This week, I sat and watched a clip off YouTube of this new Gillette ad that folks are discussing a good bit. The theme? Bad boy-men who seem to be 'bullies' of some type, and they needed to be knocked down a step.
So I pondered over what is a Procter and Gamble brand and wondered about the effort of advertising.
The sad thing is that I've been a Gillette user since probably August 1977 (when I went off to boot-camp). The electric razor wasn't practical there, and the only cheap razors that the BX Shoppette offered....was Gillette. Even today, their offer is limited to Gillette, a off-brand for the BX made by Gillette, or BIC. For those who've never used BIC.....it's a lousy razor of low-quality, and you usually end up with a dozen cuts.
So, back to the commercial. My interpretation is that someone on the ad-team built the original concept, which would have flowed in a positive way. At some point, someone else advanced in the ad-team, and built it to have some message that advanced toxic behavior, and in the end.....you have an advertising moment which became a political hit-piece.
My guess is that Procter and Gamble, with Gillette.....are standing there now and realizing that something really went wrong in the purchase of the ad. You can't really take it down without admitting you screwed up.....but you dislike the negative attention.
Will guys stop using Gillette? I would suggest some number (probably in the 20-percent range) are leaving Gillette. The sad thing is that they have a superior product and this ad wasn't needed.
But there is other question laying there. If men's behavior was 'bad'.....shouldn't the Ford pick-up division run the same type ad? Or how about the NFL? Or how about Bud? Or how about the chain-saw folks? Harley-Davidson?
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