The best a man can be/get

I waited a while before chiming in on this. Gillette's newest ad has a 4:1 ratio of likes to dislikes for being condescending and frankly, anti-men (and boys).

The original ad is here .

Personally, I think this was a dumb move by Gillette/Procter&Gamble. If their business model is shaving, why are they jumping into social issues? And how are they linking shaving to it? Are beards a form of "toxic masculinity"? Obviously appreciating the female form is.

So what's next? A warning on my chicken pot pie that 900 calories is going to make me less attractive? I already see Nanny warnings on alcohol and tobacco, do we need to make men wear a special band maybe to remind them that they are "toxic"?

The Australians responded .

There's also a bit of humor that should be considered (Yes, it's Fox news, don't wet yourself over "triggering") Forget Gillette controversy, Kat Timpf sounds off on how ads shame women It's very enlightening at the 6:30-ish mark!

What I don't get is why a greedy US corporation would take this sort of risk. Sure, Procter&Gamble produce like 80% of the stuff we use as consumers, but can they really afford to alienate the people who have been keeping their shaving supplies in the black for many generations?

Personally, I use a Gillette razor that has 3 blades and lasts over a month. It treats my face far better than a Bic razor, another weird overreach by a corporation that made pens for generations, then lighters of all things, then razors of all things. Can you name 3 more disconnected products provided by one company?

 

Because they don't see this as a risk, as the majority of people aren't MRAs who cry over not being allowed to cat-call and objectify women anymore.

 

Consider that MOST men don't do that. And MOST men don't harass, intimidate, beat or rape women. Most men are decent people or we'd be living in a very different world.

And, what's an MRA? I'm familiar with MRE, they taste OK.

Also, I don't think a commercial will stop jerks from being jerks.

 

You also have to think of it from a marketing perspective. In a married/cohabitating household, who is more likely to do the shopping, the woman or the man?

Maybe their ad should have been "hey dudes, go help your woman with the grocery shopping so you can be good little consumers!"

 

Most men don't do that, but most of the the people who do that are men.

MRA = men's rights activist.

 

The hype over this is way overblown. If Gillette thinks this will sell them razors that's on them. It's a marketing ploy, nothing more. My initial (emotional) reaction to it was interesting. It rubbed me the wrong way, like I really hate being lectured to. I don't know if that's 'cause I'm a dude or, maybe, it's my early childhood baggage rearing it's ugly head. Catholic school and a crazy stepmom has made me loath being talked down to. Anyway, after my initial reaction wore off I kinda just don't care. Maybe it'll do some good, idk.

I watched the toxic femininity thing too and could relate the workplace thing to what goes on down at my workplace. We only have 5 women working there and they are mainly in the same department...and it's nothing but drama, I mean daily. They snitch on one another and talk shit about each other behind one another's backs. Several times it led to the front office. One lady told me while we were on break how she wishes she had been born a man just so things would be easier at work. I thought at first she meant one of the guys was giving her a hard time but no, she was talking about the other women.

So yeah, humans are a problem. Oh, I use one of these:

 

Not to mention women can be creepy af and totally inappropriate. A major difference is men don’t go and cry about it.

 

I see it as an anti bully thing, but I've no idea why?

Proctor and gamble were one of the biggest employers where I used to live.. they did Johnson and Johnson.. Colgate, and milton.. so why not do what they want.. because they want to look good, ....

 

Yeah this is something I saw a lot at my last job, there were only two guys who worked there and 30 women and everyone was horrible to each other. And most of the women treated the men like they were dumb little dogs, I felt really bad for them.

I think its just human nature for the majority of any group to form a sort of hive mentality and resort to bullying the minority. It can happen with either gender and any race

 

Ah, I wasn't aware of that acronym. Seems like a wasted effort, men don't deserve anymore rights than anyone else.

Men do have a lot of other "mosts" to consider:
Men die sooner than women by and large.
Men are the greatest number of murder victims.
Men are the highest in suicides.
Men are highest in combat injuries and deaths.
Men have the greatest incarceration numbers.
Men get more traffic citations.
Men have more heart attacks.
Men are the majority of victims of industrial accidents.

