Jessica Valenti
The Gillette Effect: What a Single Ad Reveals About American Men
Conservatives decrying a “war on men” are more dangerous than you think
In a television commercial that aired over 50 years ago, a husband throws the coffee his wife has made him into the bushes, berating her and pointing his finger in her face for not knowing how to make a proper cup of joe. In a 2012 commercial for Carl’s Jr., a model eats a hamburger as if she’s orgasming. For decades, ads have dictated the proper ways for women to be women; generations of us have grown up under the thumb of corporate-created sexist expectations.
Given that long and unpleasant history, it’s a bit baffling to see the controversy over a single, fairly benign commercial for Gillette razors that focuses on masculinity. The ad, playing off its longtime tagline of “the best a man can get,” is part of a new campaign from the company acknowledging that “brands, like ours, play a role in influencing culture… we have a responsibility to make sure we are promoting positive, attainable, inclusive and healthy versions of what it means to be a man.”
Not exactly the stuff of Dworkin and MacKinnon, yet the sentiment was enough to set off a firestorm of mockery, consumer boycott threats, and one man even throwing his…
