Writes Robby Soave in "The Gillette Ad Tells Men Not to Hurt People. Why Is This Offensive?/'Toxic masculinity' is sometimes a scapegoat for the left, but this particular commercial makes no grand anti-male claims" (Reason).
I agree. The ad is full of men stopping other men from doing bad things. That's one of the best things men do, and it's what the ad highlights. The ad ends with shots of beautiful boys and — in the logic of the sequence of images — they are learning — from men — how to be good men.
skip to main |
skip to sidebar
To live freely in writing...
Support the Althouse blog by doing your Amazon shopping going in through the Althouse Amazon link.
Amazon
I am a participant in the Amazon Services LLC Associates Program, an affiliate advertising program designed to provide a means for me to earn fees by linking to Amazon.com and affiliated sites.
Support this blog with PayPal
Make a 1-time donation or set up a monthly donation of any amount you choose:
Posts
Blog Archive
-
►
2024
(2662)
- 11/17 (50)
- 11/10 (52)
- 11/03 (62)
- 10/27 (62)
- 10/20 (49)
- 10/13 (49)
- 10/06 (59)
- 09/29 (58)
- 09/22 (62)
- 09/15 (52)
- 09/08 (58)
- 09/01 (56)
- 08/25 (51)
- 08/18 (57)
- 08/11 (54)
- 08/04 (64)
- 07/28 (60)
- 07/21 (75)
- 07/14 (69)
- 07/07 (63)
- 06/30 (49)
- 06/23 (68)
- 06/16 (58)
- 06/09 (61)
- 06/02 (59)
- 05/26 (56)
- 05/19 (54)
- 05/12 (53)
- 05/05 (56)
- 04/28 (65)
- 04/21 (57)
- 04/14 (68)
- 04/07 (56)
- 03/31 (55)
- 03/24 (56)
- 03/17 (59)
- 03/10 (52)
- 03/03 (63)
- 02/25 (59)
- 02/18 (45)
- 02/11 (60)
- 02/04 (56)
- 01/28 (50)
- 01/21 (64)
- 01/14 (62)
- 01/07 (59)
-
►
2023
(3115)
- 12/31 (58)
- 12/24 (43)
- 12/17 (55)
- 12/10 (66)
- 12/03 (57)
- 11/26 (56)
- 11/19 (44)
- 11/12 (55)
- 11/05 (69)
- 10/29 (63)
- 10/22 (54)
- 10/15 (62)
- 10/08 (69)
- 10/01 (70)
- 09/24 (55)
- 09/17 (49)
- 09/10 (62)
- 09/03 (54)
- 08/27 (54)
- 08/20 (45)
- 08/13 (50)
- 08/06 (54)
- 07/30 (62)
- 07/23 (50)
- 07/16 (49)
- 07/09 (59)
- 07/02 (61)
- 06/25 (63)
- 06/18 (53)
- 06/11 (63)
- 06/04 (67)
- 05/28 (53)
- 05/21 (60)
- 05/14 (66)
- 05/07 (66)
- 04/30 (67)
- 04/23 (54)
- 04/16 (55)
- 04/09 (64)
- 04/02 (63)
- 03/26 (64)
- 03/19 (76)
- 03/12 (60)
- 03/05 (52)
- 02/26 (63)
- 02/19 (49)
- 02/12 (66)
- 02/05 (63)
- 01/29 (60)
- 01/22 (57)
- 01/15 (60)
- 01/08 (66)
- 01/01 (60)
-
►
2022
(3553)
- 12/25 (55)
- 12/18 (56)
- 12/11 (73)
- 12/04 (71)
- 11/27 (76)
- 11/20 (76)
- 11/13 (80)
- 11/06 (71)
- 10/30 (72)
- 10/23 (60)
- 10/16 (61)
- 10/09 (63)
- 10/02 (70)
- 09/25 (56)
- 09/18 (62)
- 09/11 (64)
- 09/04 (76)
- 08/28 (75)
- 08/21 (63)
- 08/14 (71)
- 08/07 (76)
- 07/31 (74)
- 07/24 (71)
- 07/17 (66)
- 07/10 (67)
- 07/03 (70)
- 06/26 (73)
- 06/19 (79)
- 06/12 (74)
- 06/05 (87)
- 05/29 (54)
- 05/22 (66)
- 05/15 (72)
- 05/08 (76)
- 05/01 (62)
- 04/24 (62)
- 04/17 (70)
- 04/10 (69)
- 04/03 (82)
- 03/27 (67)
- 03/20 (64)
- 03/13 (64)
- 03/06 (79)
- 02/27 (64)
- 02/20 (66)
- 02/13 (68)
- 02/06 (59)
- 01/30 (70)
- 01/23 (58)
- 01/16 (61)
- 01/09 (64)
- 01/02 (68)
-
►
2021
(3054)
- 12/26 (55)
- 12/19 (52)
- 12/12 (53)
- 12/05 (51)
- 11/28 (44)
- 11/21 (62)
- 11/14 (54)
- 11/07 (54)
- 10/31 (65)
- 10/24 (73)
- 10/17 (61)
- 10/10 (62)
- 10/03 (64)
- 09/26 (59)
- 09/19 (48)
- 09/12 (53)
- 09/05 (60)
- 08/29 (76)
- 08/22 (67)
- 08/15 (66)
- 08/08 (53)
- 08/01 (55)
- 07/25 (56)
- 07/18 (58)
- 07/11 (59)
- 07/04 (52)
- 06/27 (57)
- 06/20 (57)
- 06/13 (65)
- 06/06 (64)
- 05/30 (50)
- 05/23 (64)
- 05/16 (56)
- 05/09 (65)
- 05/02 (63)
- 04/25 (62)
- 04/18 (56)
- 04/11 (64)
- 04/04 (71)
- 03/28 (68)
- 03/21 (57)
- 03/14 (66)
- 03/07 (60)
- 02/28 (53)
- 02/21 (56)
- 02/14 (40)
- 02/07 (62)
- 01/31 (53)
- 01/24 (61)
- 01/17 (56)
- 01/10 (58)
- 01/03 (58)
-
►
2020
(3644)
- 12/27 (49)
- 12/20 (40)
- 12/13 (56)
- 12/06 (61)
- 11/29 (57)
- 11/22 (59)
- 11/15 (57)
- 11/08 (71)
- 11/01 (76)
- 10/25 (68)
- 10/18 (69)
- 10/11 (64)
- 10/04 (70)
- 09/27 (71)
- 09/20 (64)
- 09/13 (61)
- 09/06 (70)
- 08/30 (72)
- 08/23 (78)
- 08/16 (71)
- 08/09 (50)
- 08/02 (76)
- 07/26 (62)
- 07/19 (70)
- 07/12 (64)
- 07/05 (74)
- 06/28 (84)
- 06/21 (88)
- 06/14 (73)
- 06/07 (91)
- 05/31 (99)
- 05/24 (82)
- 05/17 (76)
- 05/10 (93)
- 05/03 (78)
- 04/26 (72)
- 04/19 (63)
- 04/12 (71)
- 04/05 (74)
- 03/29 (79)
- 03/22 (64)
- 03/15 (83)
- 03/08 (75)
- 03/01 (78)
- 02/23 (70)
- 02/16 (69)
- 02/09 (67)
- 02/02 (81)
- 01/26 (68)
- 01/19 (61)
- 01/12 (63)
- 01/05 (62)
-
▼
2019
(3453)
- 12/29 (81)
- 12/22 (51)
- 12/15 (74)
- 12/08 (73)
- 12/01 (66)
- 11/24 (74)
- 11/17 (77)
- 11/10 (68)
- 11/03 (69)
- 10/27 (83)
- 10/20 (83)
- 10/13 (92)
- 10/06 (65)
- 09/29 (49)
- 09/22 (60)
- 09/15 (68)
- 09/08 (67)
- 09/01 (54)
- 08/25 (64)
- 08/18 (61)
- 08/11 (56)
- 08/04 (57)
- 07/28 (53)
- 07/21 (68)
- 07/14 (61)
- 07/07 (60)
- 06/30 (65)
- 06/23 (67)
- 06/16 (54)
- 06/09 (42)
- 06/02 (64)
- 05/26 (62)
- 05/19 (60)
- 05/12 (64)
- 05/05 (77)
- 04/28 (78)
- 04/21 (43)
- 04/14 (58)
- 04/07 (67)
- 03/31 (75)
- 03/24 (65)
- 03/17 (68)
- 03/10 (70)
- 03/03 (71)
- 02/24 (62)
- 02/17 (88)
- 02/10 (72)
- 02/03 (55)
- 01/27 (68)
- 01/20 (72)
- 01/13 (76)
- 01/06 (76)
-
►
2018
(3410)
- 12/30 (59)
- 12/23 (45)
- 12/16 (76)
- 12/09 (83)
- 12/02 (69)
- 11/25 (68)
- 11/18 (61)
- 11/11 (61)
- 11/04 (68)
- 10/28 (76)
- 10/21 (71)
- 10/14 (53)
- 10/07 (53)
- 09/30 (61)
- 09/23 (61)
- 09/16 (63)
- 09/09 (57)
- 09/02 (55)
- 08/26 (54)
- 08/19 (63)
- 08/12 (59)
- 08/05 (69)
- 07/29 (64)
- 07/22 (60)
- 07/15 (69)
- 07/08 (67)
- 07/01 (67)
- 06/24 (62)
- 06/17 (68)
- 06/10 (65)
- 06/03 (65)
- 05/27 (54)
- 05/20 (63)
- 05/13 (53)
- 05/06 (78)
- 04/29 (74)
- 04/22 (68)
- 04/15 (71)
- 04/08 (53)
- 04/01 (76)
- 03/25 (64)
- 03/18 (78)
- 03/11 (67)
- 03/04 (71)
- 02/25 (66)
- 02/18 (70)
- 02/11 (64)
- 02/04 (68)
- 01/28 (80)
- 01/21 (73)
- 01/14 (65)
- 01/07 (82)
-
►
2017
(3818)
- 12/31 (85)
- 12/24 (66)
- 12/17 (75)
- 12/10 (74)
- 12/03 (77)
- 11/26 (75)
- 11/19 (58)
- 11/12 (70)
- 11/05 (75)
- 10/29 (67)
- 10/22 (76)
- 10/15 (72)
- 10/08 (70)
- 10/01 (63)
- 09/24 (59)
- 09/17 (63)
- 09/10 (65)
- 09/03 (66)
- 08/27 (69)
- 08/20 (59)
- 08/13 (66)
- 08/06 (73)
- 07/30 (89)
- 07/23 (79)
- 07/16 (81)
- 07/09 (75)
- 07/02 (64)
- 06/25 (83)
- 06/18 (70)
- 06/11 (67)
- 06/04 (74)
- 05/28 (75)
- 05/21 (77)
- 05/14 (81)
- 05/07 (89)
- 04/30 (83)
- 04/23 (80)
- 04/16 (71)
- 04/09 (78)
- 04/02 (74)
- 03/26 (83)
- 03/19 (74)
- 03/12 (77)
- 03/05 (60)
- 02/26 (49)
- 02/19 (72)
- 02/12 (74)
- 02/05 (88)
- 01/29 (91)
- 01/22 (82)
- 01/15 (47)
- 01/08 (60)
- 01/01 (48)
-
►
2016
(3557)
- 12/25 (61)
- 12/18 (62)
- 12/11 (59)
- 12/04 (60)
- 11/27 (74)
- 11/20 (68)
- 11/13 (79)
- 11/06 (62)
- 10/30 (88)
- 10/23 (75)
- 10/16 (68)
- 10/09 (58)
- 10/02 (72)
- 09/25 (70)
- 09/18 (70)
- 09/11 (79)
- 09/04 (64)
