Backlash to Gillette 'toxic masculinity' ad spreads on social media
Bryan Passifiume
Published:
January 17, 2019
Updated:
January 17, 2019 12:01 PM EST
Efforts by U.S.-based Gillette to sell razors by weighing in on societal views of masculinity worked many observers online into a lather.
Entitled “We Believe,” Gillette’s one-minute, 49-second ad uses the venerable brand’s “The Best a Man Can Get” tagline to challenge the concept of “toxic masculinity.” It was both praised as much-needed social commentary, and panned as offensive to men.
By Wednesday, the ad garnered over 13.3-million views on Youtube, with nearly 700,000 dislikes dwarfing the 324,000 people who gave it a thumbs-up.
Some critics have taken to social media with the #BoycottGillette hashtag, urging consumers to spend their male grooming dollars elsewhere.
Twitter user @ConnorTaylor17 was among those expressing their displeasure.
“don’t play with identity politics and propaganda serving the identitarian left is a dire mistake #BoycottGillette” he tweeted.
One of many women expressing their distaste with the ad, @KimCatalano4 decried the ad as being in poor taste.
“when did it happen that being a Male in AMERICA is WRONG…ESPECIALLY WHEN GRILLING. I grill and I’m a woman so I guess I’m a disgusting person as well! #BoycottGillette.” she posted on Twitter Wednesday afternoon.
Other men’s’ grooming companies were quick to capitalize on the backlash against the Proctor & Gamble owned, $16-billion razor brand.
A tweet, posted by Dollar Shave Club the same day Gillette released their controversial ad simply stated “Welcome to the Club.”
Unilever, which acquired Dollar Shave Club in 2016, launched a similar ‘defining masculinity‘ campaign in mid-2017 under the #isitokforguys hashtag as part of their Axe Body Spray product, meant to “break the cycle of toxic masculinity.”
In October 2018, competitor Schick hired NBA basketball star Kevin Love to be part of their “The Man I Am” campaign — an education initiative that defines masculinity as a “spectrum” rather than binary.
Sarah Kaplan, director of the University of Toronto’s Institute for Gender and the Economy, told The Canadian Press she suspects that Gillette’s ad targeted millennial men, who have yet to pick a razor brand they will likely stick with for life, and women, who frequently purchase those razors for the men in their lives.
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Others on social media are accusing Gillette of hijacking a legitimate social issue just to sell razors, claiming the company was counting on the controversy to increase brand awareness.
Twitter user @cognazor appreciated the message, but was concerned about how the ad’s overall impact.
“I agree with the Gillette ad message of promoting positive masculinity. But I am weary that large corporations are co-opting progressives by diverting attention to cultural issues instead of economic ones,” he posted on Wednesday.
bpassifiume@postmedia.com
On Twitter: @bryanpassifiume
— With files from Canadian Press
http://torontosun.com/news/world/on...-toxic-masculinity-ad-spreads-on-social-media
Bigoted social justice warriors never shun any arena where they think their vile message can be successfully displayed!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
NDP doorknob Jagmeet Singh is doing his best to emulate his intellectual superior - the idiot Boy Justin Trudeau in all things!!!!!!!!!!!!!
Such aping of LIE-beral behaviour is expected of the NDp- the LIE-beral farm team that lacks the low guile and cunning to be proper LIE-berals!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
But HOW IS IT that our news media have NOT ASKED JAG to comment on the Kinder Morgan pipeline???????????????????????
Is this an open media admission that Jag and his NDPers ARE IRRELEVANT in the Cdn political world?????????????????
And what does Jagmeet- who appears to be political dead meat ALREADY - have to say about the Gillette commercial????????????
Inquiring minds want to know!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
We already have these NDP idiot gems of wisdom about poverty:::::::
Here is an article illustrating that NDP doorknobs did not learn from the Bob (BOOB!) Rae as premier disaster in Ontari-owe! With some comments of my own in brackets):
Eliminate poverty? Yes we can, say NDP candidates
By Tom Parkin, Postmedia Network. First posted: Sunday, July 09, 2017 05:30 PM EDT | Updated: Sunday, July 09, 2017 05:34 PM EDT
Ottawa politicians and the media give it less attention than Justin Trudeau’s sock choices. But it’s important. And it’s a very personal issue to millions of Canadians. That issue is being poor.
In 2015, 11% of Canadians called themselves poor — a massive increase from 2002 when 5% of those surveyed said they were poor, according to EKOS Research.
Today there are about four million self-described poor Canadians, the research suggests. We shouldn’t believe politicians who say nothing can be done to eliminate poverty.
That’s basically the message from Finance Minister Bill Morneau, who told workers to get used to “job churn”.
The NDP leadership race has rekindled a thoughtful, clear-eyed policy discussion about poverty — though it’s received far less media attention than the gong-show antics of the Conservative race.
