This is a blog post that I originally wrote for my blog: https://redwritingss.wordpress.

com/

Gillette’s ‘The best men can be’ commercial addresses

bullying and harassment.
A few days ago my social media timelines were replete with posts and tweets about
Gillette and Gillette was trending on the top spot. I followed the trend and found out
Gillette has released a new TV commercial. Gillette, a renowned brand has changed its
decades-old tagline from ‘The best a man can get’ to ‘the best men can be’.

The one minute and forty-eight seconds long commercial starts with mentioning the ‘Me
Too’ movement and the narrator begins by asking, Is this the best a man can get? While
a few teenagers chase after a kid with the intention of bullying him. In the next few
scenes, we see women being harassed by men in different places implying that women
are not safe from harassment anywhere, from workplaces to their very homes, which in
my opinion is quite accurate and not exaggerated at all.

The primary focus of this commercial seems to be on the fact that we have defined
masculinity wrongly and we need to redefine masculinity, men need to hold other men
accountable and fathers must not ignore their son’s bad behavior with ages-old excuse
‘boys will be boys’. Only then we can ensure and bring out the best behavior in men and
that is the best a man can be.

This TV commercial has drawn ire of men around the world and from what angry
reactions I read on the Internet, the reason seems to be that this add is perceived by
many as the PC culture’s attempt to blame masculinity for harassment and bullying so
prevalent in today’s society. This is a very inaccurate representation of this TVC as it
does not blame masculinity but rather attempts to redefine it. Time will prove that this
TV commercial was ahead of its time.