- 08/28 (53)
- 08/21 (62)
- 08/14 (70)
- 08/07 (67)
- 07/31 (68)
- 07/24 (57)
- 07/17 (71)
- 07/10 (53)
- 07/03 (53)
- 06/26 (80)
- 06/19 (81)
- 06/12 (73)
- 06/05 (65)
- 05/29 (74)
- 05/22 (67)
- 05/15 (70)
- 05/08 (89)
- 05/01 (79)
- 04/24 (67)
- 04/17 (59)
- 04/10 (61)
- 04/03 (52)
- 03/27 (68)
- 03/20 (76)
- 03/13 (68)
- 03/06 (81)
- 02/28 (65)
- 02/21 (69)
- 02/14 (70)
- 02/07 (75)
- 01/31 (68)
- 01/24 (59)
- 01/17 (69)
- 01/10 (80)
- 01/03 (69)
-
►
2015
(3788)
- 12/27 (71)
- 12/20 (68)
- 12/13 (81)
- 12/06 (70)
- 11/29 (78)
- 11/22 (58)
- 11/15 (76)
- 11/08 (84)
- 11/01 (73)
- 10/25 (74)
- 10/18 (65)
- 10/11 (75)
- 10/04 (87)
- 09/27 (59)
- 09/20 (71)
- 09/13 (55)
- 09/06 (63)
- 08/30 (72)
- 08/23 (70)
- 08/16 (70)
- 08/09 (65)
- 08/02 (65)
- 07/26 (55)
- 07/19 (66)
- 07/12 (69)
- 07/05 (62)
- 06/28 (83)
- 06/21 (79)
- 06/14 (69)
- 06/07 (81)
- 05/31 (84)
- 05/24 (78)
- 05/17 (90)
- 05/10 (85)
- 05/03 (86)
- 04/26 (77)
- 04/19 (78)
- 04/12 (63)
- 04/05 (63)
- 03/29 (79)
- 03/22 (73)
- 03/15 (63)
- 03/08 (79)
- 03/01 (66)
- 02/22 (82)
- 02/15 (78)
- 02/08 (67)
- 02/01 (84)
- 01/25 (79)
- 01/18 (63)
- 01/11 (87)
- 01/04 (70)
-
►
2014
(3825)
- 12/28 (62)
- 12/21 (44)
- 12/14 (78)
- 12/07 (97)
- 11/30 (84)
- 11/23 (82)
- 11/16 (70)
- 11/09 (71)
- 11/02 (91)
- 10/26 (79)
- 10/19 (71)
- 10/12 (86)
- 10/05 (61)
- 09/28 (58)
- 09/21 (67)
- 09/14 (56)
- 09/07 (70)
- 08/31 (64)
- 08/24 (63)
- 08/17 (51)
- 08/10 (79)
- 08/03 (71)
- 07/27 (75)
- 07/20 (81)
- 07/13 (75)
- 07/06 (67)
- 06/29 (41)
- 06/22 (80)
- 06/15 (78)
- 06/08 (91)
- 06/01 (59)
- 05/25 (58)
- 05/18 (90)
- 05/11 (73)
- 05/04 (72)
- 04/27 (72)
- 04/20 (73)
- 04/13 (82)
- 04/06 (81)
- 03/30 (77)
- 03/23 (66)
- 03/16 (56)
- 03/09 (77)
- 03/02 (90)
- 02/23 (73)
- 02/16 (91)
- 02/09 (77)
- 02/02 (91)
- 01/26 (86)
- 01/19 (81)
- 01/12 (90)
- 01/05 (67)
-
►
2013
(5117)
- 12/29 (83)
- 12/22 (82)
- 12/15 (51)
- 12/08 (95)
- 12/01 (87)
- 11/24 (79)
- 11/17 (71)
- 11/10 (94)
- 11/03 (86)
- 10/27 (73)
- 10/20 (88)
- 10/13 (79)
- 10/06 (65)
- 09/29 (65)
- 09/22 (78)
- 09/15 (81)
- 09/08 (77)
- 09/01 (79)
- 08/25 (79)
- 08/18 (96)
- 08/11 (64)
- 08/04 (82)
- 07/28 (84)
- 07/21 (110)
- 07/14 (112)
- 07/07 (91)
- 06/30 (101)
- 06/23 (101)
- 06/16 (106)
- 06/09 (133)
- 06/02 (111)
- 05/26 (86)
- 05/19 (126)
- 05/12 (125)
- 05/05 (133)
- 04/28 (103)
- 04/21 (126)
- 04/14 (98)
- 04/07 (100)
- 03/31 (110)
- 03/24 (121)
- 03/17 (120)
- 03/10 (102)
- 03/03 (98)
- 02/24 (129)
- 02/17 (104)
- 02/10 (116)
- 02/03 (135)
- 01/27 (125)
- 01/20 (125)
- 01/13 (123)
- 01/06 (129)
-
►
2012
(4971)
- 12/30 (88)
- 12/23 (103)
- 12/16 (129)
- 12/09 (120)
- 12/02 (126)
- 11/25 (98)
- 11/18 (62)
- 11/11 (87)
- 11/04 (111)
- 10/28 (98)
- 10/21 (105)
- 10/14 (101)
- 10/07 (94)
- 09/30 (90)
- 09/23 (83)
- 09/16 (93)
- 09/09 (114)
- 09/02 (93)
- 08/26 (91)
- 08/19 (103)
- 08/12 (68)
- 08/05 (74)
- 07/29 (108)
- 07/22 (117)
- 07/15 (93)
- 07/08 (88)
- 07/01 (85)
- 06/24 (76)
- 06/17 (92)
- 06/10 (126)
- 06/03 (96)
- 05/27 (100)
- 05/20 (124)
- 05/13 (99)
- 05/06 (110)
- 04/29 (87)
- 04/22 (98)
- 04/15 (82)
- 04/08 (87)
- 04/01 (90)
- 03/25 (85)
- 03/18 (98)
- 03/11 (94)
- 03/04 (96)
- 02/26 (91)
- 02/19 (88)
- 02/12 (74)
- 02/05 (78)
- 01/29 (74)
- 01/22 (80)
- 01/15 (77)
- 01/08 (71)
- 01/01 (76)
-
►
2011
(4463)
- 12/25 (93)
- 12/18 (87)
- 12/11 (88)
- 12/04 (73)
- 11/27 (84)
- 11/20 (71)
- 11/13 (77)
- 11/06 (78)
- 10/30 (70)
- 10/23 (79)
- 10/16 (95)
- 10/09 (77)
- 10/02 (99)
- 09/25 (82)
- 09/18 (91)
- 09/11 (79)
- 09/04 (83)
- 08/28 (82)
- 08/21 (91)
- 08/14 (80)
- 08/07 (89)
- 07/31 (69)
- 07/24 (102)
- 07/17 (66)
- 07/10 (90)
- 07/03 (89)
- 06/26 (69)
- 06/19 (80)
- 06/12 (93)
- 06/05 (110)
- 05/29 (90)
- 05/22 (88)
- 05/15 (92)
- 05/08 (83)
- 05/01 (95)
- 04/24 (84)
- 04/17 (77)
- 04/10 (90)
- 04/03 (96)
- 03/27 (83)
- 03/20 (96)
- 03/13 (97)
- 03/06 (105)
- 02/27 (91)
- 02/20 (83)
- 02/13 (79)
- 02/06 (75)
- 01/30 (78)
- 01/23 (78)
- 01/16 (104)
- 01/09 (80)
- 01/02 (103)
-
►
2010
(3835)
- 12/26 (73)
- 12/19 (72)
- 12/12 (96)
- 12/05 (76)
- 11/28 (77)
- 11/21 (75)
- 11/14 (92)
- 11/07 (82)
- 10/31 (84)
- 10/24 (64)
- 10/17 (79)
- 10/10 (84)
- 10/03 (88)
- 09/26 (77)
- 09/19 (69)
- 09/12 (73)
- 09/05 (62)
- 08/29 (67)
- 08/22 (65)
- 08/15 (82)
- 08/08 (67)
- 08/01 (83)
- 07/25 (67)
- 07/18 (76)
- 07/11 (73)
- 07/04 (60)
- 06/27 (86)
- 06/20 (66)
- 06/13 (57)
- 06/06 (53)
- 05/30 (79)
- 05/23 (88)
- 05/16 (85)
- 05/09 (81)
- 05/02 (81)
- 04/25 (71)
- 04/18 (61)
- 04/11 (80)
- 04/04 (62)
- 03/28 (64)
- 03/21 (66)
- 03/14 (49)
- 03/07 (71)
- 02/28 (76)
- 02/21 (66)
- 02/14 (82)
- 02/07 (61)
- 01/31 (79)
- 01/24 (87)
- 01/17 (80)
- 01/10 (72)
- 01/03 (69)
-
►
2009
(3716)
- 12/27 (58)
- 12/20 (53)
- 12/13 (84)
- 12/06 (77)
- 11/29 (78)
- 11/22 (50)
- 11/15 (83)
- 11/08 (78)
- 11/01 (74)
- 10/25 (85)
- 10/18 (69)
- 10/11 (63)
- 10/04 (91)
- 09/27 (86)
- 09/20 (82)
- 09/13 (60)
- 09/06 (64)
- 08/30 (81)
- 08/23 (82)
- 08/16 (72)
- 08/09 (70)
- 08/02 (45)
- 07/26 (76)
- 07/19 (71)
- 07/12 (42)
- 07/05 (57)
- 06/28 (105)
- 06/21 (86)
- 06/14 (71)
- 06/07 (83)
- 05/31 (83)
- 05/24 (57)
- 05/17 (74)
- 05/10 (83)
- 05/03 (57)
- 04/26 (70)
- 04/19 (67)
- 04/12 (82)
- 04/05 (63)
- 03/29 (62)
- 03/22 (67)
- 03/15 (68)
- 03/08 (50)
- 03/01 (60)
- 02/22 (53)
- 02/15 (55)
- 02/08 (68)
- 02/01 (89)
- 01/25 (81)
- 01/18 (83)
- 01/11 (91)
- 01/04 (77)
-
►
2008
(3407)
- 12/28 (75)
- 12/21 (44)
- 12/14 (63)
- 12/07 (78)
- 11/30 (87)
- 11/23 (68)
- 11/16 (75)
- 11/09 (85)
- 11/02 (81)
- 10/26 (79)
- 10/19 (86)
- 10/12 (70)
- 10/05 (66)
- 09/28 (76)
- 09/21 (84)
- 09/14 (75)
- 09/07 (73)
- 08/31 (81)
- 08/24 (75)
- 08/17 (73)
- 08/10 (73)
- 08/03 (56)
- 07/27 (57)
- 07/20 (55)
- 07/13 (42)
- 07/06 (47)
- 06/29 (58)
- 06/22 (62)
- 06/15 (53)
- 06/08 (65)
- 06/01 (53)
- 05/25 (45)
- 05/18 (62)
- 05/11 (73)
- 05/04 (69)
- 04/27 (69)
- 04/20 (68)
- 04/13 (64)
- 04/06 (63)
- 03/30 (49)
- 03/23 (54)
- 03/16 (56)
- 03/09 (72)
- 03/02 (70)
- 02/24 (61)
- 02/17 (62)
- 02/10 (68)
- 02/03 (60)
- 01/27 (58)
- 01/20 (51)
- 01/13 (49)
- 01/06 (69)
-
►
2007
(2915)
- 12/30 (67)
- 12/23 (50)
- 12/16 (51)
- 12/09 (51)
- 12/02 (50)
- 11/25 (51)
- 11/18 (57)
- 11/11 (64)
- 11/04 (68)
- 10/28 (57)
- 10/21 (55)
- 10/14 (57)
- 10/07 (52)
- 09/30 (60)
- 09/23 (66)
- 09/16 (39)
- 09/09 (61)
- 09/02 (65)
- 08/26 (54)
- 08/19 (55)
- 08/12 (58)
- 08/05 (59)
- 07/29 (53)
- 07/22 (58)
- 07/15 (51)
- 07/08 (63)
- 07/01 (66)
- 06/24 (54)
- 06/17 (45)
- 06/10 (55)
- 06/03 (69)
- 05/27 (60)
- 05/20 (68)
- 05/13 (72)
- 05/06 (56)
- 04/29 (49)
- 04/22 (52)
- 04/15 (52)
- 04/08 (50)
- 04/01 (41)
- 03/25 (50)
- 03/18 (50)
- 03/11 (62)
- 03/04 (54)
- 02/25 (47)
- 02/18 (53)
- 02/11 (50)
- 02/04 (61)
- 01/28 (65)
- 01/21 (50)
- 01/14 (51)