And there's one "stat" I heard that I have been unable to confirm; Just over 50% of men who don't have visitation rights still provide for their children. I find that one disturbing because my Dad was a deadbeat in the 60s and 70s. The courts didn't do squat for my mother unless he wrote a bad check. If you sire a child, you have to pay for it as far as I'm concerned.

Deadbeat dads should be flogged. For the record, I've only known 1 deadbeat Mom in my entire life, a coworker's ex.

But this is all straying from the issue. For my part it's trite for corporations to be giving any of us "moral" advice. Especially when you consider their ultimate purpose is to extract every dime they can get from us with no real regard beyond the fatness of our wallet. I see no reason to take "advice" from such organizations seriously.

I'm confident I'll be able to buy their razors, and that's all I need from them. If I wanted a sermon..................

 

For the record though, a majority of “deadbeat dads” from what I remember (read it yearsssss ago) are below the poverty line and it’s near impossible to get support payments lowered in court. Fathers shouldn’t be judged by how good of an atm machine they are.

 

When I worked at Disney World (20+ years ago) there was all kinds of strife behind the scenes. I was in a kitchen in the Magic Kingdom trying to get into a chef program (I only got as far as certified cook). The guys in the program gave each other all kinds of shit, but then, it was a competitive program and if you didn't impress the lead chef, you could find yourself making hot dogs or fries, as a career.

But the women in the program were absolutely horrible almost to a person. I saw them sabotage each other's assignments, steal costume parts (if you were in any way out of costume, you couldn't work and had to go back to wardrobe) and say all kinds of shit behind each other's backs. Most of the guys avoided any conflicts with them because they spiraled out of control in short order.

One day I got pulled to the main food facility to assist in making pastries (the worst of my few talents in the kitchen). I didn't know the crew and just did the job quietly. The still was broken by the sound of steel bowls hitting the floor and tables sliding as two women started beating each other, in a room full of knives and heavy metal objects. The other women in the shop backed away, into a convenient circle to watch. The lead chef, a large fat guy came in screaming and demanded they stop. They were too busy to pay him any mind. So he stepped between then and caught one of the punches. He grabbed both of them with his arms around their necks while yelling at them to stop.

Things calmed down and we finished the shift. Both women filed complaints and got the chef fired. I heard later that the women were fighting over another woman. I've only ever thrown punches on 1 job, the Navy. And it was over a woman who left me anyway.

 

This is true, but I think that woman, on average, have a lot more to fear from men being creepy and inappropriate. Unless you were being funny here.

 

I wasn’t, and of course you’re right.

 

I don't really "get" the commercial either. I don't see the relevance to razors, at all. I don't see the need for Gillette to stand on this particular political pedestal.

The message promoted here is not a harmful one, if taken at face value, although I see that many of you are seeing it as part of a larger "anti masculinity" trend (which you are all promoting by giving this ad so much attention).

 

They should be judged by how they take care of their children. I can't fathom leaving an innocent child dangling in the breeze like that. When you have children, it's time to get your shit together. It's an issue I'm close to since I had rice for dinner and shoes falling apart on my feet, while Dad drove a Jag and started a new family to replace us.

I don't think he's the kind of guy who would take advice from a commercial.

 

Your dad was a huge dick.

 

I think it feeds stereotypes needlessly, as if it was designed to piss people off. What if they decide to handle other stereotypes, perhaps on a racial basis. Will we see it the same way?

I fail to see how we're "promoting" anti-masculinity by talking about this. Shutting down a discussion on that basis would do what?

 

Right. And yet, I still have people trying to push the "honor thy father and mother" bullshit on me. Why should I when they have no honor?

Besides, I now have Procter&Gamble to raise me!

 

I hear you.
And I didn’t mean to imply before that you were saying fathers are just good for money or that you didn’t have a legit gripe with yours.