Blowback over 'We Believe' ad suggests Gillette is no Nike
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Gillette ignited a firestorm on social media, TV talk shows and around the office water cooler last week with a surprising take on its long-running “Best a Man Can Get” campaign. Titled “We Believe,” the spot from Grey, New York, aims to reframe the meaning of masculinity. Set against the backdrop of the #MeToo movement, it calls for a stop to behaviors like mansplaining, bullying and sexual harassment, asking, “Is this the best a man can get? Is it?”
In the first 48 hours, the “We Believe” video racked up 19.7 million views, according to analytics firm Talkwalker. By day three, it added another 6 million on YouTube alone. (The spot did not run on TV.)
Some celebrities, such as Chrissy Teigen, Rainn Wilson and Arianna Huffington, applauded it on Twitter as enlightened. But another social media faction emerged, decrying the ad as unfair and insulting to men. Right-wing pearl clutcher Piers Morgan tweeted: “I’ve used @Gillette razors my entire adult life but this absurd virtue-signalling PC guff may drive me away to a company less eager to fuel the current pathetic global assault on masculinity. Let boys be damn boys. Let men be damn men.”
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