Guy Caron released his basic income plan to eliminate poverty. It would ensure no Canadian falls below the low-income cut-off, of between $18,000 and $24,000 annually, depending on the regional cost of living.
(Apparently NDPers do not recall the massive spike in welfare costs inOntari-owe under Rae? Ndp do-gooders do not take into account the drug addicts, crazy people and bone lazy types who are essentially unemployable! One fine example is the guy who was living under a bridge near Young St and Lakeshore Blvd because he thought it was immoral for a landlord th charge rent! And I guess the guy thinks holding down a regular job is an insult as well?)
Caron’s plan would replace the Guaranteed Income Supplement, which is essentially a basic income plan that keeps seniors out of poverty.
Caron would redeploy the Liberals’ $22 billion Canada Child Benefit (CCB) to basic income.
(So far the NDP plan is simply moving money from one pocket to another!)
CCB is only paid to parents with children and is weakly targeted on poverty — a family with a combined income of $150,000 annually still receives tax money under the Liberal plan.
(And a lot of families with $150 grand in income are Sunshine List Hogs and are ENTITLED! Just ask them!)
Caron estimates the total additional cost of basic income at $30 billion.
That’s the true cost of eliminating poverty, he says.
(Only $30 billion extra in taxes? Have NDPers not considered the way such a tax hit would be a brake on the economy? Apparently NOT! And Rae has ALREADY proven NDP cannot borrow such a pile of cash!)
Jagmeet Singh’s strategy even more aggressively redeploys existing tax deductions and benefits toward fighting poverty but targets it to poor seniors, low-wage workers and people with disabilities.
That aggressive redeployment means it requires less new money. But targeting could leave gaps.
(Yeah- NDP ALWAYS has gaps! NDP is IGNORING the fifty five billion dollars in pension promises made to OSSTF- the Ontari-owe high school teachers- money that is needed- so says the outgoing chairman of the pension fund management committee- to prevent the fund from going bankrupt! Civil service Hog greed is so huge that LIE-berals cannot shovel cash into Hog pension plans fast enough to keep them from going bankrupt! Older Hogs will NOT tolerate NDP monkeying with their ENTITLEMENTS! So redirecting money is a NON starter!)
(Cdns will accept- and be willing to pay for a MODEST improvement in the benefits of people with disabilities- those who were born that way and have no options; but the arguments will begin as soon as NDP starts redefining disabled! Are drug addicts disabled? Or simply stupid parasites who have made bad life choices they ought to pay for to some degree? And many middle class Cdns are already disgusted with the “fentanyl crisis” and do not want to see scarce medical resources and limited tax money wasted on people who are basically committing suicide! The Cdn attitude often is that we all know the stuff is lethal so if you are playing with it, the results are on your head and scarce resources should be reserved for people who got sick by accident! And where does fiscal need for drug addicts fit on the scale compared to Hog entitlements as there are 18 other unions each with billions of dollars worth of LIE-beral promises in their pockets right behind OSSTF!)
Singh’s seniors’ guarantee would redeploy the $4.5 billion now spent on the Age Credit and Pension Income Credit, which both pay out to even the wealthiest seniors.
He’d reduce Old Age Security eligibility from $120,000 to below $100,000. With the freed-up money, Singh would boost support for low-income seniors.
(And he would make life harder for Hogs whose pension plans are dying anyway!)
( Oh-there is another slippery fiscal slope for NDP! At last count- 97 percent of Hog pension plans are facing bankruptcy- with a similar number of private union pension plans staring at their own bankrupt status. Many elderly Cdns are ALREADY looking at falling into low income status- with many others simply scraping along thanks to CRAP returns on investment due to lousy interest rates and depressed corporate profits in this sluggish and very over indebted economy.)
(We also labour under the imminent threat of economic damage from NAFTA being killed off thanks to Our idiot Boy Justin IGNORING Yankee national security concerns related to those hordes of illegals crossing our border at the invitation of idiot Boy! Yankees do not wish to import Muslim bombers along with their Cdn dairy and soft wood lumber!)
(The roughly 40,000 illegals who will arrive this year- and who knows how many next year- plus the 90 percent of Syrian refugees chosen by LIE-berals who have not found a job even after a year in Canada will represent a LARGE fiscal challenge and security risk for decades to come! NDP has NO more plan for this than LIE-berals do and its going to mess up their pie in the sky fiscal plans!)
Singh’s working Canadians guarantee follows the same theme. The $2.3 billion Canada Employment Credit (CEC), a deduction benefitting even the highest income workers, would be rolled into a renamed Working Income Tax Benefit (WITB).
WITB is a $1.2 billion program paying a maximum benefit of $1,028 to employed Canadians earning between about $7,000 and $12,000 annnualy.
The benefit is fully phased-out at about $18,000.
By adding CEC money, Singh plans to triple the support targeted to working poor Canadians.
(This is what got Rae into trouble- more welfare money makes it less attractive to actually get up in the morning and be useful to a crappy McJob!)