- 01/07 (61)
-
►
2006
(2745)
- 12/31 (53)
- 12/24 (55)
- 12/17 (54)
- 12/10 (65)
- 12/03 (82)
- 11/26 (50)
- 11/19 (54)
- 11/12 (58)
- 11/05 (65)
- 10/29 (56)
- 10/22 (64)
- 10/15 (63)
- 10/08 (55)
- 10/01 (60)
- 09/24 (59)
- 09/17 (43)
- 09/10 (36)
- 09/03 (56)
- 08/27 (54)
- 08/20 (47)
- 08/13 (54)
- 08/06 (51)
- 07/30 (47)
- 07/23 (45)
- 07/16 (42)
- 07/09 (60)
- 07/02 (46)
- 06/25 (52)
- 06/18 (50)
- 06/11 (55)
- 06/04 (54)
- 05/28 (41)
- 05/21 (54)
- 05/14 (47)
- 05/07 (63)
- 04/30 (52)
- 04/23 (40)
- 04/16 (38)
- 04/09 (54)
- 04/02 (48)
- 03/26 (52)
- 03/19 (45)
- 03/12 (47)
- 03/05 (49)
- 02/26 (46)
- 02/19 (50)
- 02/12 (43)
- 02/05 (47)
- 01/29 (56)
- 01/22 (45)
- 01/15 (44)
- 01/08 (44)
- 01/01 (55)
-
►
2005
(2920)
- 12/25 (56)
- 12/18 (49)
- 12/11 (67)
- 12/04 (73)
- 11/27 (62)
- 11/20 (65)
- 11/13 (67)
- 11/06 (68)
- 10/30 (64)
- 10/23 (64)
- 10/16 (68)
- 10/09 (61)
- 10/02 (75)
- 09/25 (59)
- 09/18 (58)
- 09/11 (54)
- 09/04 (57)
- 08/28 (82)
- 08/21 (58)
- 08/14 (67)
- 08/07 (61)
- 07/31 (54)
- 07/24 (62)
- 07/17 (70)
- 07/10 (59)
- 07/03 (65)
- 06/26 (78)
- 06/19 (53)
- 06/12 (54)
- 06/05 (44)
- 05/29 (51)
- 05/22 (53)
- 05/15 (34)
- 05/08 (38)
- 05/01 (61)
- 04/24 (55)
- 04/17 (55)
- 04/10 (63)
- 04/03 (61)
- 03/27 (51)
- 03/20 (42)
- 03/13 (57)
- 03/06 (45)
- 02/27 (48)
- 02/20 (44)
- 02/13 (36)
- 02/06 (50)
- 01/30 (50)
- 01/23 (37)
- 01/16 (29)
- 01/09 (41)
- 01/02 (45)
-
►
2004
(2035)
- 12/26 (48)
- 12/19 (41)
- 12/12 (46)
- 12/05 (47)
- 11/28 (53)
- 11/21 (45)
- 11/14 (46)
- 11/07 (60)
- 10/31 (48)
- 10/24 (45)
- 10/17 (60)
- 10/10 (37)
- 10/03 (42)
- 09/26 (37)
- 09/19 (46)
- 09/12 (30)
- 09/05 (40)
- 08/29 (43)
- 08/22 (39)
- 08/15 (27)
- 08/08 (36)
- 08/01 (32)
- 07/25 (43)
- 07/18 (28)
- 07/11 (35)
- 07/04 (34)
- 06/27 (31)
- 06/20 (35)
- 06/13 (35)
- 06/06 (21)
- 05/30 (32)
- 05/23 (40)
- 05/16 (35)
- 05/09 (46)
- 05/02 (52)
- 04/25 (52)
- 04/18 (45)
- 04/11 (36)
- 04/04 (37)
- 03/28 (31)
- 03/21 (40)
- 03/14 (33)
- 03/07 (36)
- 02/29 (41)
- 02/22 (31)
- 02/15 (33)
- 02/08 (43)
- 02/01 (33)
- 01/25 (43)
- 01/18 (56)
- 01/11 (30)
410 comments:
1 – 200 of 410 Newer› Newest»The term "toxic masculinity" is in and of itself awful. It should be shunned.
But....let's see a Gillette ad telling women they should do better. Stop having kids out of wedlock. Stop having sex with your 16 your old students. Stop getting so drunk at parties you pass out and can't remember what happened. How can this be harmful? We just want women to live their best lives with their well groomed Bettys.
The bad thing about the ad is the assertion that this good behavior by men is new.
Do most men need to be told not to hurt people?
Do most women?
Women aren't able to make and stick to a deal, is the woke position.
Hey, don't hold her to it, she's a woman.
Never backs down, just changes her mind.
No, the ad assumes that men are inherently evil and need to be lectured to by their betters. “Boys will be boys” is used when your sons break a lamp because they were playing broom hockey indoors, not when you catch a boy bullying another boy.
I wrote in the last thread about this ad that the second half of the ad is about fatherhood and is affecting.
The first half of the ad flips between sexism and bullying and is visually and thematically incoherent.
But like people say, Gillette is more concerned with their female customers, which is why they bought the naming rights to a football stadium, I am sure. But this ad is sure a hit with women who have zero understanding of how men actually think.
There's lots of headline virtue signalling about the 250 pound guy who punched an 11 year old girl, too. It would make a great razor ad in the original.
"The bad thing about the ad is the assertion that this good behavior by men is new."
What counts as "the assertion"? Is there language you can quote or an image you can pinpoint that makes you feel you are hearing that assertion?
I saw good and bad men, and the good men seemed to be motivated on their own to socialize other men into being decent human beings, which is how society works.
It is cheap virtue-signaling, pure and simple. I don't need a goddam razor company to tell me how to behave. Nor does anyone else. And any man exhibiting the bad behaviors depicted in the ad isn't going to change because of a goddam razor commercial. It is useless; it is directed only to the fellow virtue-signalers who already agree that men need to be lectured.
When I purchase a razor, I want only a razor. Do not sell me your proper social virtues along with it. You don't know anything about changing mens' attitudes about anything except shaving products. This is utter, complete waste; without value; worthless.
"But....let's see a Gillette ad telling women they should do better."
As long as I've watched TV, I've seen ads "telling" women to be better. They show women setting the example of kindness and caring and being gently elegant and graceful and tactful and helpful and supportive — especially to men.
Once again, it isn't what it appears to be on the surface. There are so many hidden messages in that ad. The racial differences between the bad behaving men and those stopping them. The idea that such a message is needed in the first place. etc. etc. etc.
It was just like that Toyota Superbowl commercial. Don't think for a second these people don't know what they're doing and can't engineer subtext. Subtext is the whole point. These are entirely about sending coded messages to multiple audiences.
Okay, I will watch this ad again and report back.
In Blazing Saddles punching out the horse was a high point.
The Gillette Ad Tells Men Not to Hurt People. Why Is This Offensive?
I haven't watched the ad, but, assuming the premise that the ad tells men not to hurt people, what happens if you replace men with blacks?
I think pretty much everyone would agree that that would be offensive because it would be racist to single out a particular race for such a campaign. So why isn't it equally sexist to single out a particular sex for this campaign?
Why put that in an ad for razors, Althouse? Why not just write it up in an anthropological journal? Because it’s just more hectoring from radical feminists who don’t understand how men think and don’t understand what “boys will be boys” means and due to their misunderstanding, they have nursed resentment on it.
I personally don’t need to be reminded that that there is a large cohort of resentful women who have turned to feminism and man bashing. No area of our lives can be left alone, “you may not care about the revolution, but the revolution cares about you!”
Thought all the guys standing at the grills was silly.
Lot of stereotypes in the commercial.
