Another consumer company in the cultural minefield
Here’s Poetrooper, on Gillette’s razor ad.
Another consumer company in the cultural minefield
Poetrooper
Another major American consumer products company has marched boldly forward where few dare go…right into the middle of the cultural minefield. Whatever possessed Proctor & Gamble to televise their now hugely controversial Gillette Razors commercial that chastises males for their supposed toxic masculinity is anyone’s guess, but they’re going to pay a price. What could possibly inspire an advertising agency to use a militant feminist account manager like Kim Gehrig to create commercials for a subject as totally masculine as the daily scraping of beard stubble? Well maybe an agency headquartered in Tokyo, called Kamikaze Advertising, Inc. might consider it catchy.
To be honest I hadn’t even bothered to watch the fool thing until I clicked in to American Thinker and saw the response to a blog piece on the topic by DC Larson was drawing—an amazing 585 comments, an unusually high count for the blog post side of the AT page that reflects a huge interest in the topic. As you might expect, the responses are universally negative with most indicating intent to boycott P&G products. The article notes that a YouTube poll is a landslide of disapproval as well. Of course there is acclaim from the advertising industry, an entity whose hull is thoroughly dry-rotted by the constant pandering to political correctness of the largely liberal, female control on the creative side of the industry.
What makes P&G particularly vulnerable in this situation is that this offensive ad is for a product line that is already defenseless due to being grossly overpriced, and to make things worse, dulls far too quickly, with my own suspicion being that it suffers from planned obsolescence, and simply is not worth it. There are plenty of competitive products that are seriously less costly and get the job done just fine, holding their edges longer. If the ad agency thought they might appeal to those urban beta males libs so favor, and armpit-shaving females, I think they’ve grossly misjudged their market. Most of those big-city sissies have wishful, wannabee, wispy beards and my experience has been that women prefer lightweight disposable razors for their legs, pits and nether parts.
So P&G is out in that consumer minefield with no safe path back, just like those dicks at Dicks, the NFL, Nike, Target, Kellogg’s, and on and on. But on the bright side for Gillette, Ol’ Poe figures there are plenty of manly feminists out there who could probably benefit from a daily scraping of their fuzzy chins and furry upper lips, not to mention some rather exuberant bushes that could bear an occasional trim.
Category: "Teh Stoopid", SJW Idiocy, WTF?
Nearly 40 years ago, Remington was a failing razor company and struggling to survive. A fellow by the name of Victor Kiam turned that company into a hugely successful one almost overnight. How? In large part, by one solitary commercial in which he himself appeared saying about the razor, “I liked it so much, I bought the company.” He didn’t pander to causes or alienate customers. He made none of the mistakes Gillette has. Instead, he hawked the product with one of the cleverest lines ever to be heard in a commercial.
He used to own the Patriots.
Wonder what he would do about the NFL today.
I didn’t know that. What’s with razor companies and NE?
Gillette was a Boston icon when I was a kid. The advent of injection molded plastics in CT and mid MA was a game changer for Gillette. Look at BIC lighters. Cheap ink pens and sunglasses etc..
New England industry exploded just as the rte. 128 high tech companies were.
Then silicon valley happened but the plastics stayed.
Remember the movie “The Graduate”?
“One word…plastics”
Wasn’t it Remington/Victor Kiam who did the commercials with Santa Claus riding the electric razor?
Yes.
I blame Coke and Pepsi. They started this crap with their funky one-world and revolution ads.
Rock and Roll and Cola Wars, I can’t take it anymore!
But did you start the fire? *grin*
I used to never really pay attention to the politics of a company. If they had a product that I needed then I bought it. That started changing when Coca Cola offered to provide a large enough canvas sheet to cover up the carving on Stone Mountain for the ’96 Olympics. This from a company whose product was invented by a former Confederate Soldier, turned druggist. Since then, I’ve paid way yonder more attention.
During my decades in the electronics business I did my utmost to treat all of my customers with the same amount of respect, service, pricing, and appreciation. My success was mirrored by the success of this policy. The pie of potential customers is limited. If you want to get your share of this pie, you can’t piss off the majority of the potential customers. As we’ve discussed here before, these companies need to learn this lesson.
I personally used an electric razor (Remington) for my beard/’stache trimming. It’s kinda like me; old but still works good.
Victor Kiam would not piss off a bunch of potential customers, not would he allow any felons to play on his team, IMO… I met him once, way back yonder at a Consumer Electronics Show. Real nice, down to earth guy.
Treating every potential customer with dignity works. Some folks do it because they believe it to be morally correct. Others do it because it is good business. Either way, it works and failing to treat your customers well will cost you dearly. Yep.
Does this mean I can’t shave my butt anymore?
Depends upon if you insist on wearing a thong or not.
Waxing only
I was a little shaver until I started to shave when I was 17 at the Great Lakes Boot Camp where the peach fuzz came off. Looks like Gillette is trying to be on the cutting razors edge with their ads.
I saw that ad video. All it does is emphasize rudeness, which is as prevalent on the female side of the plate as it is everywhere else.
No one teaches good manners any more. Simple politeness seems to have gone out the window, after being barked at and chased to death by the bitches who can’t distinguish between being strong, independent women and obnoxious cows.
I can only say that good manners are always in vogue and the current BEEYATCH heading Gillette has no manners at all. If we sat at the same table with a correctly placed setting of flatware, she’d probably be watching me to see which fork I pick up first.
Work from the outside in.
I find the ad stupid and I find it inappropriate but largely because of the cynical attempt to make money off of spreading a lie while pretending to be social activists.
Razor companies actually don’t care how many women get raped or how many kids get beat up they only care about how many razors they can sell, and they thought the best way to sell you a razor was to make a commercial that told you that you and your attitude are part of the problem and it’s time to step up and be part of the solution.