He also pledges a new $8 billion program to boost incomes of poor Canadians with disabilities.
(Singh`s plan is no better than the pie in the sky Rae crap! I used to have dealings with a custom furniture store and the two delivery guys were a real contrast! One guy lived in affordable housing- one of those no mortgage coop places and he did a lot of work under the table- painting houses and such- and isn’t it handy that OUR tax money made sure to set up his coop in a relatively prosperous area where he could get at those nice well paying under the table jobs! And the second guy lived in a commercial apt property and paid market rates and was always broke as he did not have handy and wealthy neigbours to hire him! And would NDP assume there would be no friction between those who get that govt aid and the others who get nothing? The disparity between those on the list and those off killed Rae and it will kill Singh too as there simply is not enough borrowed money to go around!)
Niki Ashton and Charlie Angus don’t have full anti-poverty plans yet, but elements are found elsewhere.
(And they never will get anti poverty plans put together either! Consider this mess: A 53 year old guy who is a reformed drug addict- getting methadone regularly and dealing with a bad back, blown out knees and a criminal history and limited education that renders him unemployable. His wife is an ex stripper and more or less reformed alcoholic and they have one son. And surprise- they live on welfare!)
(Dad is an enterprising sort in spite of being rather drug addled and makes a game of claiming five finger discounts. Comes out of Costco with FORTY-YES- FORTY POUNDS of cheddar cheese clenched between his sweaty thighs. Comes out of Cdn Tire with all manner of auto parts and equipment- NO sales receipts. He does under the table body work on cars and so needs tools, supplies and equipment regularly and likes the stuff at “discounted” rates. When he needs gas for his unlicensed car that he is banned from driving he does the gas and dash thing. He is a one man crime wave.)
(Recently, he got a job fixing a nice car- it was about 4-6 years old. Took the car to a local store to buy needed supplies- maybe he had permission from owner and maybe not- but if owner knew the guy had no license and no insurance and was under a life time ban from driving due to drug addictions- we can guess there would NOT have been permission offered- so guy does not ask and does not tell- just gets in a drives. On the way back he drops his cigarette and while fumbling for it- he crashes into a concrete culvert on 401- and car is wrecked.)
(Guy needs medical attention for a broken arm- and we get the bills. He knows he is in deep s++t so he gives a false name- with cops forced to waste time unravelling who he is and etc- and find out if the name and address he used were owned by people involved in his stupidity and etc- so, legal more bills. It goes to court and he pays a SMALL fine- its just govt getting back welfare money anyway and LIE-beral hug a thug judge sends him home- LIE-berals KNOW habitual criminals are immune from prosecution and it’s a waste of money to punish the dork.)
(The car owner is unhappy as his car is wrecked and insurance company does not want to pay for it as dork let a drug addict wreck it for him. Owner would SUE IF the addict had any money!)
(Will NDP wish to take money AWAY from Cdns trying to live a legitimate lifestyle so Numbskulls and tax cheats can have a nicer life? Can NDP even get serious voter attention if Cdns dig into the details of their plan? It seems highly unlikely!)
(I have had online talks with Hogs in the past and they often consider that people living in Metro Toronto Housing SLUMS are ALREADY getting MORE than they deserve! Hog entitlements trump NDP poverty plans! And a lot of other Cdns feel they are more deserving than drug addicts, pimps, whores and Black Lives matter professional complainers! NDP anti poverty plan is nothing but pre election noise from a party that will run THIRD as usual!)
Ashton would add $2 billion to the Guaranteed Income Supplement and $1 billion to the Disability Tax Credit, which she’d covert to a refundable credit so disabled Canadians without taxable incomes can benefit.
Angus would boost the Working Income Tax Benefit and improve EI maternity and parental benefits from 55% to 70% of income, capped at the maximum insurable earning of about $50,000.
(And since the only Cdns who can actually access and use maternity leave are civil service Hogs- secure in the knowledge their jobs WILL be there when they want them- and Muslims who think having five kids is a fine service to God- this improved maternity leave will only benefit a small and already elite group!)
Really, there’s a lot to choose from. Or even mix and match.
(Yes- and LOTS of options AND LOTS of ways to lose votes without the virtue of buying any new ones- unless Singh is planning to make us all rich with borrowed money- as Rae failed to do- and as Our idiot Boy is doing-without having the brains to realize he is following just following RAE!)
The NDP’s poverty discussion is a dose of authentic politics — a welcome contrast to Trudeau’s sock-and-awe and the dreadful Conservative leadership race.
(Authentic politics? That drug addict doing body work on cars under the table while living on welfare has a better grasp of politics and fiscal planning than any NDP numbskull!)
Disappointed last election, perhaps the social democrats are now rallying the courage to be what they are.
(YES! They will be third place losers as usual! Though they are likely to be superceded by Greens who have not been so forthcoming with airhead economic plans and thus MAY be taken more seriously than NDP for once!)