But good for Gillette. Can’t waut for the commercial where they show black men calling out other black men for not raising their kids. The left will no doubt applaud for that. 72% born to single moms do a lot of black men are irresponsible and need to be told by a razor company to raise their kids.
Courage.
Gillette ought to do a remake of the Three Stooges.
I am profoundly suspicious of any commercial corporation that is devoting any considerable resources toward messaging that isn’t part of its business or otherwise advancing the interests of shareholders. What exactly is Gillette’s interest in this matter? They should be asked to be very clear, and very explicit about that.
I’ll get my moralizing from my church, thank you very little.
I found myself in substantial agreement with what seems to have been a large majority of your readers, Althouse, and I am frankly surprised at the absence of your customary critical senses in this case.
As long as I've watched TV, I've seen ads "telling" women to be better. They show women setting the example of kindness and caring and being gently elegant and graceful and tactful and helpful and supportive — especially to men
They do the same implicitly for men. Men should be more handsome, they should be more attractive, they should be stronger, they should be more active. They should have great jobs. Women should fawn over them.
So let's see something explicit for women, just like I described. Take the toxic femininity and explicitly tell women to do better.
Ignorance is Bliss, didn’t see your post. Agree with your point.
Also, want to see the ad calling out Jews in Hollywood for exploiting women. Let’s have Jews like Spielberg stop Jews like Weinstein from raping women.
Let’s sell those razor blades.
It's all part of women having no actual inner life. Everything gets short circuited into a feeling well before anything deep happens.
Let's face it. Gillette is just worried that so many men are now wearing beards so it's pushing what it considers ethical reasons for shaving. IMO, all men should let their beards grow as God intended. :-)
Didn't we have this conversation about Starbucks writing on coffee cups?
I know my wife constantly reminds me that I don't listen and I suffer from CRS!
(can't remember shit).
On second watch...
The second half had made a much stronger impression on me than the beginning. I see Freeman's point about how it draws a line between the past and the future. There are bad things some men have done, and other men have not been active enough in letting those men know that it's wrong, and that's changing. We see many good men letting other men know — as one very attractive man lets another man know — "That's not cool."
Churches have been doing this for THOUSANDS OF YEARS.
But get your life lessons from a corporation that is maximizing its ROI. That will work great.
Do not let them do to you what they successfully did to women. Take away your individuality and make you part of a collective.
This is the root of the outrage. Anyone that cannot see that sees themselves as part of a gender collective.
Women proudly claim "I'm a woman" first. Me--I'm Dave. Also a man.
So, Gillette puts all that money & advertising hoopla to promulgate a commercial that posits an entirely anodyne social & moral message? "Guys, please stop beating the shit out of each other & ogling chicks too publicly. Thanx!"
Sorry, ain't buying it. This is all part of the walk-back from what is shaping up to be Gillete's "New Coke" campaign.
As long as I've watched TV, I've seen ads "telling" women to be better. They show women setting the example of kindness and caring and being gently elegant and graceful and tactful and helpful and supportive — especially to men.
Resentment.
Yes, and TV sets an example of kindness and strength and bravery for men. Impossible good looks for both sexes. But what you don’t see in ads for products used by women are lectures to women on their faults as perceived by men. Shaving one’s face is a pretty male thing, why associate nagging women with your brand?
A lot of commenters claim that you are perfectly sensible 90+ percent of the time at least as long as feminism isn’t involved.
It's offensive because it portrays men as the toxic enemy, and all men need a fix. They are broken.
Should men be better - sure. yeah. Why focus on men? Women are bullies too.
This message is proselytized from a business. That alone makes it creepy.
We need the razor blade commercial with the Muslim guy stopping the other Muslim men from raping and stoning women.
Also the one where the Muslim guy stops the guy from running people down with a panel truck.
Sell those razor blades.
Does Gillette want a better society or to sell razors?
Asking for Occam.
Too many left-right brain connections in women. No actual thinking.
First of all, if you use the phrase "toxic masculinity" non-ironically, I can't take you seriously.
Second, let's play a thought experiment, shall we? Watch the ad. Then watch the ad again, this time imagining that all the men in it are black. Is the add still not offensive to you? Or is it now insulting and racist? If the ad doesn't play both ways, then it doesn't play either way, and you're allowing yourself to be blinded by its flaws.
If you identify as a woman you can punch people out.
"She's just feeling," people will say.
I cannot, unfortunately, boycott Gillette, as I have been a longtime devotee of Norelco. My money has been going to sensible Dutchmen (Philips) for decades.
As for the ad, it exists in a cultural context of strife and enmity, and it is autistic to evaluate it on its own. It is a cultural attack like thousands of others.
The never-ending hammering on the skulls over many decades has had its effect, on what is now a jaded and bitter audience.
"Why put that in an ad for razors, Althouse? Why not just write it up in an anthropological journal?"
Have you not followed modern advertising and branding? Stuff like people on a hilltop singing about world peace (a Coke ad)?
Have you not noticed virality in the age of YouTube?
You critics of this ad are making it viral. You're the host.
Soave makes good points, but I think he reads the ad as narrative and doesn't read the visuals at all.
The stepford-wives style lineup of men at the grills is a setup in which a beer-commercial meme of standard male masculinity is associated with toxic acceptance of bullying.
One can read the image as "be alert to bullying" but the imagery is saying "don't be like the status quo." Which raises the question -- what status quo is this?
The other visual trope that runs through the beginning of the ad and culminates in the final scene is the pack of kids running pell mell and . The first time the boys should up, it could be a game of tag. Is a visual that generally means freedom, excitement, childhood fun. Like the men at grills the visual is turned on its head to mean aggression and hostility.
I have to agree with MayBee. The phrase "toxic masculinity" is key. That term is not used to describe bad male behavior. That term is used for men in general, as in men by their very nature are "toxic" by simply existing. It is straight up misandry. The entirety of the rest of the ad could be perfectly fine and unobjectionable, but that one quite intentional moment changes everything. There's no recovering from it.
The ad is full of men stopping other men from doing bad things.
So it's also full of the men doing bad things. (Not actually bad things, just impolite things).
Doing rare, atypical impolite things, "things" already decried for the most part, but which the advert implies are common behaviors and need to be fixed.
Thought all the guys standing at the grills was silly.
"Men of grill, hear me!"
They're the regimented, uniform, mindless suburban deplorable contingent and grills contribute to global warming.
and that's changing.
I don’t remember any of the adult men in my life ever condoning the kind of behavior that the ads suggest that men routinely condoned. It’s bullshit and it’s insulting. If you want to give this lecture to Bill Clinton, fine, he earned it. To sex offenders in their parole office, or to prisoners in general fine, but why is it so important to invade a space as intimate as shaving to put across your clueless nagging?
Fuck Gillette.
Most TV is a preachy cult session. Even the local news. After it bleeds, the "news" jump into a preach session on how you better buckle your seat belt and wear a helmet. Life is risky! Be careful! As we sit in our underwear and eat poptarts. Be careful - those crumbs might attract bugs!
How about and ad reminding Americans how soft and tender they are and they should get off their butts and go for a hike. I'd recoil at that, too.
I like the ad viral, like I like feminist dogma. It's fun.
I think women will have a hard time living it down someday, but that's part of the fun.
So there I was, putting on my rape shoes, and practicing my sexual harassment pickup lines this morning. I just got done cyberbullying my coworkers. It was time to shave, I yelled at my wife to smile because I demand it, while pinching her butt right after she told me she didn't consent to it. Putting on the shaving cream and thinking about how I can get my son into a fight at the next BBQ, I replaced the worn Gillette brand Mach 3 and began to chant "boys will be boys" as I started to shave. Then suddenly my daughter burst in the bathroom holding her phone. As I began to mansplain to her why she isn't smart enough to know my shaving time is my time she showed me the new Gillette ad...
I realized suddenly how my every view and behavior I ever held dear was wrong. I'm calling in sick at the toxic masculinity factory today and registering Democrat. Thanks Gillette, for showing me the error of my ways. I know support the impeachment of the evil Orange Man.
Ann Althouse said...
"The bad thing about the ad is the assertion that this good behavior by men is new."
What counts as "the assertion"? Is there language you can quote or an image you can pinpoint that makes you feel you are hearing that assertion?
The cacophonous #metoo media montage at the start and the men staring at themselves in the mirror seems to be saying a new, "woke' media is what's leading the way to a new maleness.
This is in comparison to the old media symbolized by the new generation of roving band of bad boys tearing through the screen of the old sexist media images.
This ad is as much about the ad agency signaling it's own virtue.
In other words, fashionable culture has taught men to hate.
Silent, suppressed hate, for the most part, but hate nonetheless.
A friendly face in public, but rage in the heart.
“I Wanna Cut [Gillette’s] Nuts Off"
You critics of this ad are making it viral. You're the host.
You brought it to my attention. You hosted it right here.
"If you identify as a woman you can punch people out."
A notion successfully critiqued on "Friends" 20 years ago in "The One With a Girl Who Hits Joey."
I liked the babe who walked by with no bra. There's the high point.
"I'd like BUY the world a coke, and keep it company.
That is nice, but it doens't single anyone out as a bully. Plus, the word "BUY" is still there. The original objective of advertising.
You critics of this ad are making it viral. You're the host.
Right, we are making it a viral anti-Gillette ad. Up until this week I considered their products overpriced, but decent. I joked that somebody had to pay Tom Brady’s salary. I still bought them because I am just not that price sensitive. Now I am done with the brand.
In the new religion
Woke companies are replacing priests, preachers, monks and mullahs
I read "But You Don't Understand Me" by Deborah Tannen many years ago. About how men and women (don't) communicate. I think AA's comments are a prime example of Ms Tannen's point. As a man (old), I am offended by the constant reminder of how "evil" I am!
Look at the video as the interior thoughts of women.
Then it's mockery.
Ann Althouse said...
"As long as I've watched TV, I've seen ads "telling" women to be better. They show women setting the example of kindness and caring and being gently elegant and graceful and tactful and helpful and supportive — especially to men."
How did you feel about those commercials?
And where are the women who identify as men in the ad?
Cisgenderist proctor and gamble.
I guess my marriage would have been better if I didn’t beat the crap out of my wife every time I got home from work and she didn’t greet me with a martini, my pipe, and a blow job. So I kind of needed this ad.
We are done with all religions
Other than Muslims, the religion of Peace
and Social Justice
Manliness is to be defined by feminine ideals
which will be in constant flux
The day has come when men can open doors for women ironically.
When I was young my dad would occasionally come into the room and say "Keep your feet off the table."
I would say "They're not on the table."
"Good. Keep them off."
Always bugged me -- I figured he must be talking to some other kid -- the type who would put his feet on the table.
This is like that to me.
