July 17, 2017

How does Gillette know you are an 18-year-old guy?

It doesn't always:


Via the NYT, which says: "Gillette, which is owned by Procter & Gamble, has mailed razors to young men for their 18th birthdays since the 1990s." The spokeswoman for Gillette says: "it takes a lot of data to reach two million men — and there are a number of steps between identifying the men, securing shipping information and then fulfilling the razors."

Fulfilling the razors is a funny expression — as if the razors were getting off on their skin contact with you.

60 comments:

BarrySanders20 said...

Hard for a woke marketing dept to tell these days who is what, and when they are what. If you identify as 18 and male, or might in the future, well then, here's a razor for you. Just remember to register for the selective service.

Xmas said...

"Fulfillment" is a business term that has nothing to do with actual fulfillment.

Except for mail-order puppies (e.g. "John Wick")

Chuck said...

"Fulfilling the razors..." is a derivation of "fulfillment" as in the Fulfillment Department at Proctor & Gamble. The nest question, for which I don't have an answer is, "Why call it the Fulfillment Department?"

You might ask the folks at www.Fulfillment.com !

Bob Ellison said...

Crap. I never got one. I must have filled out the wrong form.

Bob Ellison said...

Speaking of which forms, is the military selling these lists?

Fernandinande said...

I remember when the Satanists accused P&G of working for Amway.

Ann Althouse said...

I do understand the business meaning of fulfillment.

Bob Ellison said...

And hey, when is the SJW crowd going to catch up with the legal requirement to register for selective service?

Mary Beth said...

Bob Ellison said...

Speaking of which forms, is the military selling these lists?

7/17/17, 9:24 AM


Probably the public schools are selling their directories.

rhhardin said...

You'd think they'd use age 26.

rhhardin said...

I've found the plain old disposables do the best job. Also you don't need creams and crap. There's really a vast P&G creation of weird needs going on.

All that matters is sharp.

rhhardin said...

Dell thinks I'm a Montessori school in Texas. Three copies of each mailed-out Dell ad for verious people in this school to my address.

It shows what happens when your database gets corrupted.

rhhardin said...

Also I'd like to complain about marketing toothpaste and deoderant.

By the time you need more, the one you had is no longer sold, having been replaced by some newer kind with doubtful features.

richlb said...

"I remember when the Satanists accused P&G of working for Amway."

As a child, I attended a private religious school for a few years. At one point there was a "scare hoax" that P&G was somehow aligned with Satanists. The logo (moon and stars) was supposedly some ancient druid symbol or some nonsense like that. I remember them sending home flyers alerting us not to buy P&G stuff. I recall my parents initially being caught up in this hysteria and cleansing our house of their products (rimshot!). In the end it was all garbage hoax stuff, the kind of stuff you'd think the internet would make impossible nowadays, but still comes up from time to time.

In a strange turn, I now work in an office located in an old P&G facility, and that logo is everywhere!

Ralph L said...

They sent me one when I was 18, with 35 years experience. It's a better razor than the gimmick I thought it was.

rhhardin said...

Tooth whitening, for instance.

I talked to a lady at the grocery the other day who had insanely white teeth. That's not a natural tooth color.

Under ultraviolet light she'd probably glow, like a cheshire cat.

According to Kenneth Burke, the cat's smile represented a lingering fart.

rhhardin said...

You find out that you don't need the creams and lathers and stuff when you run out one day and everything works fine anyway.

Fabi said...

Enjoy your free razor -- please don't pass out when you learn the price of the replacement blades!

tcrosse said...

Quite a lot of junk mail is addressed to General and Mrs. Mills.

Ignorance is Bliss said...

rhhardin said...

By the time you need more, the one you had is no longer sold, having been replaced by some newer kind with doubtful features.

You think toothpaste and deodorant are bad, you should try running shoes.

JHP2 said...

I will say I was impressed as my son received a razor two weeks after he turned 18 at the end of May.

'TreHammer said...

