts... oh my.

A good chuckle.

So at this point, being triggered means responding, lulz. Not like, taking the time to gen a new thread with lengthy response of blah blah.

 

[realibrad]

I think it is vaguely relevant, because Gillette's advertising has always strongly emphasized masculinity.

They've always seemed to be aimed at flattering the potential purchaser by implying that users of the product embody whatever happens to be the current idealised form of manliness. And that changes with the era (for a long time it seemed to mean 'buff American yuppy')

Being cynical I suppose one could conclude that being moderately feminist is now aspirational and a marker of being a successful and secure kind of guy.

But being less cynical maybe its just that whoever is in charge of their marketing genuinely thinks sexism is bad and wants to do a bit of good while also getting attention for the product? Just as Iceland's ad was probably motivated by a genuine desire to save the Oran-Utang.

Are you saying that masculinity contains sexism?

 

[Greenman]

I guess were supposed to believe that Gillette gives a shit abut anything but profit.
Marketing is bullshit, deceit, and treachery.

 

[feralkid]

A good chuckle.

So at this point, being triggered means responding, lulz. Not like, taking the time to gen a new thread with lengthy response of blah blah.

Possibly, but probably only occuring in cases of excessive HaHa.

 

[feralkid]

I guess were supposed to believe that Gillette gives a shit abut anything but profit.
Marketing is bullshit, deceit, and treachery.

Not always.

If truth and decency sold goods, why not use it?

 

[pmv]

Are you saying that masculinity contains sexism?

Don't get your point.

Gillette emphasises masculinity. Ergo sexual politics and the behaviour of actual existing men (which is kind of central to the whole concept of masculinity) are not entirely irrelevant to its marketing.

 

[realibrad]

Don't get your point.

Gillette emphasises masculinity. Ergo sexual politics and the behaviour of actual existing men (which is kind of central to the whole concept of masculinity) are not entirely irrelevant to its marketing.

Yes, they emphasize masculinity. You also said that the people in charge though sexism was bad and wanted to do something against it. The reason I ask if you are linking masculinity to sexism, is that you said they always promoted masculinity and that is relevant.

If your point was to promote equality, then Gillette promoting masculinity has nothing to do with anything, unless, you think masculinity is part of what promotes sexism.

 

[Oyeve]

If anyone is easily offended by this ad then you are part of the problem.

 

[pmv]

Yes, they emphasize masculinity. You also said that the people in charge though sexism was bad and wanted to do something against it. The reason I ask if you are linking masculinity to sexism, is that you said they always promoted masculinity and that is relevant.

If your point was to promote equality, then Gillette promoting masculinity has nothing to do with anything, unless, you think masculinity is part of what promotes sexism.

You really baffle me with your quibbling.
I can only refer you again to the second paragraph of my original post.

Gillette's marketing has always been conscious of whatever is the current high-status representation of masculinity. They aren't going to cling to yesterday's ideal if it's now out-of-favour. If being a high-status idealised male now means being a bit 'woke' (ugh, hate that term) then that's what they will go with.

But that's the cynical take. One could be more charitable about it and assume there's some genuine belief behind it. I dunno, and it's not that important.

 

[VRAMdemon]

If anyone is easily offended by this ad then you are part of the problem.

This..Another SJW rant with nothing substantial to debate..