"Toxic Masculinity" = "Coded Misandry"
As I understand it from their spokesperson, they are not that concerned about losing customers like me, so it’s all good on both sides.
A few months back, I watched old Cheers episodes in sequential order. It was fun because for the first time i actually followed the little plot. Anyway - the demeaning verbal abuse from Diane (the smart one) directed at Sam (the dummy) was really noticeable. I recall thinking - No way a story could reverse those rolls - one where the male character constantly demeaned the female for her stupidity.
I think the recoil here is the idea that men are to blame for everything, they are toxic and horrible and they need fixing. This is all in the age of boo hoo Hillary lost and females are just so victimized.
Eh - it's gross.
The guy who was about the follow the hot babe saved him from marriage.
“I found myself in substantial agreement with what seems to have been a large majority of your readers, Althouse, and I am frankly surprised at the absence of your customary critical senses in this case.”I found myself in substantial agreement with what seems to have been a large majority of your readers, Althouse, and I am frankly surprised at the absence of your customary critical senses in this case.”
Chuck, beat it.
It’s funny how it’s always "turtles all the way down" until it comes to feminism. Then it’s "the turtles stop here!” There can be no deeper understanding of this commercial than the spoken words conveyed in simple declarative sentences. Saying “who can object” is classic gaslighting.
"The stepford-wives style lineup of men at the grills is a setup in which a beer-commercial meme of standard male masculinity is associated with toxic acceptance of bullying."
Yeah, that's humor!
I guess I should do a moment by moment breakdown. But — without watching it again — you experience what it's like hearing about the #MeToo movement and "toxic masculinity" and that seems oppressive, but then you see examples of what those things refer to and those things aren't anything that you want to be or need to have in your life, and there's no reason to want to endorse a stupid kind of masculinity. Then you're shown a lot of great masculine men being decent and low key about reining in some asshole men. And in the end you see some beautiful young boys who are benefiting from the good examples.
The ad is full of men stopping other men from doing bad things
Actually, i'm pretty sure that The ad is full of colored men stopping white men from doing bad things
Unknown said...
In the new religion
Woke companies are replacing priests, preachers, monks and mullahs
Not so new. Rooted in Marxism--Collective Salvation--takes on many forms--Obama/Rev. Wright's Black Liberation Theology being one.
For some reason the ad made me think of the scene in High Plains Drifter where Clint Eastwood is slapped and called "whiskey breath" by a cute blonde, so he rapes her.
I guess the Clint Eastwood character was supposed to be a ghost, so it was a case of "toxic phantasaminity," but she kind of liked it so it was okay.
The point of encouraging men to be better men is understood. It's still reeks of preach.
A few months back, I watched old Cheers episodes in sequential order. It was fun because for the first time i actually followed the little plot. Anyway - the demeaning verbal abuse from Diane (the smart one) directed at Sam (the dummy) was really noticeable. I recall thinking - No way a story could reverse those rolls - one where the male character constantly demeaned the female for her stupidity.
I think the recoil here is the idea that men are to blame for everything, they are toxic and horrible and they need fixing. This is all in the age of boo hoo Hillary lost and females are just so victimized.
I remember that, but I seem to recall that Diane wasn't portrayed as a saint, but as kind of a nasty, arrogant person.
This Marxist feminist obsession of yours is obnoxious as hell, Althouse.
When are you going to learn to mind your own business?
Fuck bitches trying to tell me what I should be or how I should raise my sons and grandsons.
Run you own Marxist feminist household. Mind your own business.
It is indeed viral, in quite an opposite way, probably, than it was intended.
It is propaganda now for the promotion of male resentment.
Less a promotion of good behavior than hatred of the social caste that makes these things.
A minor example of that constant cultural warfare.
Being a better man takes lots of practice. Many hours in the pattern doing touch and go landings under difficult conditions.
The grill formation was just silly. Beer commercials do a good job of making fun of beer commercials.
Gillette could have made fun of its own ads. But it takes itself too seriously. Most progressives do.
They should hire Lebron as their spokesman. Have him shave his beard and say he did it for that Jew money.
Thart would be funny.
My father taught me 1) never, ever strike a women (never have, never will), 2) be polite, 3) be respectful of others, 4) do the right thing, 5) protect the weak and innocent, 6) be honest ("fess up" when you "done wrong") and many more words of guidance. So, Gillette, don't lecture me!!!!
Althouse,
Can you femi-splain it to me?
Does this mean chicks no longer want to be "50 Shaded" anymore?
How many years ago were we told that's what women really wanted?
Fifty Shades is an American film series that consists of three erotic romantic drama films, based on the Fifty Shades trilogy by English author E. L. James. It is distributed by Universal Studios and stars Dakota Johnson and Jamie Dornan as the lead roles Anastasia Steele and Christian Grey, respectively.
Release date: 1: February 13, 2015; 2: February 10, 2017; 3: February 9, 2018
i just re-watched it (while keeping score), and
EVERY correcting man was a person of color
EVERY corrected man was White
There WAS one man (a person of color) that corrects a bunch of gangsta looking black kids), so Not Every corrected person was white... of course, a bunch of gansta looking white kids would have looked weird
The word for this ad, is RACIST
I guess I should do a moment by moment breakdown. But — without watching it again — you experience what it's like hearing about the #MeToo movement and "toxic masculinity" and that seems oppressive, but then you see examples of what those things refer to and those things aren't anything that you want to be or need to have in your life, and there's no reason to want to endorse a stupid kind of masculinity.
Again. Let's have an ad where we see a woman deciding to have a baby by her 3rd baby daddy, and the "toxic femininity" that leads to that, and have Gillette tell us we can do better and we realize that isn't anything we need to have in our lives, and there's no reason to endorse that stupid kind of femininity. It ties in really well, because Gillette products can make women feel sexy, but they don't need to use that sexy to make babies they can't afford, or who will not be raised with a father.
Oddly, Althouse, I have more fucking sense than to raise my kids by the Gospel of corporate PSAs.
You've got some leakage in an important part of your brain.
Ann: are there "low key asshole" women in the world???
Rollo Tomassi, of The Rational Male Blog, has indicated for a long time that what's really going on across the board is a fundamental loss of social control over white men. Every new cultural critique or outrage you see from Kaepernick to this Gillette ad - from Trump's election to Kavanaugh's selection - has been about trying to regain some locus of re-integration of white dudes with a liberal social order that - quite frankly - they have left probably permanently. The era of compromise both politically and very much sexually is over.
What you're seeing is fear.
There is an entire generation of young white dudes not just now but also forthcoming that are fundamentally lost to them. They will not go to college (scam). They will not get married (another scam). They will not join the army (they're too out of shape). They will not buy houses (scam...also can't afford it). They will not vote democrat. Ever. Again.
All the traditional ways in which society (and women) have hitched-the-yoke to the labor, support, and obedience of white men are breaking down. They know this. They see this and feel it.
guess I should do a moment by moment breakdown. But — without watching it again — you experience what it's like hearing about the #MeToo movement and "toxic masculinity" and that seems oppressive,
Meaning only women watched the remainder of the ad with anything like an open mind. Gillette had already lost their customer base.
Diane in Cheers was indeed set up as a rather clueless, over-intellectual sort, educated beyond her talents perhaps.
The series was laughing at her, as also all the other characters, all of which had some amusing weakness.
It was a great show.
I believe that Clint Eastwood in "Gran Torino" was a better male role model than this Gillette commercial. Eastwood played a man teaching boys; Gillette is #metoo (i.e., women) trying to spank naughty boys.
Also, I despise the feminization implicit in teaching and encouraging men to shave. It's akin to teaching women to shave to be ladies.
the worn Gillette brand Mach 3
Here's a conspiracy theory about Gillette lowering the quality of their current razors when they come out with a new model.
And in the end you see some beautiful young boys who are benefiting from the good examples.
We used to call them fathers. Then Uncle Sam said "families are last century artifacts, get divorced,or find a sperm donor, no problem, don't worry about money, or food, our housing, or heat...we will be your family"
Boys, AND girls need fathers. Making it easier to do single parent households creates exactly what we have today.
Want to do commercial that counts? Tell men to be a father to every child they father. On a daily basis. Tell women to commit to a father for their children...if they care about their children. (no this is not absolute, but should be the goal)
The biggest problem, of course, is the breach of fiduciary duty by the company executives. They are wasting shareholder dollars for personal gain. That is the problem with pursuing anything other than increased shareholder value.
The evidence that the stakeholder model improves shareholder value was based on picking low-hanging fruit. I believe it was generated, as well, by motivated thinking. Newer research would debunk the stakeholder theorists.
The management of Gillette is wasting OPM.
The grill image was funny because it brought out the absurdity of the phrase "boys will be boys."
boys will be boys will be boys will be boys.... ad infinitum.
It makes the argument: Don't say that! It's idiotic! And it does it with humor that should overcome your resistance... unless you want to be one of the "boys" that the really attractive men in the ad are obviously much smarter and handsomer than.
"Women aren't able to make and stick to a deal, is the woke position. Hey, don't hold her to it, she's a woman."
Umm, this is an interpretation of the message. The message is, there must be no restrictions whatsoever on women's behavior. Including those created by their own prior voluntary agreements. Because, freedom.
And, no, ads for women's personal grooming products are not about to criticize any aspect of women's behavior at any time for any reason whatsoever.
And, yes, one might compare and contrast this with demands that men's behavior must be controlled (due to men's propensity for violence, abuse, etc.). Then again, most rational people do understand that a lack of social controls on boys and men tends to lead to teen boys driving about in technicals and terrorizing everyone (including, sometimes, the older men who often supervise such gangs). And really no equivalent sense that women's bad behavior might also bring about dystopias of various sorts.
Yet the obvious question remains: why would Gillette run such ads? That is, will men who find them obnoxious and who now use Gillette shaving products actually stop buying them and, if so, will that more than offset the appeal of this to feminist and other Woke men?
Shit, I worked at the shops that produced this PSA drivel.
Fags and fag hags giggling about ridiculing the religious, moral middle class.
You marinated in that shit at fashion magazines, Althouse. You forgot to grow up and develop a real moral system.
No, I didn't generally find gay men wonderful and charming. Most of them were obnoxious assholes who shared your desire to destroy for laughs.
Althouse sees that publications will publish the female activity in the most flattering of ways. Men get the most unflattering treatment. Surely men are not so stupid as to not notice. I'm sure you notice that too, Althouse. It is the other side of the Althouse Rule.
I'm a woman, and I don't need to be falsely flattered. I am surrounded by men, and they don't need to be denigrated-by-proxy. We are all just people, some of us more flawed than others. But women are not more flawed than men, and men are not more flawed than women, and it isn't healthy for the people we are raising to be taught otherwise.