So the cynical part for me is who did they make the commercial for?
It’s not for me (or anyone on this site for that matter), I’ve already beaten the shit out of bullies and a couple of guys who were slapping their wives around and I already know it’s not okay to molest women who drink too much at a party and lack the ability to properly consent to sexual activity….and I think most of you know I’m quite capable of voicing an opinion even when it’s contrary to the group think of those I’m with.
So who is this virtue signaling piece of shit commercial really talking to? The guys who should hear this message won’t because they are already criminal shit bags who assault people and rape drunk women, a razor commercial doesn’t change that.
That means this commercial was made for the people the advertising agency wants to impress, other social justice warrior dipshits who think they know what’s best for everyone and they know best how to make you all fall in line…
I’m not boycotting Gillette, I already don’t waste my time on their razors…regardless of their advertising. However this may make me consider if I am using anything by P & G do I choose their competitions product as a simple way of saying I don’t need your cynical bullshit commercial to be a decent human so fuck you.
The claims of P&G being a satanic cult persist. The early nineties had them in a panic over the claim that their logo represented an evil cult.
I use a lot of their products. Dawn, Tide and Downy (soft as shit) all wash my shorts.
I can’t see getting them all wadded up over
Gillette.
I’m not gonna boycott Gillette. I actually prefer their razors. I like Nike too. I also won’t boycott a movie simply because the actor says something on their own time. We seem to live in a hyper partisan. World today where everyone seems to have an opinion one one side or the other. Social media is the accelerant to the fire. I just learn to separate companies products from the views of their owners. Ya know , the only reason I don’t eat chic filet is because im in a diet. If I still rode motorcycles I’d prob get a Harley touring bike. I’m willing to bet Trump hotels are pretty nice. ( yeah I’m a cheap Motel 6 kinda guy or something like that) but I’d stay in a Trump hotel. I don’t watch the NFL much.cause I prefer College ball. I don’t agree with a lot of the partisan speech on both sides. But I guess I’m too old to start changing what I like based on a political stance.
NCO: I don’t go to the movies because these actors.actresses whom hate this country, the flag and our Military donate a lot of their moola shmoola that they make from their movies to the democratic socialist party that they belong to. I cannot separate their acting ability with their political views.
Fair point Jeff , and well taken
Poe, I’ve commented on the Gillette ad before so will just add a minor correction to your copy, and a few additional observations:
Kim Gehrig is the film director of the ad, and not an ad account manager. What it looks like to me is Gehrig was attempting to pull off an edgy in-your-face effort similar to the old Apple “1984” ad directed by Ridley Scott. She was both trying too hard, and let her own feminist agenda get in the way.
What seems evident in the commentary about the Gillette ad in the news media is that it breaks down strongly along gender lines. Having now read or skimmed a lot of stories about the ad, I don’t remember any by MSM female writers who didn’t like it. Which says a lot about the news media’s current level of objectivity.
An interesting aspect to this is that one of the people apparently mainly responsible for signing off on the Gillette ad is Pankaj Bhalla, Proctor and Gamble’s brand director for North America. Bhalla was educated in India and got his start with P&G there. It strikes me there’s a cultural tone deafness going on with the ad which might be a partial result of Bhalla’s acquiescence to Gehrig’s work. The camera cuts are clips of American males behaving badly, and not South Asian males behaving badly.
The Gilette ad is flawed on multiple levels, including being pretty much an object lesson in current double standards.
Whether the current criticism of the ad will have any effect will probably depend on if P&G’s stock price stays up and if Gillette’s bottom line is healthy. If either one takes a hit, Bhalla could find himself selling curry out of a pushcart on a street corner in Mumbai.
The camera cuts are clips of American males behaving badly, and not South Asian males behaving badly.
Notice what color they are?
That’s part of that ??? privilege thing?
I joined the $1 Shave Club a while back.
I use their 5 bladed razors. I get 5 razor heads a month for like $8 or something.
I also buy their “Shaving Butter” toothpaste and some other stuff.
Their razors last way longer than the ridiculous priced Gillettes.
In fact, I’m building up a cache of razors now, especially since I’m hiding them from wife/daughters.
ALSO: they have donated razors and other products to troops.
Here is a great story from a while back:
“If this is how you guys do business, you just got a couple new customers. People do not show the military enough support. Thank you.”
https://m.facebook.com/photo.php?fbid=10152535297494225&id=680129224&set=a.485104604224.286496.680129224
No photo description available.
Joshua Melton
June 2, 2014
Just got a package from Dollar Shave Club. I emailed them to see if we could buy bulk razors for some troops in Afghanistan that are on a FOB that’s losing it’s PX/BX store. They told me they would not sell them to me because they wanted to donate them. Today we received 73 4-packs of their 3 blade razors with handles and shave butter, as well as 60 extra shave butters. In addition, they sent 160 individual body wipes, along with a handwritten letter from the CEO to the troops.
And partnership with the USO:
https://military.id.me/community-news/dollar-shave-club-uso/
Wow. I am impressed.
I buy Harry’s Razors at Walmart. Cheaper than Gillette and a far better product. They outlast the Gillette overpriced crap.
This guy does a good job of breaking down this video, and other liberal talking points.
Again, the saying fits:
“Get woke, go broke.”
Fuck their razors. When I need to do away with neckbeard and touch up my lines….I strop one of my cutthroats
I’d swear I’ll never buy another Gillette razor or blade, but I ain’t shaved since 10/16/69. That was the day before I processed out at Oakland Army Base.
Just for the record, I do trim the beard a couple of times a year, whether it needs it or not.
Sorry if this has already been seen.
Too funny.
Note the ammo can is not period correct.
https://youtu.be/DMZeI7GlkJw