FYI...Fulfill/Fulfilling/Fulfillment is a common termed used by companies that perform and/or supply enrollment information as in such areas as healthcare benefit selection and commercial product delivery.

tim in vermont said...

Enjoy your free razor -- please don't pass out when you learn the price of the replacement blades!

Somebody has to pay Tom Brady's salary!

Ann Althouse said...

"I talked to a lady at the grocery the other day who had insanely white teeth. That's not a natural tooth color."

Get false teeth and you can have any color you want.

Those veneers the celebrities get these days... they're basically false teeth. We're getting accustomed to them, they way we've become accustomed to the results of plastic surgery. Eventually, it will be what we expect, and everyone who doesn't submit to the expensive upgrades will be considered too ghoulish to be seen with.

Bob Ellison said...

Really, I'm serious about selective service registration. When I turned 18, I got a load of crap sent at me, including the requirement to register for the draft. Among other things, it said I was supposed to keep the federal government informed of any change in my address. Offensive and ridiculous at the same time.

And started by Jimmy Carter.

What if there is no male or female, Jimmy? Got hotness in your shorts for that?

And where, really, is Gillette getting this data from? Mary Beth suggests school systems. If so, that's horrible. Where's the data, and who's making money by selling it?

traditionalguy said...

That is a trick starting young guys off with the 4 bladed top of the line. After that smooth shave, all the others seem inferior. Wait until the pols hear about this. They will raise the age of possessing 4 bladed razors to 21.

DanTheMan said...

>>please don't pass out when you learn the price of the replacement blades!

Exactly. I got tired of paying $60 (!!!) at Costco for a pack of replacement blades for my fancy razor.
I went back to a safety razor. 100 blades are about $15 on Amazon.

Ralph L said...

you should try running shoes.
I started buying several at a time, but first you have to know you like them. Adidas and Bass have both discontinued narrow, well-ventilated shoes that my feet require. They're nearly impossible to find.

Fabi said...

That's perfect, Sample Commenter!

Michael K said...

" insanely white teeth"

I was thinking that about Scott Adams teeth, I guess he can afford any teeth he wants.

tcrosse said...

I've heard whispers that women actually use razors, too, from time to time.

n.n said...

Does the 18-year-old guy know that he is an 18-year-old guy?

He may be in transition and not even know it. Case in point: Bruce/Caitlyn Jenner, the black girl who identifies as white, the white girl who identifies as black, and others who exhibit physical, mental, and behavioral aberrations in a temporal or stable state.

What is a marketing department, with good intentions, operating in a modern life supposed to do?

Ralph L said...

Trojan should throw in a couple condoms and an anti-rape kit.

Wilbur said...

I'm with rhhardin on this. The disposable plastic razors I buy in a plastic bag do just as well as an expensive one. I do need the "creams and lathers" he apparently disdains. Barbasol ($1.79 a can) works fine.

You shave without something between you and the razor ... well, you're tougher than me.

I'm reminded of the scene in The Dirty Dozen where the dickhead played by John Cassavetes refuses Col. Breed's (Robert Ryan) order to shave. Ryan then growled "Then dryyyyyy shave him!". Fortunately Lee Marvin then intervened with a blast from a grease gun.

tcrosse said...

Trojan should throw in a couple condoms and an anti-rape kit.

What would an anti-rape kit contain ?

Curious George said...

"tcrosse said...
What would an anti-rape kit contain ?"

A Hillary mask?

Sam's Hideout said...

There is roughly 2 million males turning 18 this year, a Gilette Fusion razor is around $6 at wholesale, so the cost of this marketing campaign is around $12 million + cost to acquire names and addresses, which could be substantial.

Ad Age has an article detailing the cost of ads through various channels. So the cost of this marketing campaign is probably less than a single primetime tv ad every weekday.

Marc in Eugene said...

Why 18? I seem to recall that I was shaving long before 18. 'Why not 26?' was amusing, though.

Jess said...

Back in the early 70's, all you had to do was send for a free razor, and blades, from Schick. The injector pack only had two blades, but at my age at the time, they lasted me long, long time.