I haven't watched the ad, nor do I plan to. From the sounds of it, it seems like it's just another lecture from our "betters". I don't know how their general customer base will respond to this, but I do not enjoy watching such things.
The argument that merely discussing it makes it more viral, implying that it somehow helps them sell more product, doesn't wash. Just because such an ad goes viral doesn't mean it will automatically translate to the sale of more razors. In fact it's entirely possibly the opposite will happen too. That's the problem with advertising, just because an ad is viewed and discussed a lot doesn't mean it will generate more sales.
Although Nike's moment of wokeness seems to have benefited them... so far. Clearly they knew their audience. Maybe this ad will ultimately benefit Gillette. I know that a large part of their customer base is women, but of course there's no guarantee that many women will agree with the apparent message of this ad either. It could backfire on them.
And I don't know a great deal about their particular market, but it sure seems like there's a lot of new competition that's appeared over the last few years. I don't doubt that things like Dollar Shave Club and new interest in premium shaving products like old fasion saftey razors and creams has to have taken its toll. So this ad may be a sort of hail mary play on Gillette's part for all I know.
ST: Time for you to take another break from commenting here.
I have Netflix and Amazon Prime. I rarely watch commercials. In the morning, I check the news, the weather, and the stock market. I'm aware of Progressive Insurance, but I can't offhand recall any other commercials......If you have access to a steam room, the really cheap Bic razors work just as well as the Gillette Fusion. I have a cartridge of Fusion blades. It's a good product. By the time I need to buy more I'll probably have forgotten this brouhaha and maybe I'll buy some if they're on sale.....,,,The ad seems really to have pissed a fair number of men off, and they vow never to buy Gillette again. I don't see how this can be called a successful campaign. Maybe it's some kind of closet campaign for Lady Gillette razors. That's where the growth sector of the market is.
Mazo Jeff must be my brother, sounds like we had the same Dad.
I mean, we are losing young and middle aged white men to opioid overdoses and suicide, but let's keep pushing out the idea that white men are toxic.
FYI, Schick makes blades that fit Gillette razors. And they’re cheaper.
unless you want to be one of the "boys" that the really attractive men in the ad are obviously much smarter and handsomer than.
You're a fag hag, Althouse.
All the fag hags allied with the fag men at work to stab me in the back. Same fag hags also wanted to fuck me after work.
Fag hags are two faced manipulators, Althouse. Why in the fuck would I want to be attractive to you?
On hatred -
There is a great, pent up demand for something to hate, after the decades of insults.
One cannot hate women as it is absurd and unnatural (many do, of course, but this is stupid). However, it is perfectly acceptable and reasonable to hate Gillette.
Meade said...
ST: Time for you to take another break from commenting here.
Looks like the ad worked on Meade...
video-pure cultural marxism.
Ann - cultural marxism disciple.
"beautiful boys" - cultural marxism vocabulary.
"asshole" - faux feminism
"So it's also full of the men doing bad things."
More accurately, it's full of WHITE men doing bad things.
Defend that!
"Ann Althouse said...
"But....let's see a Gillette ad telling women they should do better."
As long as I've watched TV, I've seen ads "telling" women to be better. They show women setting the example of kindness and caring and being gently elegant and graceful and tactful and helpful and supportive — especially to men."
On your old black and white maybe.
"I don’t remember any of the adult men in my life ever condoning the kind of behavior that the ads suggest that men routinely condoned. It’s bullshit and it’s insulting. If you want to give this lecture to Bill Clinton, fine, he earned it. To sex offenders in their parole office, or to prisoners in general fine, but why is it so important to invade a space as intimate as shaving to put across your clueless nagging?
Fuck Gillette."
Ditto.
We USED to have a society where men stood up against bullies and jerks who did crap like that to women. The women's male relatives, or her boyfriend, would beat the jerks and bullies up to put them in their place. Alternately, the jerks dad would intervene with a younger boy/man and straighten him out, oft times with a switch, razor strop or dad's belt.
But this was also deemed to be bad because "violence doesn't solve problems" and squeamish female sensibilities about how to keep boys and men in line solely using school counselors, law enforcement and the court system were catered to.
Couple that with the social havoc wreaked by a majority of young boys being raised without a dad fulltime in the home and we now have, yet again, a huge problem created by women, who now are demanding that it be solved by the men they kicked out of their lives bringing back old school male intervention.
Well, fuck that. Be Strong Independent Womyn! Lean Forward! You go, GRRRRRRLLLL!
I'll add a personal anecdote here. Back in earlier "wild" days of the Internet, I was searching about for the history of the Aztecs. (This was before Wikipedia was the go to source.) During the search I stumbled upon a web site discussing Cortes's conquest. There were citations of primary and secondary sources, the writer's interpretation of those sources seemed perfectly reasonable, and the narrative was coherent and interesting. A few paragraphs in, the writer offhandedly mentioned something along the line that the intermixing of races results in inferior mongrels or something to that effect, and then continued on with the standard historical analysis. Being naïve young me, it took me a few minutes and a few more random racist asides to realize that I was on a white supremacist web site.
What do you think would be the reaction if this site was recommended as a legitimate historical source? Remember, the history part was good. I have done more research on the Aztecs in later years and the racist web site did not, as best I can tell, make anything up as far as sources go, and outside the racist bits the historical analysis was basically mainstream and still is. Do you think that the audience would see a casual drop of the "N" word and then go "ha ha, he didn't mean that" and keep on reading?
That's pretty much what Gillette just did.
It makes the argument: Don't say that! It's idiotic! And it does it with humor that should overcome your resistance... unless you want to be one of the "boys" that the really attractive men in the ad are obviously much smarter and handsomer than.
Sure, that’s one level of manipulation that attempts to bypass the conscious, rational mind. Well spotted! Now explain to me why men needed to hear this message especially? Why a brand that previously marketed itself as American made, In Boston by regular people, and by buying naming rights to a football stadium suddenly feels that they have been negligent in not scolding men for our toxic masculinity.
Next step is to surrender the naming rights to that shithole of testosterone in Foxboro.
FYI, Schick makes blades that fit Gillette razors. And they’re cheaper.
Harry's have a great product and it shows up at my door when I need it, I don't have to find a clerk to unlock the vault to get 6 more blades at $5 per.
What counts as "the assertion"? Is there language you can quote or an image you can pinpoint that makes you feel you are hearing that assertion?
Are you kidding?
The basis of the ad is that men "can be better". All of humanity can be better. Yet it's men who are targeted here. Women aren't. So it's obvious that the assertion is that men are worse and need more work to be acceptable.
For one, I reject that bullshit assertion from the start, and second, I don't need corporate America selling me sanctimony along with razors.
They show women setting the example of kindness and caring and being gently elegant and graceful and tactful and helpful and supportive — especially to men.
Really? What channels do you watch? The ads I see all show that men are dumb and need women to be the logical, smart ones. Look at any grocery or household product commercial and the message is plain to see.
And I would love to see one of those "women should be better" commercials that addressed their audience as "bitches" or, even better, "c***s." That ought to go over great. Buy our product, you useless hysterical harpies!
Jordan Peterson even picked up on a podcast one time about the clear differences in encouragement. There is a marked difference between encouragement for boys and girls. In his words, "the encouragement-gap for males across society is really disturbing."
Girls - be all you can be.
Boys - be what we want you to be.
The grill image is the typical progressive trope: Meat is Murder.
Let’s see some black guys grilling ribs and eating watermelon while they drink 40 ounces of malt liquor with their the top of their pants hanging around the bottom of their iliac crests with 9 mm tucked into the top of their ass cracks.
We can calm the ad Fathers Day.
The White Hiosters who made this ad are cowards.
Strong men do not need to denigrate or abuse others in order to feel better about themselves. Some of our habitual commenters should think about that.
Strong men do not pay much attention to those who would try to abuse them, unless there is a clear physical threat. It's a sticks and stones thing.
Strong men are not toxic, although there are plenty of toxic people around.
Be strong! Live with pride and integrity. Don't let others tell you how to live your life unless you ask them.
Who are these people lecturing us?
Who are these people to lecture us?
How do they conduct themselves in their own lives?
Are they hypocritical posers like so many celebrities whose bad behaviors have come to light recently?
Or just liberals who think they are smart and good trying to do something "meaningful"?
Gillett is selling razor blades. That is ALL they are doing. The biggest sexist pig in the Gillette system is cheering Ann on here. "Go girl, make those cash registers ring!"
Okay, this #Gillette ad is a little bit schmaltzy and overwrought, but the replies from men who are clearly angry, fragile, and terrified of being criticised or losing their right to live in the past, are proof of how much we need campaigns like this.
Yes, there is no respite from the cultural revolution that they have planned for us, not even our morning shave!
I don’t know where “terrified” comes from, or even “fragile,” sure I am a little bit angry, men hate being nagged, but the simple response of writing off the brand is fine. I am not worried that the Gillette razors will try to cut off by balls or anything as I walk through the CVS. Stopping giving them my money is satisfaction enough.
Gillette is slitting it’s wrists. Luckily it’s razor blades are too dull. Much like its ad execs.
Ridiculing men at the grill outside talking sports while the women gossip about other women in the kitchen is ridiculing heterosexual middle-class American families. The stupid assertion that men are dangerous for being strong men is an evil psy-ops. Gillette just destroyed its business. The strong men are not what is toxic today.
50 years of female liberty that encouraged women to destroy their families because "I'm not happyyyy" and drive fathers from the home, while keeping the mans income stream flowing to prop themselves up and NOW they want MEN to fix what women broke.
They want men to be Victorian Gentlemen, while the women go on down to march in the Slut Walk.
Nope!
What was "not cool" at 1:04? A man being heterosexual? A white man being attracted to a white woman? We can't have our Woke Utopia unless whites stop reproducing.
As long as I've watched TV, I've seen ads "telling" women to be better. They show women setting the example of kindness and caring and being gently elegant and graceful and tactful and helpful and supportive — especially to men.
Oh, come on. There have always been ads about men like this. As others have said above, lets see an ad that explicitly attacks women for their faults as perceived by (toxically masculine!) men. End it with some "beautiful little" girls and their mothers - I'll tear up at that. What a crock.
The ad going viral is a good thing, Thats how effective boycotts spread.
What was "not cool" at 1:04?
A man is only allowed to approach a woman if he meets her threshold of sexual attractiveness. The rest of us are to be seen and not heard.
"There are bad things some men have done, and other men have not been active enough in letting those men know that it's wrong, and that's..." bullshit.
What the feminists seem to believe is that when society instructs and fosters masculinity, it is also instructing and fostering what they call "toxic masculinity." I don't believe that is true, I have never heard the phrase "boys will be boys" used in regard to sexual assault, other than by liberals who assume men use it as an excuse.
