Gillette’s New Ad On Toxic Masculinity Is Breathtaking — And Necessary

Gillette’s New Ad On Toxic Masculinity Is Breathtaking — And Necessary

I had a chance to watch the new Gillette Ad on Toxic masculinity. It is really good. I liked this article on the video from the Scary Mommy blog.

I also think that as we deconstruct toxic masculinity we need more teaching, and discussion on what regular masculinity looks like. Anything that starts this discussion is great to see.

The #MeToo movement has opened a lot of conversations about the way men treat women. We know it’s up to men to change their behavior, but women have been saying that for generations. We need men to hold other men accountable. Enter Gillette’s powerful new ad that asks them to do exactly that.

The ad, targeted at men and called “We Believe,” begins with audio of news about the #MeToo movement. A narrator then takes on the common phrase, “boys will be boys,” asking, “It this the best a man can get? Is it? We can’t hide from it. It has gone on far too long. We can’t laugh it off, making the same old excuses.”
The commercial depicts men stepping in to stop their brethren from catcalling and telling women to smile. It shows a father breaking up a fight between two little boys at a BBQ instead of letting them “be boys” and another dad fending off bullies from a little boy while his small son watches intently. It shows a mother cradling her bullied son as vile text messages from his tormentors are shown.


Click here for the article. The link to the video is on this article as well as copied below.

About The Author

Brett Ullman

Brett Ullman travels North America speaking to teens, young adults, leaders, and parents on topics including parenting, mental health, sexuality, pornography, men, dating and media. Brett's seminars engage and challenge attendees to try and connect our ancient faith with our modern culture we live in. Participants are inspired to reflect on what we know, what we believe and how our faith ought to serve as the lens through which we view and engage tough conversations in our society today.

3 Comments

  1. Barb Peters Khayat

    Wonderful! I love seeing this. It’s about time someone spoke up and tried to do something about this. If we keep on sending this message out and more men and advertisers join in, eventually it will catch on and become the norm. I applaud Gillette for taking this first step.

    Reply
  2. Heidi

    Hi there! I’m new to your site and came across this post. I was really confused when I first saw the Gillette ad, and personally feel the spot doesn’t add value to the important conversations we need to have about masculinity and femininity. Can you define for me what you believe toxic masculinity to be, what healthy masculinity is, and if you would agree that we also have toxic femininity in our world?

    Reply
    • brett ullman

      Thanks for your comment. For sure we have toxic femininity in the world. As a speaker who has a talk called The Man Talk, I address only the male conversation on this. This is the comment from the Gilette website below. I think it is a great place to start.

      “Gillette is committed to driving change that matters, starting with our own actions and expanding out to programs that support men of positive action everywhere. To make our vision of the Best Men Can Be a reality, we will be distributing $1 Million per year for the next three years to non-profit organizations executing the most interesting and impactful programs designed to help men of all ages achieve their personal best.

      Our first partner in this effort is The Boys & Girls Clubs of America. Positive experiences at Boys & Girls Clubs provides young men with the important social and emotional skills they need to communicate effectively, to work with others, and develop coping mechanisms in order to face challenging situations. These skills are critical in everyday life and to the success of young people.

      With more than 4,300 Clubs across the country, Boys & Girls Clubs’ singular mission is to ensure that youth in America have the opportunities that set them up for success so that they graduate on-time with a plan for their futures, where they live healthy lifestyles and give back to their communities.”

      Reply

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