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Gillette's Sexist Sermonizing to Men and Women
Townhall.com ^ | January 18, 2019 | Brent Bozell and Tim Graham

Posted on 01/18/2019 12:46:14 AM PST by Kaslin

So who is the mastermind at Gillette who came up with the idea that the best way to sell men's razors is to insult the customers with condescending liberal propaganda about "toxic masculinity"? Is pandering to the perpetually angry feminists in the media the way to grab positive "news" coverage? Is online buzz the goal? If so, it must also be Gillette's goal to have its customers rush over to the Schick display.

A century ago, Gillette ran ads in newspapers touting American soldiers of World War I using their product: the "clean fighters" of the Allied forces "fighting for clean ideals." They were "millions of big, strong-limbed super-men ... fighting to save Freedom." Today, there are no strong-limbed men. There are bullies and sexual harassers in need of castration.

Go ahead; try to tell us we're exaggerating. NPR's Tovia Smith lovingly introduced Gillette's latest ad campaign saying, "The first half of the ad portrays males as boorish, sexually harassing women, mansplaining and bullying."

The ad insists on Social Change. The narrator proclaims: "We can't hide from it. ... We can't laugh it off, making the same old excuses. ... And there will be no going back." A long row of apparently loathsome backyard dads stands in front of a long row of smoking charcoal grills, and the dads echo the excuse "Boys will be boys."

Because somehow, in the last century, troglodyte men were bullies who never stopped bullies and never taught their boys to respect women (including their mothers? and sisters?). This isn't selling razors. It's selling an obnoxious, boorish political cartoon.

Gillette would protest that the ad says "some" men, not all men, are awful. But it is mansplaining to all men, assuming they are all dim and in need of an education. So it's comical that after these insults about male stereotypes, the website dedicated to this ad campaign insists, "From today on, we pledge to actively challenge the stereotypes and expectations of what it means to be a man everywhere you see Gillette."

All you need are re-education camps. Big Brother, call your office.

NPR loved it. Smith wrote, "Call it a new kind of corporate machismo, volunteering to march bravely ahead into the culture wars." This may be the only time in NPR's history that it has applauded "machismo."

For grins, try to imagine Gillette marketing its Venus line of razors to women in this way. Imagine the reaction if these geniuses were to run an ad against "toxic femininity," saying the time is over for women gossiping and bullying women. NPR would go into spasmodic convulsions. The bra burners would take to the streets. Women are presumed to be the victimized gender -- oppressed by men (yuk!), not poisoned by testosterone.

The contrast of the men's ad with a Gillette Venus ad from October is amazing. The narrator actually says: "It's time to do things a new way -- your way, without conforming to conventions so that your skin writes the rules. Because no one gets an opinion on how you live your life, or why you shave." Yet more political sermonizing, and now the polar opposite of Gillette's male-bashing campaign!

The ad goes on to brag about how these ads are made by a "female-led team" with women behind and in front of the camera. "We're celebrating every woman and her skin," the narrator says. Celebrating "every woman"? These women are even celebrating the bullies? Well, their skin "writes the rules," apparently.

There's a word for these ad campaigns: vomit. Go buy a Schick, where men are men; women are women; and all they want is a shave.


TOPICS: Culture/Society; Editorial
KEYWORDS: ads; bozell; genderwars; gillette; waronboys
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1 posted on 01/18/2019 12:46:14 AM PST by Kaslin
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To: Kaslin

This dumb Gillette ad seems to be the most important topic this week... Really?


2 posted on 01/18/2019 12:51:11 AM PST by Moltke (Reasoning with a liberal is like watering a rock in the hope to grow a building.)
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To: Moltke
As Andrew Breitbart famously noted, politics is downstream from culture.

If that is true (and I believe it is), the struggle between our Judeo/Christian culture and that of the perverted invasion force (the postmodern horde who believes that morality nothing more than you want it to be--i.e., "do what thou wilt is the whole of the law") is THE most important fight in the world today.

This is no doubt why Gillette is inserting itself here with its ridiculous campaign.

Right or wrongly, Gillette and its ad firm have moved right to the forefront of the battle.

3 posted on 01/18/2019 1:27:41 AM PST by RoosterRedux
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To: Kaslin

BTT


4 posted on 01/18/2019 1:51:15 AM PST by nopardons
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To: RoosterRedux

I wish their stance was that you could do what you want.


5 posted on 01/18/2019 2:48:06 AM PST by jarwulf
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To: Moltke
“This dumb Gillette ad seems to be the most important topic this week... Really?”

Don't dismiss the ad as just a cheap way to get lots of publicity for free. It is that alright. But it is more than that.

With this ad P&G is cozying up to the radical radicals.

And taking sides big time in the culture war. P&G has one of the largest ad budgets in the world, if not the biggest. Don't take their siding against us deplorables lightly.