Sam L. said...

It's been a long time ago for me, but I'm pretty sure I was shaving before I turned 18.

George M. Spencer said...

Gillette doubled its razors sales during the late 1910s by convincing women they needed to shave. Around the same time, PR genius Edward Bernays also convinced women to use underarm deodorant an that smoking was a symbol of political progress. He's the one who also got everyone to believe that bacon/sausage should be eaten with eggs--all the time. After WWII, he associated opposition to fluoridation with right-wing extremism.

Dave from Minnesota said...

I only occasionally shaved before turning 18. That is about the time I started shaving daily. And it was really easy to do. At some point my facial hair got tougher. Hence the need for expense blades.

Snark said...

"Two things: I am no longer 18, and no amount of shaving will make me a man.
I am keeping the razor though, it's really nice."

Is nobody original anymore? I can't be the only person who recalls this verbatim argument from Keeping up with the Kardashians.

Dave from Minnesota said...

One of the biggest money saving things I've stumbled across...a couple of years ago I was staying with some friends over a weekend. It was mostly spent outdoors drinking beer and just kind of relaxing. I said the first morning "I have to shave yet before we head out". My buddy said "why do you have to shave everyday".

I've probably been shaving 363 our of 365 days a year since I was 18. I now shave about 5 times a week (so lets call it 260 a year). And use an electric razor more as its not a big deal if the shave isn't that close.

Big Mike said...

So Kody is a girl? She should shut up and start shaving her legs.

Martin said...

"Fulfillment" is the term for what happens between someone placing an order and receiving the product. Or in this case, being identified as someone who should get the product, and their receiving it. "Product may be a tangible item or something intangible like a membership. Fulfilling the need of the customer (not the product)

As in, "Amazon Fulfillment Center"

Freeman Hunt said...

"PR genius Edward Bernays also convinced women to use underarm deodorant"

Thank goodness.

n.n said...

They should have worked worked with Planned Parenthood. Their client registry would definitively distinguish between the Bruces and the Caitlyns, the boys and girl wannabes. Mother Nature does not defer to individual or political confusion.

Scott said...

"Fulfilling the razors is a funny expression — as if the razors were getting off on their skin contact with you."

"Getting off," as in sexual climax? And if so, who is getting fulfilled?

"Oh my God, honey, you were awesome! I fulfilled [you/myself] twice!"

traditionalguy said...

Tcrosse... You are correct. Women not only use razors, they use razors up faster than men do, but those exactly the same razor heads come in weak pink or pastel colorswith curved handles and must be kept down the aisle at least 5 feet, so as not to taint the mens' strong ones.

ajf said...

As FRAN (Friendly Replicator ANdroid) said, prior to its suicide mission, "One always wishes to fulfill ones purpose...."

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=R1ApwdSu4Wg

rhhardin said...

Light days pads were an attempt to raise revenue by convincing women to use pads when they didn't need them, according to an old article in the WSJ.

Some guy thinking what's with this only 5 days a month problem. We can do better.

Spiros said...

It's amazing how much better the safety razors are.

Birches said...

Target always thinks I'm pregnant or have a small infant when I am not. Just got some free formula in the mail. My baby is 18 months old.

I Have Misplaced My Pants said...

Re the fulfulling thing: Althouse, you're a dirty minded lady. :)

Ralph L said...

I'm pretty sure I was shaving before I turned 18.
But when did you start paying for razors with your own money?

rcocean said...

I used disposable razors and expensive multi-blades for years, then gave my Dad's old safety razor a try. Works just as good and its much cheaper.

tcrosse said...

Razor fulfillment is what Sweeney Todd is all about.

Marc in Eugene said...

Ralph L, That's a good point about who's doing the paying for the razors-- hadn't thought of that. Would indeed have been after 18 (more or less anyway) when I started paying for the damn things myself.

Kirk Parker said...

"as if the razors were getting off on their skin contact with you."

Jeez, where's the Trolling-for-Laslo tag?