Progressives, especially feminist progessives, tell themselves all kinds of stories that just aren't true. Some of them even believe that birth control was popularized for their benefit.
Char Char Binks said... What was "not cool" at 1:04? A man being heterosexual?
That was my take from the ad, before i even noticed the racism; i noticed the anti hetero ism
Let me know when the phrase "toxic femininity" gets used in an ad for any product, let alone one targeted at females.
Until then? Gillette can FOAD, and so can any defenders of this add.
You want to support #MeToo? Call out Meryl Streep, Judy Dench, and all the other scumbags of Hollywood, both male and female, who let it happen. And the scumbags of the press who declined to report what "everyone knew".
Don't blame it on us, the decent men who had nothing to do with it.
Guys don’t boycott. They just stop buying stuff. Dicks sporting goods is learning this. Men don’t take to social media and organize marches and demand things. Starbucks will not be asked to change its policies and Re-Educate its Workforce.
They just stop buying stuff.
Where are the scenes of somebody going all John Wick on those buttinskies?
I think this ad campaign and its aftermath will go instantly to the top of the hit list of Business Case Studies for Harvard B School.
"How to burn up your brand equity in 60 seconds."
Absolutely fascinating natural experiment underway. With good metrics (assuming P&G ever admits to the relevant sales figures and customer feedback for Before and After, and especially the Long After: will people throw a tantrum and then return? Or are they truly done?)
Maybe it is always true that a PSA type ad does not directly sell the product with some pedestrian pitch on features and benefits, but rather creates a feeling of comfort, excitement, special-ness, virtue. OK, that appears to be the objective here: but doing it as an outright nag? "You are all guilty, you need to fix yourselves, whether you shave or not, just change, OK?" Weird and IMHO not properly challenged by whatever creative team, review team, management group, decided to build and run this thing.
Pass the popcorn. And, yes, I am switching.
Let me know when the phrase "toxic femininity" gets used in an ad for any product, let alone one targeted at females.
It’s called "Borderline Personality Disorder."
"Although Nike's moment of wokeness seems to have benefited them... so far."
That is a trope. Domestic Nike sales post-Kaepernick ad were down 2%, offset by increased sales in China and similar markets by 4%.
Blogger Ann Althouse said...
"But....let's see a Gillette ad telling women they should do better."
As long as I've watched TV, I've seen ads "telling" women to be better. They show women setting the example of kindness and caring and being gently elegant and graceful and tactful and helpful and supportive — especially to men.
Nice dodge.
Where's the ad from the commercial company tell women "Stop having kids out of wedlock. Stop having sex with your 16 your old students. Stop getting so drunk at parties you pass out and can't remember what happened."
You know, the things MayBee posted with that. The things that are actually analogous to what the Gillette ad was BSing about
Oh look, a GREAT Gillette ad
As a man, I’d like to think I’ll decide when to participate in contributing to a civilization through my interactions with others, when to model behavior, when to shut up, when to help and maybe be helped.
I won’t go along with civilizational radicals who see me as part of an identity group, or who seem to see their latest moral idea as a cudgel to change my behavior by changing norms but not through engaging with me, nor what I’m carrying. I see these folks as moralists whose ideas usually can’t stand on their own, and who must control everything through controlling behavior through ‘narrative’, words and public sentiment.
I also note that it’s an older feminist, a gay guy and and a company seeking to reposition itself socially and in the marketplace (women make a lot of purchasing decisions) who are okay with seeing this ad as promoting acceptable rules for how you want to see men behave.
Who’s writing the rules? Who is seeking the change? Which ideas are they using?
And I would love to see one of those "women should be better" commercials that addressed their audience as "bitches" or, even better, "c***s." That ought to go over great. Buy our product, you useless hysterical harpies!
Indeed. And be sure to include real live examples of the sh*tty behavior. Have some of the "betters" step in when some woman is berating her husband -- "We can be better women than this."
I’ve joined this one late but concur with those who want to see the ad critical of the mean girl bullies, of the skanks who collect fucks from professional athletes, who view welfare mother as a profession, who fail to criticize home wreckers...then equates these behaviors with every female who wears makeup or has children or engages in normal femenine pursuits
Pop culture has been doing the job Gillette is doing much more smoothly and effectively for decades.
What's the entire point of My Three Sons?
What the fuck did Ward Cleaver do?
Mike Brady?
Steven Keaton?
Dr. Jason Seaver?
Carl Winslow?
Tim Taylor?
Our society has cultural amnesia.
The grill image was funny because it brought out the absurdity of the phrase "boys will be boys."
What is absurd about this phrase? Anyone who has kids (specifically if you have boys and girls) know that boys are different than girls, and that boys will play football in your house and knock over your lamps with a much higher propensity than girls.
The phrase has never meant that Bill Clinton or Harvey Weinstein should be excused for their behavior (except by feminists of course!)
That is a great ad, Known Unknown, but you know the saying. One “you fucked up” erases 100 attaboys. Besides, it looks like Gillette has no use anymore for the kind of toxic masculinity on display, even if it’s true that testosterone makes beard hair grow.
I'm simply tired of being lectured. I don't care if some liberal know-it-all thinks being a traditional male is toxic. Many of us just wake up in the morning and get on with our largely harmless lives, hoping to pay the bills and do our fair share. Do I have to conform to the norms defined by those who hate tradition and want to redefine the world according to their own conceptions of virtue?
50+ years ago we were taught in the Boy Scouts to leave things better than we found them. We were not taught to leave things radically transformed.
I'll go with McCullough above. I've got a six month supply of Gillette Fusion blades (you buy them in big packs) and three cans of Gillette shaving cream. Once those are gone, I'm gone from Gillette. Not just the ad (which I have not yet seen) but the years of Gillette "socking it to me". They upgrade (and I've followed along with them) and up charge. Prices for their products are getting ridiculous.
With the advent of Dollar Shave Club and Harry's I've noticed that Gillette is lowering its prices a bit in the face of competition. One of those two companies was snatched up by Unilever last year--they saw an opportunity. I'll go with one of those companies--or maybe Shick. I'm tired of getting hosed by Gillette--and the idea that those clowns can (and did) lecture its customers was sort of the last straw. I don't need them, and now won't use them.
Oligopolists are bad and lecturing oligopolists are anathema.
https://www.forbes.com/sites/charlesrtaylor/2019/01/15/why-gillettes-new-ad-campaign-is-toxic/#251ffccd5bc9
Great commentary from Forbes on why this ad sucks ass. Analysis in the Megaton range...
Serious question. Do women tune out nagging? Men do, a skill learned young.
Women likely purchase most shaving products so this ad is targeted towards them. Men don't tell their women about the fights they broke up, the young men they help mature. Definitely not the dangers they face. Mostly because they don't want to hear the nagging.
Obviously the ad is targeted at women. To target an ad at men you would describe the manufacturing process to produce sharp edges. How they solved the technical problem of a comfortable shave.
But no, it is all about people, resolving conflict. All that is missing is the swooning woman falling into the arms of her hero. A bodice ripper without the bodices.
For men it is more nagging.
Absolutely fascinating natural experiment underway. With good metrics (assuming P&G ever admits to the relevant sales figures and customer feedback for Before and After, and especially the Long After: will people throw a tantrum and then return? Or are they truly done?)
It seems insane. Has there ever been a product with lower switching costs than a razor? If you want to watch pro football, not a lot of choices. If you want to search the internet or use a smart phone, not a ton of choices, and a pain to switch. You wan't a different razor, no problem!
Is anyone here old enough to remember the Gillette Friday Night fights?
This culture war requires a great atrocity as a catharsis. A burned city, devastation of some kind. Or a destroyed business, failing something more grand. Gillette will do wonderfully as a target for destruction. It is completely expendable.
What the fuck did Ward Cleaver do?
You were a little hard on the Beaver last night, Ward.
This culture war requires a great atrocity as a catharsis. A burned city, devastation of some kind. Or a destroyed business, failing something more grand.
I would have said you were wrong until the gilet jaunes in France encountered live gunfire.
The grill image was funny because it brought out the absurdity of the phrase "boys will be boys."
Better for them to be boys, Althouse, than to be whatever you would make them.
You really have arrested development. You are stuck at the level of "snips and snails and puppy-dog tails."
"You were a little hard on the Beaver last night, Ward."
Did Barbra Billingsley ever utter that line in any of the episodes? I think that might be an example of the Mandela Effect.
This culture war requires a great atrocity as a catharsis. A burned city, devastation of some kind. Or a destroyed business, failing something more grand. Gillette will do wonderfully as a target for destruction. It is completely expendable.
I've been asking you "who to shoot" for a while.
I only made it through the first half. Don't have much taste for preachy and pompous.
The premise is that things are now changing or have just changed from a state of men in general being either misogynist dirtbags, or cowards who tolerated the behavior of misogynist dirtbags. Hooray for the new wokeness that is bringing us out of the dark ages!
What counts as "the assertion"? Is there language you can quote or an image you can pinpoint that makes you feel you are hearing that assertion?
Guess you missed the sledge-hammer #metoo refs...
I saw good and bad men, and the good men seemed to be motivated on their own to socialize other men into being decent human beings, which is how society works.
...and the emphasis on *change* in the ad. Change from old school male behavior (jerks!) to enlightened behavior. As if men needing to socialize and civilize boys was some great new prog idea that nobody (especially not piggy traditionalists!) ever thought of before. Uh huh.
"The ad is full of men stopping other men from doing bad things."
Ain't that sweet. Colored men stopping white men, or so I heard.
"That's one of the best things men do, and it's what the ad highlights."
Right after it highlights that masculinity is toxic and boys will be boys was somehow a male mantra, right?
"The ad ends with shots of beautiful boys and — in the logic of the sequence of images — they are learning — from men — how to be good men."
Ain't that sweet. A razor company telling us how to be good men. Nothing insulting or condescending about that at all. So nice to allow for the possibility that toxic men can "learn."
The culture war continues apace. Progs play on women's feelings, as in this case, and in the Kavanaugh case, and the very fact that a company puts out such an ad--counting on the Althouses to say but, but, men are stopping other men! beautiful boys that make me cry!--shows progs are winning.
But for now, progs are a bit overconfident, as the pushback shows. They will have to come up with more effective methods to scorch the culture.
Althouse cries at what makes us puke: discuss, cruelly neutrally.
Lieutenant,
I have been advising everyone to burn down Harvard, for years now.
Nothing complicated there, other than the doing of it.
You can of course ruin Gillette, as an appetizer perhaps.