6 posted on 01/18/2019 2:50:02 AM PST by jeffersondem
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To: Kaslin
Whenever a major corporate giant launches a stupid political/moralistic ad campaign, invariably you find that their product line is in trouble and they're desperate for public exposure even if it generates controversy.

That's exactly what's happening here. Men have already been walking away from Gillette shaving products in droves -- to Dollar Shave, Harry's Razors, etc. See this for what it is: a desperate play for attention by a brand in trouble.

Gillette is the official razor of the NFL. Need I say more?

7 posted on 01/18/2019 2:52:05 AM PST by Alberta's Child ("In the time of chimpanzees I was a monkey.")
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To: jeffersondem

...their siding against us deplorables ...
__________________________

They are fighting against truth, justice and the American Way. They redefine everything we hold dear and try to sell the corrupted version back to us.

Don’t buy it.

P&G makes three items I use regularly and for which there are no acceptable substitutes. Dawn, Magic Eraser and Swiffer dusters. I lived without them once and I now must do so again. Pity.

It isn’t just a dumb ad. It is coercive demonization in the service of a cleansing. Tyranny must divide before it conquers.


8 posted on 01/18/2019 3:01:26 AM PST by reformedliberal
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To: Moltke

Yes.


9 posted on 01/18/2019 3:02:20 AM PST by EEGator
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To: reformedliberal
David Taylor
Chairman, President and CEO
Procter & Gamble
1 Procter & Gamble Plz
Cincinnati, OH
Or call 513-983-1100
10 posted on 01/18/2019 3:03:25 AM PST by jeffersondem
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To: Kaslin

The New England Patriots play in Gillette Stadium.

Football is full of typical masculine male types.

Craft, Brady and everyone on the team needs to be questioned about their “boys will be boys” violent sport.


11 posted on 01/18/2019 3:05:31 AM PST by airborne (I don't always scream at the TV but when I do it's hockey season!)
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To: nopardons

Yesterday Walmart was sold out of schick razors but not Gillette


12 posted on 01/18/2019 3:18:02 AM PST by Josa
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To: reformedliberal
and Swiffer dusters.

Try microfiber dust cloths for replacing the Swiffers. They are washable and reusable. Just be sure to follow care instructions when washing and drying :-)

13 posted on 01/18/2019 3:18:43 AM PST by mewzilla (Break out the mustard seeds.)
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To: Kaslin
Hmm...



Social Vengeance Warriors and their White Knight enablers strike again.


14 posted on 01/18/2019 3:30:49 AM PST by rollo tomasi (Working hard to pay for deadbeats and corrupt politicians.)
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To: Kaslin

Dollar Shave Club is praising God for answered prayer.


15 posted on 01/18/2019 3:33:01 AM PST by wastoute (Government cannot redistribute wealth. Government can only redistribute poverty.)
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To: jarwulf

You may have missed the point. “You can do what YOU want...(as long as you are a woman)”. If you are a man, SHAME ON YOU!


16 posted on 01/18/2019 3:35:43 AM PST by wastoute (Government cannot redistribute wealth. Government can only redistribute poverty.)
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To: Alberta's Child
Gillette went the wrong way.

They should of doubled-down on the "oiled up female models wearing G-string bikinis coming onto to the soy boy that shaved off his beard and started acting masculine. Cut to another bearded soy boy waited anxiously for the mailman to come, hoping his fresh razors were in the mail" meme.
17 posted on 01/18/2019 3:53:50 AM PST by rollo tomasi (Working hard to pay for deadbeats and corrupt politicians.)
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To: Kaslin

I can’t stand facial hair on men, especially those gross Taliban beards....what a turn off


18 posted on 01/18/2019 3:55:43 AM PST by yldstrk (My heroes have always been cowboys)
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To: Kaslin

This ad annoyed me to the core. It is self righteous claptrap. I come from a long line of men who treated women very well. It was taught to me in no uncertain terms both at school and at home as well as the consequences of not doing so. To say “some men are now getting it” is a shocking put down from a company that makes products for men. They won’t ever get another cent of my money


19 posted on 01/18/2019 3:59:42 AM PST by melsec (There's a track, winding back, to an old forgotten shack along the road to Gundagai..)
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To: melsec
Want to be really annoyed? Go to the Proctor & Gamble homepage (they own Gillette) and feast your eyes on that liberal idiocy! All about "Marriage Equality" and "Gender Equality" and "LBGT Rights".

Which should tell the shareholders that P&G is more concerned with liberal culture-wrecking than hiring competent people.

Gillette's campaign fits right in with them.

20 posted on 01/18/2019 4:07:04 AM PST by Chainmail (A simple rule of life: if you can be blamed, you're responsible.)
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