Businesses which can't promote the advantages of their products or services tend to run ads like this Gillette ad. They try to promote their virtue signaling and hope the customers forget about value and utility when making a purchasing decision. Health insurance companies have led the way in this - especially the big Blues which dominate many markets.
buwaya: "Gillette will do wonderfully as a target for destruction..." Yes, that reminds me of Alinsky's rule about picking a target and isolating it. Here, of course, Gillette has self-isolated. That's what brand equity means: all those millions spent to differentiate yourself, now acting like laser designators to paint the target.
I'll propose a thought experiment. Assume Gillette put out the same ad, but it's a lineup of African American men and the ad harps on their disproportionate participation in violent crime and asks them to be better. How do you think that ad would go over?
The big secret I've learned is that declining to take offense gives me power in my own life. I don't pay any attention to Gilette. I won't bother to watch their commercial. I've got a beard after all.
I don't pay attention to the NTY of WaPo or any journalist that's selling the narrative. Why listen to people I know are liars?
I don't watch TV or many movies. Books offer centuries of variety and quality and ideas without the anxiety that comes with the current anxious battle. They challenge with their ideas, but with actual argument and art instead of virtue signalling.
We home school. There's a world of ideas out there, but the current moment doesn't talk about ideas, it's just manipulation and power. My kids have other things they can think about.
I still follow current events because I'm curious, but by choosing how I relate to it I'm much less likely to take offense. And that is much less... toxic.
I saw good and bad men, and the good men seemed to be motivated on their own to socialize other men into being decent human beings, which is how society works.
Althouse is smart. But like all smart people, she has a gap in her intelligence that remains a gap because she is utterly blind to it. The gap is her recurrent confusion of manufactured images with reality, such as the above. Seem to be motivated? Seem? The motivation is completely an illusion. The real motivations belong to the writer and the director of the video and above all to the Gillette executives who commissioned and approved it.
Steven Hayward over at the Powerline blog has a theory that the motivations have to do with Gillette trying to submerge its reputation for what some might consider rampant sexism into the murky depths of SJW anti-virility blatherings, but what others with better judgment know to be garden-variety bad taste.
On the other hand, Occam's Razor might insist that that vile and disgraceful video is just another of P&G's attempts to apply totalitarian means to capitalist ends.
For the politically astute (I suppose) the lingering inclusion of Anna Kasparian of The Young Turks masquerading as a legitimate news anchor in the first half of the ad is a tell.
The swj feminazi Gillette girls really got to you cucks. You so weak and insecure Althouse keeps feeding you triggers just so we can watch you squirm and whine.
That's entertainment!
I have been advising everyone to burn down Harvard, for years now.
Nothing complicated there, other than the doing of it.
Buwaya, if you nuked everything within a mile of Harvard Yard, the survivors would displace and resume activities until the campus was rebuilt. Probably kick everybody out of BU or Amherst in the meantime and take over their classrooms, since obviously Harvard's work is more important [eyeroll]. Hardly miss a day or a buck. Just send the recent waitlisters a bunch of special offers.
Besides, Harvard, once the war is won, will be a valuable prize.
In the words of Alinsky: attack people, not institutions. Who would you have to target at Harvard to make effect? Get all the professors in an auditorium and turn them into bone-flecked jam? The trustees, the BOD? Do you want to start hunting down alumni?
JCA1 wrote: I'll propose a thought experiment.
Brilliant. You've devasted the Althouse thesis succinctly.
I have been advising everyone to burn down Harvard, for years now.
Nothing complicated there, other than the doing of it.
You can of course ruin Gillette, as an appetizer perhaps.
Both are in Boston, site of that deplorable display of masculine toxicity, the Tea Party. So there’s that.
Proctor and Gamble also makes Tampax and Always pads. How about they make a commercial encouraging women to stop abusing men under the excuse of being "hormonal" and having pms? Telling women to do better at controlling their emotions?
Howard said...
The swj feminazi Gillette girls really got to you cucks. You so weak and insecure Althouse keeps feeding you triggers just so we can watch you squirm and whine.
That's entertainment!
Decent counterpunch.
Nothing is more offensive to me, as far as societal issues go, than using the phrase "boys will be boys" as a pejorative.
-Boys, in their natural state, are bad.
-Boys cannot be boys in a healthy society.
It infuriates me.
The ad leads one to assume there are men within sight who can be prevented from doing bad things. Not every man, of course, but lots and lots of them. It is a stupid, offensive ad. Men know right from wrong. Do women? Or are they just forced to give blowjobs to their bosses or men who can get them better parts. Forced.
That's entertainment!
We may rejoice that Howard has found other things besides shiny baubles and spinning objects amusing. Perhaps in a few years, his minders will allow him a solo jaunt around the local park pond without dread of an embarrassing incident involving waterfowl.
“[The ads] show women setting the example of kindness and caring and being gently elegant and graceful and tactful and helpful and supportive — especially to men.”
“Women setting the example” with their boobs hanging out seducing men, or modeling $100 a bottle cosmetics, or whinging on drug commercials, or waiting on the beach or in front of the fire for their ED hubbies to get with viagra. Just the women I hope my granddaughters will emulate. /Sarc
Where are the messages for black gangsters who desert their families, Hollywood softcore porn queens who make women appear easy, CDC’s MSMs who feed the AIDS epidemic, baby killers who have slaughtered 60 million?
More to the point, where are the fucking razors?
Yeah, a Tampax ad with the song “Little Miss Can’t Be Wrong” would be a good one. or the song “I Wouldn’t Want to Be Your Man” would be another good one, that one is sung by a woman, with a bunch of really attractive women putting down a less attractive woman for nagging. I bet it would go viral too!
Lots of comments.
I think it means the ad really did work on you and you have internalized the message and can no longer feel safe and cocooned inside your old troglodyte ways. You're still fighting it, but the urge to fight is the evidence that the fight is already lost.
It's just a razor ad. Why are you digging in here? Because it's effective!
0:25 - What, no "Era of That's Not Funny" tag?
"safe and cocooned inside your old troglodyte ways."
; )
W.B. Picklesworth: I don't pay attention to the NTY of WaPo or any journalist that's selling the narrative. Why listen to people I know are liars?
Because other people believe their lies, and other people believing lies has been known to have unpleasant consequences for the people being lied about.
I don't watch TV or many movies. Books offer centuries of variety and quality and ideas without the anxiety that comes with the current anxious battle. They challenge with their ideas, but with actual argument and art instead of virtue signalling.
Engaging with serious books doesn't preclude keeping a sharp eye out for what your enemies are up to. It also won't protect you from their bad intentions.
I still follow current events because I'm curious, but by choosing how I relate to it I'm much less likely to take offense. And that is much less... toxic.
There's a difference between wasting one's time impotently taking offense, and recognizing danger. If "toxic masculinity" b.s. was nothing but silly ads it wouldn't matter.
t's just a razor ad. Why are you digging in here? Because it's effective!
I like looking beyond the surface, same as you do when it doesn’t involve feminism. Plus, as has been pointed out, changing brands of razors is as easy as falling off a log. This is entertaining to me, to see rake stepping SJWs self immolate.
Real men don’t go out of their way to hurt people. They don’t objectify women either. This is another lefty straw man.
I think this one is better...….
http://committedconservative.com/2019/01/15/tampax-launches-new-ad-condemning-toxic-femininity/?fbclid=IwAR1I5y6ReMqDQKXgxoOPKu9Wkoga0pLIEESkUDUTuisgngUyFd0iauwiRUs
Althouse: I agree.
And the men for whom the ad was crafted do not.
In this instance, whose opinion should be given greater weight?
I wildly overslept, probably the result of foolishly spending yesterday afternoon at the gym after clearing the sidewalk and driveway of 6” of snow the day before. It’s a guy thing, I guess.
This comment thread is full of important insights, but I would like to single it Lucid-Ideas at 9:27 and Mccullough at 10:02 as being especially pertinent. And, like Tom Duncan at 10:12, I am tired of being lectured to by people I hold in contempt. I have already placed my body between my wife and danger, and I rather imagine Meade would do the same for you, Althouse. Is this something you and your sister feminists wish to deprecate? Then there’s this:
Have you not followed modern advertising and branding? Stuff like people on a hilltop singing about world peace (a Coke ad)?
@Althouse, that ad ran in 1971! That’s 48 years ago, almost half a century. “Modern” advertising my ass.
Gillette - now with twice the sanctimony!
Actually, I have found that women like a little troglodyte in a man. Enough women like to to encourage me anyways. Just like the hens like it when the rooster struts around the barnyard. Same dynamic.
"I think it means the ad really did work on you and you have internalized the message and can no longer feel safe and cocooned inside your old troglodyte ways. You're still fighting it, but the urge to fight is the evidence that the fight is already lost."
Horseshit, Althouse. We're just calling out the ad for the SJW virtue signaling bullshit pandering to woke women and their cucks that it is.
Althouse: You're still fighting it, but the urge to fight is the evidence that the fight is already lost.
The Tokyo Rose argument.
It seems that you are fighting as well. Tell us frankly, is that evidence of your defeat?
Gillette - We won't be in the deplorables basket
Prof. A: "Lots of comments...It's just a razor ad. Why are you digging in here? Because it's effective!"
Well, maybe. The old line in marketing is, "The only thing worse than bad publicity is no publicity." So I am sure the Gillette team is talking up the "vitality" of the ad, how everybody is talking about it. How exciting and --dare I say-- edgy.
But it is a helluva pricey way to put yourself into the public mind, when the first-order effect is to alienate your natural base of customers who --as others have noted-- have choices. Those of us out here in Razor Land are being told, "You are all weak and stupid and bad, you need to work on yourself and interfere in everybody else's life as well, in ways that aren't clear and may well earn you a fat lip or worse. And, by the way, we sell overpriced products in a category that is already blowing open thanks to great competitors. Have a nice day."
I just don't buy your analysis.
The ad is sexist as fuck, Ann, and you won't admit it.
It's just a razor ad. Why are you digging in here? Because it's effective!
People are commenting because Althouse posted it yet again.
People are commenting because someone they care about (Althouse) wrote something they feel is categorically false.
They are not interacting with the ad, they're interacting with the blogstress.
She should know the difference.
Gillete - you may have thought it was a societal ritual created through marketing
but now its a statement
"vitality" = "virality."
Arggh.
Althouse: “Lots of comments.
I think it means the ad really did work on you and you have internalized the message and can no longer feel safe and cocooned inside your old troglodyte ways....”
I think the fact that an intelligent woman can make such an absurd statement means that she is still being seduced by the snake.
All we do here is comment. You choose the subject matter.
Barbara Billingsley definitely did say: "Ward, I'm worried about the beaver" in several episodes. And in the retrospective episode (from ~1990?), she sat by his grave and intoned "And Ward, I'm definitely not worried about the beaver!"
So what is this beaver thing, anyway?
Post a Comment